Why the Gaza war is the deadliest Arab-Israel conflict in last 4 decades

October 7 seemed just like any other day for Elchanan Bedein and members of his kibbutz, a small farming commune near the Gaza border in West Bank. Little did they know that the day would mark the beginning of one of the bloodiest wars in last four decades, for both Israelis and Palestinians.

When Hamas fighters took over Bedein’s village in surprise attacks against the state of Israel, they couldn’t cause much harm. Bedein and others in his village were well-prepared, and managed to kill the intruders. When you live at the border in West Bank, waking up to the thundering sounds of bombs and rockets is a way of life. And so is hiding in the underground shelters built in the area.

But, this time, Bedein and his villagers were stuck in the underground shelter for over 30 hours. “We saw 30 terrorists walking around in our kibbutz. Because we were prepared, our people killed them all. They were around 200 metres from my house,” he says.

“I thought there might be one or two terrorists but there were 30. I found myself going through a war zone. They massacred whoever they could,” Bedein elaborates. At least 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed on October 7, the largest number of casualties in a single day so far.

Today, the war between Israel and Hamas has entered its fifth week. The death toll is rising with each passing day. As the number of Palestinian casualties killed in Israel’s brutal retaliation crosses the 10,000-mark, it is the deadliest Arab-Israel conflict since the First Lebanon War in 1982.

The dead include more than 4,000 children and over 2,500 women, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) reported. It also said that at least 2,260 people, including 1,270 children, are reportedly missing, possibly trapped under the rubble.
The Israel Defense Force has confirmed that as on November 6, 348 of its troops have been killed since October 7. “It’s the worst number of Jewish civilian deaths killed in one day since the Holocaust. It is the worst day of their life so far since independence,” says Arjun Hardas, India Representative, American Jewish Committee.

GFX headline: Israel’s war victims
Source – Jewish Virtual Library