What is Disaster?

Disasters are serious disruptions to the functioning of a community that exceed

its capacity to cope using its own resources. It is classified into two types,Natural
and Manmade.

#Types of disaster:
● Natural Disaster:Natural disasters include all types of severe weather,
which have the potential to pose a significant threat to human health
and safety, property, critical infrastructure, and homeland security.

● Man Made Disaster:Man-made disasters have an element of human intent,

negligence, or error involving a failure of a man-made system, as opposed
to natural disasters resulting from natural hazards. Such man-made War is
typically fought by a country or group of countries against an opposing
force to seek an objective. Wars are fought for a variety of reasons
including economic, territorial, religious, political, civil, revenge and
ideological.disasters are crime, arson, civil disorder, terrorism, war,
biological/chemical threat, cyber-attacks, etc.

What is War?
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies,
or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It
is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and
mortality, using regular or irregular military forces.

#Reasons for war-War is typically fought by a country or group of countries

against an opposing force to seek an objective. Wars are fought for a variety of
reasons,such as:

● Economic
● Territorial
● Religious
● Political
● Civil
● Revenge
● Ideological.
 Israel-Hamas War 2023
Historical Background

SITUATION OF ISRAEL BEFORE 1948:

● Britain took control of the area known as Palestine following the defeat of the
Ottoman Empire, which ruled that part of the Middle East, in World War One.
● The land was inhabited by a Jewish minority and Arab majority, as well as
other, smaller ethnic groups.
● Tensions between the two peoples grew when the international community
gave the UK the task of establishing a "national home" in Palestine for Jewish
people.
● This stemmed from the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a pledge made by then
Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Britain's Jewish community.
● The declaration was enshrined in the British mandate over Palestine and
endorsed by the newly-created League of Nations - forerunner of the United
Nations - in 1922.
● To Jews Palestine was their ancestral home, but Palestinian Arabs also claimed
the land and opposed the move.
● Between the 1920s and 1940s, the number of Jews arriving there grew, with
many fleeing from persecution in Europe, especially the Nazi Holocaust in
World War Two.
● Violence between Jews and Arabs, and against British rule, also increased.
● In 1947, the UN voted for Palestine to be split into separate Jewish and Arab
states, with Jerusalem becoming an international city.
● That plan was accepted by Jewish leaders but rejected by the Arab side and
never implemented.
● In 1948, unable to solve the problem, Britain withdrew and Jewish leaders
declared the creation of the State of Israel.
● It was intended to be a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution, as well as a
national homeland for Jews.
● Fighting between Jewish and Arab militias had been intensifying for months,
and the day after Israel declared statehood, five Arab countries attacked.
 ● Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced out of their homes in
what they call Al Nakba, or the "Catastrophe"
● By the time the fighting ended in a ceasefire the following year, Israel
controlled most of the territory.
● Jordan occupied land which became known as the West Bank, and Egypt
occupied Gaza.
● Jerusalem was divided between Israeli forces in the West, and Jordanian
forces in the East.
● As there was never a peace agreement there were more wars and fighting in
the following decades

ISRAEL'S BORDER TODAY:

● In a war in 1967, Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as
most of the Syrian Golan Heights, Gaza and the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.
● Most Palestinian refugees and their descendants live in Gaza and the West
Bank, as well as in neighboring Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
● Neither they nor their descendants have been allowed by Israel to return to
their homes - Israel says this would overwhelm the country and threaten its
existence as a Jewish state.
● Israel still occupies the West Bank and claims the whole of Jerusalem as its
capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a
hoped-for future Palestinian state.
 ● The US is one of only a handful of countries to recognise the city as Israel's
capital.
● In the past 50 years Israel has built settlements in the West Bank and East
Jerusalem, where more than 700,000 Jews now live.
● Settlements are held to be illegal under international law - that is the position
of the UN Security Council and the UK government, among others - although
Israel rejects this.

THE GAZA STRIP:

● Gaza is a narrow strip of land sandwiched between Israel and the

Mediterranean Sea, but with a short southern border with Egypt.
● Just 41km (25 miles) long and 10 km wide, it has more than two million
inhabitants and is one of the most densely populated places on Earth.
● In the wake of the 1948-49 war, Gaza was occupied by Egypt for 19 years.
● Israel occupied Gaza in the 1967 war and stayed until 2005, during that time
building Jewish settlements.
● Israel withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005, though it retained control over
its airspace, shared border and shoreline. The UN still considers the territory to
be occupied by Israel.

