•Israeli warplanes are targeting Gaza, who is in power there?

Attacks over Gaza are targeted towards Hamas. Hamas is a military movement, which won the Palestine Authority’s (PA) legislative elections in 2006. But Hamas is not recognised by Israel and has been labelled a terrorist organisation by the US and the EU. The party opposed to Hamas — Fatah — enjoys international recognition. It’s Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas heads the Palestine Liberation Organisation and is the President of Palestine.

•Hamas refuses to accept the existence of Israel, why?

Traditionally, Hamas is viewed as an Islamist fundamentalist outfit whose aim is to see the unification of Palestinian land.

•Why did Hamas increase the scope and scale of its attacks against Israel?

The situation in Gaza is the main motivation. Hamas and Gaza have been equated as one. This has led to the ‘seize of Gaza’.

•This has been labelled a “man-made catastrophe,” why?

In numbers, 1.1 million Gazans are dependent on aid and 75,000 out of the 110,000 workers previously employed in the private sector are now unemployed. Israel has halted almost all aid shipments coming into Gaza. Gaza has been cordonned off by security fences on both its borders, making the work of aid agencies worse. The international policy of isolating Hamas has caused damage to its civilian population rather than bringing a change in leadership.

•Why have the recent attacks upon Gaze caused such uproar?

Gaza is a rectangular strip of land - 25 miles long and three to seven miles wide, roughly double the size of Washington with a population of 1.5 million. It is one of the most densely populated settlements in the world and hence attacks against Hamas organisations will inevitably hit the civilians. Further, the rockets— known as the Qassam rockets — launched by Hamas - have caused one casualty over the year.

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