Gaza, one year later: The stories of war that captured readers the most since October 7, 2023
As death tolls mount and fears grow of a wider regional war, we look back at key moments that took place since Oct. 7, 2023
One year after Hamas gunmen broke out of Gaza to carry out the deadliest attack in Israel's history, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, Gaza lies in ruins and regional conflict has engulfed the Middle East.
The ongoing conflict in Gaza has claimed over 41,700 lives in the past year, including more than 16,000 children. Nearly 100,000 others have been wounded, with over 10,000 missing and presumed dead beneath the rubble, according to health authorities in the enclave.
Approximately 1.9 million people—90% of the population—have been forcibly displaced from their homes, many on multiple occasions. Nearly half a million are facing severe food insecurity, while Gaza's essential infrastructure, housing, economy, farmland and fishing fleets have been devastated.
Below we have shared imagery corresponding to the stories that you, the Yahoo News Canada audience engaged with the most over the past year.
October 2023
'You will NEVER speak for me': Canadians divided to government's response to Israel-Gaza war
Canadians took a divided stance after both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford made blanket statements pledging full support of Israel while denouncing the pro-Palestinian rallies held on Canada's streets.
On Friday Oct. 13, 2023, Israeli military forces ordered 1.1 million people in Gaza to evacuate — a sign that Israel was setting up a ground operation against Hamas.
A United Nations spokesperson said it's impossible to evacuate civilians “without devastating humanitarian consequences,” and said the U.N. “strongly appeals for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation.”
November 2023
Gaza's largest hospitals are no longer operating as fighting escalates
The situation inside Gaza’s two largest hospitals grew worse as Israeli forces continued their assault in the enclave. Both Al-Shifa Hospital and Al-Quds Hospital were no longer functioning because of the lack of fuel and electricity, Palestinian officials said.
Doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital are refusing a mandatory evacuation order from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), warning that about 700 patients will die if left behind, the director-general of the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said.
PM Trudeau's Halloween post, son's 'beheaded' costume draw backlash in light of Gaza carnage
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came under fire after posting a picture of himself with son Hadrien, who was dressed in a headless boy costume, while trick-or-treating for Halloween.
The comments sections on Trudeau’s Halloween posts across different social media platforms reveal significant criticism with several Canadians disapproving of the pictures shared by him given the current sensitive nature of the Israel-Hamas war, during which alleged reports of beheaded babies were vastly disputed online.
December 2023
On foot and by donkey cart, thousands flee widening Israeli assault in central Gaza
Thousands of Palestinian families fled Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023 from the brunt of Israel’s expanding ground offensive into Gaza’s few remaining overcrowded refuges, as the military launched heavy strikes across the centre and south of the territory, killing dozens.
Still, no place is safe in Gaza. Israeli offensives are crowding most of the population into Deir al-Balah and Rafah at the territory’s southern edge as well as a tiny rural area by the southern coastline. Those areas continue to be hit by Israeli strikes that regularly crush homes full of people.
'Boycott Zara': Canadians join protests after critics link fashion giant's ads to Israel-Hamas war
Canadians protested at some Zara locations, including at least two in Ontario, joining recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the fashion chain's other locations in the world.
READ MORE: 'Boycott Zara': Canadians join protests after critics link fashion giant's ads to Israel-Hamas war
January 2024
At least half of Gaza's buildings damaged or destroyed
More than half of Gaza's buildings have been damaged or destroyed since Israel launched its retaliation for the Hamas attacks, analysis revealed.
Israel has repeatedly told Gazans to move south for their own safety.
Across Gaza, residential areas have been left ruined, previously busy shopping streets reduced to rubble, universities destroyed and farmlands churned up, with tent cities springing up on the southern border to house many thousands of people left homeless.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza surpasses 25,000
The Palestinian death toll from the war between Israel and Hamas has soared past 25,000, the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024 while Israel announced the death of another hostage and appeared far from achieving its goals of freeing more than 100 others and crushing the militant group.
February 2024
Israel accused of deliberately starving Gaza civilians
According to the United Nations, the amount of aid reaching the Palestinian territory dropped by 50% in February compared to the previous month. Gaza was ruled for almost two decades by Hamas before the group launched its brutal Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, which sparked the current war.
Across the decimated Gaza Strip, starvation has become so acute that the Jordanian military has taken to airdropping rations. Videos posted online Tuesday showed hundreds of desperate Palestinians crowding a beach as packages fell into the water not far from the shore.
Palestinian Authority prime minister and government resign amid pressure to reform
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh and his government submitted their resignations on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024 amid pressure on the deeply unpopular Palestinian government to reform as the war in Gaza rages.
Shtayyeh opened the door to a national unity government including Hamas in his resignation statement, without explicitly naming the militant group that governs Gaza and is gaining popularity in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority (PA) is based.
March 2024
Israeli military forced journalists and health workers to strip in Gaza hospital raid
Israeli forces detained Palestinian journalists and health workers, blindfolded them and stripped them down to their underwear in Al-Shifa Hospital, in northern Gaza, according to eyewitness accounts.
Palestinian reporters and hospital staff described scenes of humiliating interrogations where colleagues had been undressed and left outside in the cold, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) laid siege to the largest hospital in the enclave in the early hours of Monday, March 21.
Nearly 400 tons of food aid will arrive in Gaza by ship
Nearly 400 tons of food aid are expected to arrive in Gaza by ship on March 30, according to the non-governmental organization arranging the deliveries.
The Open Arms, a salvage vessel that delivered aid to Gaza earlier this month, is towing a barge, while a cargo vessel, the Jennifer, is also carrying aid, said Juan Camilo, a community outreach manager with World Central Kitchen.
