Earlier today Hamas launched an attack on Israeli towns near the Gaza border, and has also been launching rockets towards Israeli population centers as north as Tel Aviv. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers and civilians are dead and dozens have been taken captive. The fact that Hamas has been able to breach Israeli defenses and launch an attack of this magnitude inside of Israel has stunned the Israeli public. 

Events are developing rapidly. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared war and Israel has launched air raids on Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed thus far, most of them in clashes inside of Israel. It seems likely that the situation will continue to escalate: the Israeli minister of energy signed an order to cut electricity to Gaza, and Israeli leaders are considering a full ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. 

Some Israelis are hearing sirens and have to run to shelters; but for Israelis living in the more southern parts of Israel, those sirens indicate a more grave threat. Palestinians live under constant, daily threat of violence and destructio n, in Gaza, civilians are running for shelter from air raids as well, and Netanyahu’s declaration of war means something we don’t yet know. 

The Unsettled team is following the news closely. We are planning to share voices of people impacted by the unfolding war as well as context and analysis on these events. While we’re working on this, we recommend listening to some of our older episodes that we think can provide context to what’s happening today – specifically our interview with Tariq Baconi about Hamas and a conversation between Asaf and Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson called “politicized pain.” 

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