Israel, Gaza Mark One Year Since October 7 Attacks

TaiwanPlus News

One year after the October 7 attacks on Israel by the militant group Hamas, which killed nearly 1,200 people, more than 42,000 Palestinians have died in the ensuing war in Gaza and fears grow of even more widespread conflict in the region.

Transcript

00:00One year after October 7th, Kibbutz Nir Az in southern Israel remains empty and in ruins.

00:07It was one of the first targets of Hamas militants when they crossed the border from Gaza,

00:13killing over 1,000 people and taking 250 hostage, in Israel's deadliest day ever.

00:22Something broke inside of me on October 7th.

00:26I never believed this kind of cruelty and violence can later be justified as an act of freeing Palestine

00:36because I believed in freeing Palestine my entire life in two states and ocean.

00:44Israel's retaliation was swift, launching attacks on Gaza that have killed an estimated 42,000 Palestinians

00:55within the past year, leaving the enclave devastated and sparking a humanitarian crisis.

01:02The United Nations estimates 40% of the deaths in Gaza were children, including 5-year-old Sally,

01:09killed in an Israeli airstrike just days after October 7th.

01:14It's been a year since the war started.

01:16I was expecting that after the suffering we saw in the beginning,

01:20with Sally's martyrdom and her death,

01:23people would look at her with compassion and hope that the war would end.

01:31One year later, Israeli leaders are facing accusations of genocide,

01:36and the conflict has now spread across Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iran.

01:42With fears of all-out war on the horizon, top diplomats are calling for diplomacy.

01:49We meet at a time of high tension, risk of escalation in the region is acute,

01:56and I know that we are all very much focused on that.

01:59The best answer is diplomacy.

02:04And our coordinated efforts are vital to preventing further escalation

02:09and to paving the path to greater peace and stability.

02:14Meanwhile, kibbutz near Oz in Israel remains empty, and residents may never return,

02:20as the memory of the violence of that day and the months following is too much to bear.

02:25And in Gaza, the humanitarian situation remains dire,

02:29as Palestinians wait for a peace that seems further away than ever.

02:34Scott Huang and Harrell Hughes for Taiwan Plus.

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