April 2024
New crossings into Gaza offer 'glimmer of hope'
Israel said it approved the reopening of the Erez crossing into northern Gaza and the temporary use of Ashdod port in southern Israel, following U.S. demands to increase humanitarian aid supplies into Gaza.
The decision to reopen the Erez crossing, the main crossing point from Israel into northern Gaza before the war, represented a major shift after Israeli officials previously rejected calls for more entry points into Gaza to be opened up.
Palestinians walk past destroyed houses
The death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza climbed to more than 34,000 on Saturday, April 20, with the majority of victims women and children, including at least six killed by an overnight airstrike on a house in Rafah.
The latest grim milestone comes as hope of a ceasefire has dimmed, and global attention has shifted to the dangerous exchange of missile and drone strikes between Iran and Israel.
May 2024
Students erect pro-Palestinian encampments across major Canadian universities
Protests at major Canadian education facilities popped up at the start of May as police have been arresting hundreds on U.S. campuses and the death toll in Gaza has been mounting.
According to a statement from organizers the University of Toronto, the encampment will stay until the university discloses its investments, divests from any that "sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine" and ends partnerships with some Israeli academic institutions.
U.S. report investigates whether Israel violated international law in Gaza
A new US report transmitted to Capitol Hill on Friday also sharply criticized the toll of Israel’s military campaign and the use of American weapons.
The Biden administration said in a new report that it is “reasonable to assess” that US weapons have been used by Israeli forces in Gaza in ways that are inconsistent with international humanitarian law, but stopped short of officially saying Israel violated the law.
June 2024
While Israel hailed rescue of four hostages, Palestinians recall the horrors
Bullet holes fleck the bloodstained walls of the Miqdad family home, in Nuseirat camp, central Gaza.
CNN footage from the house shows a cream teddy bear perched on a white cupboard, with broken plastic strewn across the shelves. In another room, mother-of-four Rasha Abdel Miqdad shudders with grief, before breaking down in tears.
“This is the blood of my son, Yamen. May God bless his soul,” the 32-year-old Palestinian told CNN on June 12, 2024. “My son was innocent.
"The war has to end now": EU and UN welcome peace plan for Gaza
The European Union and the United Nations have both welcomed a plan to end the war in Gaza laid out by US President Joe Biden.
On Friday, June 1, 2024, Biden detailed a three-phase proposal submitted by Israel. He asserted that “Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another October 7” – one of Israel’s main war objectives.
July 2024
Top WHO official is worried about possible polio and other disease outbreaks in Gaza
A top World Health Organization official in Palestinian areas said he’s “extremely worried” about polio and other outbreaks of communicable diseases in Gaza after traces of the virus turned up in sewage samples in the territory.
“I am extremely worried about an outbreak happening in Gaza. And this is not only polio — the different outbreaks of the communicable diseases that may happen,” said Dr. Ayadil Saparbekov during a July United Nations briefing in Geneva by video, alluding to a hepatitis outbreak there in 2023.
Israel seeks changes to Gaza truce plan, complicating talks
Israel is seeking changes to a plan for a Gaza truce and the release of hostages by Hamas, complicating a final deal to halt nine months of combat that have devastated the enclave, according to a Western official, a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources.
Israel says that displaced Palestinians should be screened as they return to the enclave's north when the ceasefire begins, retreating from an agreement to allow civilians who fled south to freely return home.
August 2024
Evacuation orders have displaced 90% of Gaza residents
Successive Israeli evacuation orders in Gaza have displaced 90% of its 2.1 million residents since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, the top U.N. humanitarian official for the Palestinian territory says.
Muhannad Hadi said the evacuation orders are endangering civilians instead of protecting them.
“They are forcing families to flee again, often under fire and with the few belongings they can carry with them, into an ever-shrinking area” that is crowded and unsafe.
Civilians are being deprived of medical care, shelter, water wells and humanitarian supplies, “running from one destroyed place to another, with no end in sight,” he said.
Israel launches deadly large-scale raids in West Bank
Israel launched a large-scale military operation Wednesday, Aug. 28, in the occupied West Bank, where the army said it killed nine Palestinian fighters, while the nearly 11-month Gaza war showed no sign of abating despite ongoing U.S. efforts to help broker a truce.
The war has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatant and civilian casualties.
September 2024
Mother holds hand of son who was killed in Israeli strike
Survivors of an Israeli strike in Al-Mawasi on Tuesday, Sept. 10, described the horror of looking for their loved ones in the middle of the night.
“People thought they were asleep safely. Suddenly we woke up to the sounds of explosions, and fires were surrounding us from every side. We didn’t know where the strike hit, where the remains are, or where the blood is. Everything was scattered,” one eyewitness, Mahmoud Al Nims, told CNN.
'Stop the Genocide': Palestinian president urges UN to assist Gaza
October 2024
People of Gaza and Iran celebrate response of missile attack into Israel
Iranians and Gazans were shown celebrating as missiles launched by Iran fire at Israel in an attack Tuesday, Oct. 4.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the attack focused on Israeli security and military targets and was in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others.
Destruction from the war with Israel has cut Gaza off from the outside world
According to Netblocks, a company that tracks disruption to internet services in conflict zones, there have been about 10 telecom blackouts in Gaza since the beginning of the war, as recently as a few weeks ago.
For people living in the Gaza Strip, connecting with the outside world during the war has been extremely difficult. Blackouts, destruction of telecommunications infrastructure, and alleged cyberattacks have left many Palestinians unable to make calls to ambulances or to keep family members up to date on how they are, as well as hindered aid organizations from providing lifesaving services.
