On Oct. 7, militant group Hamas, one of the two major Palestinian political parties in the Gaza Strip, launched an unprecedented attack on Southern Israel following the end of the Jewish festival of Sukkot. This attack resulted in the deaths of at least 1,300 individuals, with over 2,800 wounded and dozens of hostages taken by Hamas into Gaza. Hamas heavily and wantonly targeted civilian happenings in its attack, including a massacre at a trance music festival in Re’im, a clear violation of international law. Egyptian intelligence claims it had warned Israel of a “terrible operation” that was coming in the weeks preceding the Hamas attack although this has been denied by the Israeli government.

Since then, in its response to the attack, the Israeli government has launched airstrikes and artillery strikes of new magnitude on the Gaza Strip, as well as commanded its military to enforce a siege of Gaza as of Oct. 9, cutting off electricity, food, water supply, and medicine. Although power cuts have been a daily reality for many people in the Gaza Strip, this level of complete blackout and deprivation of resources is new. So far, Gaza authorities have reported over 2,400 dead from these attacks and almost 10,000 wounded. There are currently approximately 300,000 Israeli soldiers outside the border of the Gaza Strip in a military blockade consisting of armored vehicles and military weapons, causing concerns over a possible ground operation in Northern Gaza.

Moreover, there have been reports from eyewitnesses and the Human Rights Watch of the Israeli army utilizing white phosphorus shells in their attack of the Gaza Strip, an incredibly toxic weapon prohibited under international law. There have been similar reports of the Israeli government using white phosphorus in the past, although such claims have been denied by Israel. The Lebanese army also claims that Israel fired a missile that killed a Reuters journalist in southern Lebanon; Reuters has called for an investigation.

According to Israel, its principal targets are the system of tunnels Hamas uses to operate. While originally constructed to smuggle in weapons, fuel, and other goods as it runs under the Egyptian border, Hamas has allegedly been utilizing these tunnels for transportation, communication, and to attack Israeli forces. Public buildings, mosques, and private residences surround these tunnels, making any type of attack on them detrimental to the lives of civilians.

In the midst of these attacks, on Oct. 12, Israel warned residents of northern Gaza, numbering around 1.1 million, to evacuate south as Israel launches its attacks. Israeli leaflets distributed to Palestinians warn to evacuate from “known and public shelters in Gaza City” and that approaching the military blockade separating the Gaza Strip from Israel is risking death. The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, warned that the type of migration that Israel forced was “extremely dangerous — and in some cases, simply not possible.”

On Friday, two blasts destroyed multiple cars driving along one of the main southward evacuation routes, Salah-al-Din Road. While the IDF denies any involvement, the Financial Times’ review of evidence and footage rules out most other explanations besides an Israeli strike.

Israel’s warning to residents poses great danger. The Israeli government asks for nearly one half of the population of Gaza, an area with an already high population density, to move to a new location in the midst of continued airstrikes with limited water, food, medical supplies, and fuel, possibly even none. Moreover, Israel is maintaining its military blockade around the border surrounding the Gaza Strip and Egypt has not yet opened its borders to the south of the Gaza Strip, so the migrating Palestinians would be fleeing to a region they have no known security to count on. The President of the Palestinian Authority, the other Palestinian political body besides Hamas, is wary that this would effectively repeat the Nakba in 1948, a period of time during which Palestinians were forced to leave present-day Israel and were not allowed to return to their homeland.

Throughout the reporting for this violence, there has been a wide amount of misinformation circulated by media outlets. For example, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu informed CNN that Hamas decapitated babies when they attacked southern Israel. The following day, another Israeli official could not confirm those claims for CNN. Social media platforms have also been instrumental in providing real-time news of the conflict, but have allowed unverified claims to spread rapidly. X, previously known as Twitter, has come under scrutiny as misleading visuals have spread. The EU has warned Elon Musk of “penalties” and it was found that a group of 67 X accounts spread coordinated disinformation.

Across the world, rallies and protests have erupted. The largest have been in support of Palestine, and these have faced considerable restrictions from local and national authorities. The French government, for example, has banned such rallies in fear that they could “disrupt public order” and trigger antisemitism. In spite of the ban, many protests have occurred in cities across France, with police using tear gas and water cannons to disband protestors. The city of Berlin has also banned pro-Palestine protests, resulting in many protestors at rallies facing arrest if they refuse to follow police orders and disperse.