THE PROBLEMS BETWEEN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE:There are a number of issues

which the two sides cannot agree on.

These include:

● What should happen to Palestinian refugees

● Whether Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank should stay or be
removed
● Whether the two sides should share Jerusalem
● And - perhaps most tricky of all - whether a Palestinian state should be created
alongside Israel
THE TEMPORARY PERIODS OF PEACE:Israel-Palestinian peace talks were held on and
off between the 1990s and 2010s, interspersed with outbreaks of violence.

● A negotiated peace did seem possible in the early days. A series of

secret talks in Norway became the Oslo peace process, forever
symbolised by a ceremony on the White House lawn in 1993 presided
over by President Bill Clinton.
● In a historic moment, the Palestinians recognised the State of Israel and
Israel recognised its historical enemy, the Palestine Liberation
Organisation (PLO), as the sole representative of the Palestinian people.
A self-governing Palestinian Authority was set up.
● Cracks soon appeared, though, with then opposition leader Benjamin
Netanyahu calling Oslo a mortal threat to Israel.
● The Israelis accelerated their project to settle Jews in the occupied
Palestinian territories.
● The recently emerged Palestinian militant group Hamas sent suicide
bombers to kill people in Israel and wreck the chances of a deal.
● The atmosphere in Israel turned ugly, culminating in Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination by a Jewish extremist on 4
November 1995.
● In the 2000s attempts were made to revive the peace process -
including in 2003 when a roadmap was devised by world powers with the
ultimate goal of a two-state solution, but this was never implemented.
● Peace efforts finally stalled in 2014, when talks failed between the
Israelis and Palestinians in Washington.
● The most recent peace plan - prepared by the US when Donald Trump
was president - was called "the deal of the century" by Prime Minister
Netanyahu, but was dismissed by the Palestinians as one-sided and
never got off the ground.
Events that have triggered the Israel-Palestine conflict in 2023

● Gaza is ruled by Hamas, an Islamist group which is committed to the

destruction of Israel and is designated as a terrorist group by the UK
and many other countries.
● Hamas won the Palestinians' last elections in 2006, and seized control of
Gaza the following year by ousting the rival Fatah movement of West
Bank-based President Mahmoud Abbas.
● Since then, militants in Gaza have fought several wars with Israel, which
along with Egypt has maintained a partial blockade on the strip to
isolate Hamas and try to stop attacks, particularly the indiscriminate
firing of rockets towards Israeli cities.
● Palestinians in Gaza say Israel's restrictions and its air strikes on heavily
populated areas amount to collective punishment.
● This year has been the deadliest on record for Palestinians in the
occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the UN says. Palestinians also
complain of the restrictions and military actions being carried out there
in response to deadly attacks on Israelis.
● These tensions could have been one of the reasons for Hamas's latest
attack.
● But the militants may also have been seeking to boost their popularity
among ordinary Palestinians, including by using hostages to pressure
Israel to free some of the estimated 4,500 Palestinians held in its
prisons.
 Timeline of the Israel-Palestine conflict 2023-2024

