Mental strain, deepening risks as Israel's war with Hamas reaches 100 days

James Mackenzie - Reuters - 14/01
One hundred days after Hamas gunmen broke out of Gaza to launch the deadliest attack in Israel's history, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, Gaza lies in ruins and the Middle East is sliding towards a wider, more unpredictable conflict.

JERUSALEM, Jan 14 (Reuters) - One hundred days after Hamas gunmen broke out of Gaza to launch the deadliest attack in Israel's history, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, Gaza lies in ruins and the Middle East is sliding towards a wider, more unpredictable conflict.

For both Israelis and Palestinians, the war has been a trauma that looks likely to last for years, deepening the hostility and mistrust that have stood in the way of peace for more than 75 years.

"No one will win," said Rebecca Brindza, a spokesperson for families of the 240 Israelis and foreigners seized as hostages during attack on communities around the Gaza Strip that opened the war on Oct. 7.

The assault in the early morning hours caught Israel's vaunted military and security services completely off guard, opening days of fear and uncertainty for the country as the details of the slaughter by the rampaging gunmen emerged.

The attack killed more than 1,200 people, the biggest single day loss of life since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, and the shock was compounded by the multiple accounts of rape and sexual violence that emerged in the following weeks.

The Israeli response was immediate and unrelenting, beginning with a systematic aerial bombardment and followed by a ground invasion that have together laid waste to Gaza and forced almost 2 million people to flee their homes.

Almost 24,000 Palestinians have been killed and 60,000 wounded in the invasion, according to Gaza health authorities, the largest loss of Palestinian life suffered in the decades of wars and conflict with Isr...
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