Year-Ender 2023: From West Asia to South America, global conflicts that shook the world this year
Israel-Palestine conflict has a long history and I am sure you read a lot of pieces on how the war was long overdue etc. etc. But, still apart from minor confrontations things were smoothening between the two hostile neighbors.
But, Hamas didn’t like why Israel was getting attention from the larger Arab world and they decided to do something stupid- Poke the bear. The 7 October attack on Israel in which around 1,400 people were killed worked like a breather for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was struggling for his political existence. What followed seems to be a campaign to turn the whole Gaza region into a graveyard.
The death toll in Gaza has crossed nearly 20,000 people and out of them, around 40-50% are women and children. While no clear end to the war is visible at the current stage, the rise in the number of civilian deaths is surely increasing the pressure on Israel to move towards a truce, but trust me it still looks quite far. The year 2022 saw some intense action between Russia and Ukraine.
As the winters came, the action slowed down on both fronts. Ukraine, with some ‘inflated US-backed ego’ made impressive gains at the beginning of the year and at one point everyone thought that either Vladimir Putin would lose or would turn to go ‘all-out’ with the nuclear option. But, the war again went into a dull phase where both countries secured minor victories and defeats every day.
Israel-Hamas war in October came as a concerning development for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelekskyy as the focus of the world shifted to the new conflict. United States and European countries- who were backing Ukraine with financial and military support and now focusing on the rising civilian toll in Gaza. The domestic politics
. Read more on livemint.com
