Gaza is a territory spanning 25 miles at its longest point, where the displaced are sheltering in tents on the beach.
By Sharon Zhang, Truthout Published January 2, 2025
The Israeli military has announced that it carried out over 1,400 air strikes on Gaza in December alone, amounting to dozens of strikes a day on average on Palestinians also suffering under famine conditions due to Israel’s enduring aid blockade.
This is the equivalent of over 45 airstrikes a day, with the attacks carried out by Israeli aircraft like fighter jets and drones, the Israeli Air Force said on social media.
This is a staggering amount of strikes in such a small period of time, coming after Israel has already destroyed roughly 70 percent of infrastructure in Gaza.
The military did not specify the firepower of the strikes. But rights groups noted that, within the first months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Israeli forces had already dropped the equivalent of multiple nuclear bombs on the Gaza Strip — a territory spanning only 25 miles long and with roughly the same land area as Las Vegas.
Israeli forces have claimed that they were striking military targets within Gaza, but many of the strikes documented by journalists and human rights groups have targeted civilian areas, including many children.
Related Story
|
Gaza’s Population Has Plunged at Least 6 Percent in 15 Months of Genocide
The population has declined by 160,000 people since October 2023, with at least 45,000 people killed by Israeli attacks. By Sharon Zhang , Truthout
January 2, 2025
These strikes have been carried out on Palestinians, adults and children alike, who were trying to find food or forced to take shelter in makeshift tents on the beach, in Israel’s designated “safe zone.” They have killed medical workers trying to save people’s lives after Israeli attacks, or those injured by attacks only to be struck again. In one strike in late December, Israeli forces bombed a press van and killed five Palestinian journalists near a hospital, where the wife of one of the journalists was giving birth.
Even as the military carried out these strikes, Israeli officials were taking part in ceasefire negotiations that appeared to be gaining steam, according to media reports. Like others before, these talks fizzled out as Israeli officials insisted on staying in Gaza even after a deal was struck and as reports have found that Israel intends to openly violate the terms of its ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.
The U.S. was party to these negotiations, but American officials have also played a major role in allowing Israel’s attacks to continue. In just the first year of Israel’s genocide, the U.S. sent $17.9 billion in military assistance to Israel — at minimum, according to a tally of just the publicly reported transfers.
More military sales are in the pipeline, all but guaranteeing that Israel can continue its aggression in the Middle East with the backing of the most well-funded military complex in the world. The Biden administration has pushed a massive $20 billion weapons sale to Israel — including tank rounds, JDAMs and fighter jets — while, just in November, reports emerged that the Biden administration is moving forward with a sale of thousands of JDAMs and small diameter bombs to Israel, worth $680 million.
Human rights groups and experts have documented dozens of instances of Israel using U.S. bombs to commit war crimes in Gaza. According to reporting by The Washington Post from October, the State Department has reportedly swept aside over 500 reports of Israel using U.S. weapons to kill civilians in Gaza and causing “unnecessary harm.”
Matching Opportunity Extended: Please support Truthout today!
Our end-of-year fundraiser is over, but our donation matching opportunity has been extended! Today, all donations to Truthout will be matched dollar for dollar. Your one-time gift today will be matched immediately. As well, your monthly donation will be matched for the whole first year, doubling your impact.
This matching gift comes at a critical time. Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office.
Help us prepare for Trump’s Day One, and have your donation matched today!
about:blank This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.
On Bluesky? We created a starter pack to make it easy for you to follow Truthout folks there.
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies. She can be found on Twitter and Bluesky.
