Special Report on the: Israeli Aggression on the Gaza Strip

Prepared by:
Palestine Studies Project

Executive Summary

This report is a summary coverage of the last Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) announced the launch of a new military operation called “Breaking Dawn” on Friday, August 5th, 2022. The 4-day aggression brought the Palestinian death toll to 44 martyrs, including 15 children and 4 women, and wounded 360 Palestinian civilians with various injuries. The aggression might have ended by the Egyptian mediation, but the Palestinian resistance faction (the Islamic Jihad) warned that if all the terms of the ceasefire agreement were not achieved, the firing of rockets at the Israeli settlements would resume.

Israel is First to Attack

On the morning of August 2, 2022, the occupation claimed that Palestinian groups were
preparing to carry out an action against the Zionist settlers in the Gaza envelope; and accordingly, the occupation army increased the number of its forces and summoned military groups consisting of 25,000 soldiers from its reserve units, and closed roads leading to the settlements of the Gaza envelope. It is only later when the hidden bad intentions of the occupation became clear. The Israeli warplanes and reconnaissance planes loaded with missiles launched over 62 military strikes that dropped 16 tons of explosives on August 5-6, 2022, targeting residential towers, civilian cars, and resistance control points. As a result, the death toll among Palestinians on the first day of aggression reached 9 martyrs,
including a 5-year-old girl, Alaa Qaddoum. On the second day of the Israeli aggression, the number of martyrs increased to 15, and 125 civilians were injured, including 23 kids and 13 women, according to the latest update of the Ministry of Health in Gaza on Saturday, August 6, 2022, 12:00 pm. In response to the aggression, the Palestinian resistance fired 160 rockets at the Israeli settlements.

Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesman of the Palestinian Ministry of health, said that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) targeted densely populated residential places. The effects of the aggression appeared quickly on the Gaza Strip, which has been languishing under the imposed Israeli occupation siege for 15 years. The collapsed health sector needs urgent support considering the expectations of the continuation of the aggression, and because the Israeli occupation has prevented the entry of fuel to the only power station in Gaza for5 days, the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company announced that it had stopped due to the lack of fuel. Egyptian official authorities announced that there are continuous efforts to mediate, but it is leaked that the occupation refuses mediation. The Israeli occupation plans to continue its operation for a whole week, according to what the Chief of Staff of the occupation army announced earlier today.

International Condemnations

The Israeli occupation aggression on Gaza has been condemned internationally on
an official level by many countries. The Malavvysian position continues to be firm and strong in supporting Palestine through all the working NGOs and the unconditional love of Palestine in the hearts
of the Malaysian people. The Malaysian official position was even stronger as the Malaysian Foreign Minister, Dato’ Sri Saifuddin Abdullah, released a press statement to strongly condemn the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza strip. “Malaysia calls on the international community to urgently exert the utmost pressures on the Israeli regime to cease immediately their violations and aggressions against the Palestinians,” said Dato’ Sri Saifuddin Abdullah. “Malaysia reaffirms its unwavering support for and solidarity with the Palestinian people and their cause for achieving freedom from the Israeli occupa-
tion,” added he.

Aggression is Escalating

The Israeli occupation army’s aggression against the Gaza Strip continues for the third
day in a row. The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) carried out a series of warplane raids,
which led to the death of 6 people in Jabalia, including four children, and dozens of
wounded. Another seven people were killed including children and dozens were
wounded in Rafah, knowing that the two targeted areas are Palestinian refugee camps,
which are among the most densely populated areas in the world. The death toll
reached 34 martyrs, including 6 children, 4 women, and an elderly woman, and 265

injuries, including 96 children, 30 women, and 12 elderly people. This number of mar-
tyrs and wounded resulted from over 140 raids by the warplanes on the Gaza Strip by

the occupation army that dropped more than 27 tons of explosives.
At the same time, the occupation forces carried out a campaign of arrests in the cities
of the West Bank, where they arrested dozens of Palestinians. The Israeli occupation
allowed extremist settlers to storm the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the
morning of August 7th, 2022.

Islamic Jihad announced the martyrdom of one of its military leaders, Khaled Man-
sour, when the occupation bombarded a 3-story house in a refugee camp in Rafah city.
On the other hand, there are interventions from the United Nations, Qatar and Egypt

to control and calm the situation in Gaza. During their communication with media-
tors, the Palestinian factions confirmed their readiness for calm in exchange for stop-
ping the Zionist aggression, but the Israeli occupation leadership continues the

attacks. Many experts, some of them Israelis, are viewing this aggression as Yair
Lapid’s way to enhance his electoral fortune in the elections expected to be held in
November 2022. Lapid has been serving as the 14th prime minister of Israel since 1
July 2022. He previously served as the alternate prime minister of Israel.

Ceasefire Succeeded But ..

The Israeli occupation’s aggression on the Gaza Strip continued until 11:30 Jerusalem time
on August 8, 2022, when it was announced that the Egyptian mediator had succeeded in
concluding a truce between the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian resistance factions,
and this truce was received with regional and international support.
The last 12 hours of the Israeli aggression were severe on the residents of the Gaza Strip,
as the occupation army’s military raids on the Gaza Strip intensified and increased. The
Israeli occupation army announced that its warplanes targeted 140 targets inside the Gaza

Strip, which brought the Palestinian death toll, according to the latest update of the Pales-
tinian Ministry of Health, to 44 martyrs, including 15 children and 4 women, and wounded

360 Palestinian civilians with various injuries.

The raids also caused the destruction of 18 housing units and inflicted damage on 1,675
units.

Based on the understandings of the ceasefire, the occupation pledged to the Egyptian medi-
ators to stop the raids on the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian factions to stop firing their

rockets towards the Israeli settlements. On the morning of August 8, 2022, the occupation

pledged (through the only goods crossing “Karm Abu Salem”) to bring in fuel trucks des-
ignated for the Gaza power plant in order to return it to work. Therefore, the Gaza power

plant will improve the electricity schedule, and the hours of electricity connection will be 8
hours in the best conditions.

The aggression might have ended, but there’s still a need for collective efforts by all
international organizations and government donors to address the aggression impacts, i.e.,
the reconstruction of destroyed houses, the rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure, and
the provision of critically-needed supplies in the health sector to deal with the large
number of injuries as well as the compensation of the affected people for their lost houses
and belongings.

Even this is far from enough, as the international community should exert double efforts
to address the root causes of the repeated aggression. According to a recently-issued UN
report, the occupation, Gaza blockade, and the apartheid regime are the most important
sources of destabilization in the region. Gaza, with 365 square kilometers, and about 2.3
million people live inside it, is under a tight and continuous siege for more than 15 years.
The blockade has made 80% of the population of Gaza dependent on humanitarian aid,
and more than half of the population lives in poverty.