Six months since Hamas attacked Israel, six months of crisis

News story | Date: 07/04/2024 | Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Rarely have six months been filled with so much unimaginable pain, anger and grief as the time following the terrorist attack on 7 October last year. For six months, Israeli families have been mourning the losses they suffered when Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and took 250 hostages. Families still live in fear of what has happened to those of the hostages still in Gaza. 

For six months, Palestinians have lived in what can only be described as hell on earth. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, more than 13,000 of them children. Day after day, people in Gaza have witnessed families destroyed, entire neighborhoods razed to the ground and an unimaginable number of people inflicted with the most horrific injuries. Injuries they will live with for the rest of their lives.

For six months, the international community has witnessed aid workers in Gaza trying to alleviate the pain, trying to quell the hunger of children threatened by famine. They, too, have been operating in constant danger of death. Few conflicts have claimed so many lives among those tasked with helping.

Over the last six months, we have repeatedly asked the parties to follow the rules of war. We have always made it clear that self-defense measures must be necessary and proportionate, and that all military operations must be conducted in accordance with international law. Norway was among the countries that early on warned Israel against going too far.

Now, six months later, it is tragic that far too little is done to distinguish between civilians and combatants. Far too little is done to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, the crisis has turned into a catastrophe.

For six months, we have witnessed a complete breakdown in compliance with international humanitarian law. The war we have seen over the past six months undermines security and is highly devastating for both Israelis and Palestinians. And it threatens the stability of the entire Middle East.

Bombs and terror cannot solve the war. Together with like-minded countries and, several Arab countries, we are working to get this on a different track – getting enough humanitarian aid into Gaza, a ceasefire, release of hostages, negotiations and then a two-state solution that gives Palestinians their state and security for both peoples. The success of this will be crucial, not only for the people of Israel and Palestine, but for all of us.