★ October 7, 2023: Hamas gunmen storm into southern Israel from Gaza and
rampage through communities, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages
back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
★ October 8: Lebanon's Hezbollah begins cross-border shelling attacks against
Israel that will continue throughout the war, drawing Israeli counter-strikes.
★ October 13: Israel tells residents of Gaza City, where more than 1 million of the
enclave's 2.3 million people live, to evacuate and move south. Over the course
of the next weeks, Israel will push for the evacuation of the entire north.
Hundreds of thousands of Gazans will flee their homes, beginning a process
that will soon uproot nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip, with
families often forced to flee several times as Israeli forces advance.
★ October 17: An explosion at al-Ahli al-Arabi Baptist hospital in Gaza City
triggers outrage in the Arab world. Palestinians say hundreds died and blame
the
★ October 19: A U.S. navy warship intercepts missiles and drones launched from
Yemen over the Red Sea in the direction of Israel. Yemen's Houthi group, like
Hamas an Iranian ally, will continue sporadic long-range attacks on Israel and
against Red Sea shipping in what is describes as solidarity with Gaza.
★
★ October 21: Aid trucks are allowed through the Rafah border crossing from
Egypt into Gaza after days of diplomatic wrangling. It is only a small fraction
of what is required in Gaza, where food, water, medicines and fuel are running
out.
★ The issue of securing adequate supplies through Israel's blockade persists
through coming months as the humanitarian crisis worsens.
★ October 27: A week after mounting limited incursions, Israel launches a broad
ground offensive in Gaza, beginning with an assault on the north, vowing to
free all its hostages and eradicate Hamas.
★ November 1:Evacuations begin from Gaza through the Rafah crossing for an
estimated 7,000 foreign passport-holders, dual nationals and their dependents,
 and people needing urgent medical treatment. The overwhelming majority of
Gaza residents still have no way out of the enclave.
★ November 15: Israeli troops enter Gaza's biggest hospital, Al Shifa in Gaza
City, after a siege of several days during which medical staff say patients
including newborn babies died from a lack of power and supplies. The Israelis
say the hospital had been used to conceal an underground headquarters for
Hamas fighters, which staff deny. The military later takes the media on a tour
of a tunnel there. Within a few more weeks, all hospitals serving the northern
half of Gaza will have ceased functioning.
★ November 21: Israel and Hamas announce the first truce of the war: an
agreement to pause fighting for four days to exchange women and children
hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian women and teenagers detained or jailed
by Israel on security grounds, and allow in more aid.
★ The ceasefire would eventually be extended for a week in total, freeing 105
hostages and about 240 Palestinian detainees, before it collapses and war
resumes on Dec. 1.
★ Around December 4: Days after the truce expires, Israeli forces launch their
first big ground assault in southern Gaza, on the outskirts of the main southern
city, Khan Younis. International organisations say the next phase of the war,
which extends the military campaign from the north to the entire length of the
enclave including areas already sheltering hundreds of thousands of displaced
people, will drastically worsen the humanitarian situation
★ December 12: Biden says Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza is costing it
international support, a clear shift in rhetoric from Israel's closest ally, the
United States. Over the coming weeks, several senior U.S. officials visit Israel,
urging it to do more to protect civilians, scale down the war, and shift to a
more targeted campaign against Hamas leaders.
★ December 15: Israeli forces mistakenly kill three hostages in Gaza. The incident
leads to some of the most pronounced criticism of the conduct of the war
within Israel, although the campaign still has widespread domestic support.
★ December 22: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iranian-backed militia, says it
launched a long-range attack on Israel. Israel reports no impact. Israel's
defence minister later says Iraq is among regional fronts to which the Gaza
war has expanded.
★ Around December 26: Israeli forces launch a major ground assault on areas in
the central Gaza Strip, preceded by a campaign of airstrikes that again sends
hundreds of thousands of people to flight, most of them already displaced.
 ★ From January 1, 2024: Israel signals it will start withdrawing some troops from
Gaza in a more targeted new phase of its campaign that it says will last for
many months. Officials say this transition in tactics will begin in the north of
Gaza, while intense fighting continues in southern areas.
★ January 11: U.S. and British warplanes, ships and submarines launch dozens of
airstrikes across Yemen in retaliation against Houthi forces for their attacks on
Red Sea shipping. The United States carries out another strike in Yemen the
following day. The Houthis say five of their fighters were killed in the initial
strikes, and that they will retaliate and continue their attacks on shipping.

Also on Jan. 11, the International Court of Justice hears opening statements in
a case in which South Africa accuses Israel of committing a state-led genocide
campaign against the Palestinian population. Israel denies the accusation.

.
 Implications of the war around the globe

● The Israel-Hamas war, even though it hasn't spilled over to other countries, is
threatening a wider disruption of trade and supplies.
● Days after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels threatened to target Israeli
vessels in the Red Sea over Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, they
seized a ship owned by an Israeli businessman and rerouted it towards the
Yemeni coast.
● The seizure threatens not just Israeli shipping but the whole traffic in the Red
Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. Even the seized ship which the
Houthis say is owned by an Israeli company bears not just Israeli interests.
● The ship was chartered by Japanese Nippon Yusen, had departed from Korfez
in Turkey, was headed to Pipavav in India, and carried staff of various
nationalities. Clearly, targeting of ships by Houthi rebels jeopardises global
interests even without considering the risk of other ships getting targeted by
mistake or ships avoiding the route due to escalated risk.
● The Red Sea is one of the most important shipping routes as the traffic
between Europe and Asian and Arab countries passes through the Red Sea and
the Suez Canal that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
● Various goods, including automobiles, are transported along this route, which
connects Europe and Japan via the Suez Canal. There could be an impact on
the Japanese economy, including supply chains. Japan is one of the many
Asian and Arab countries which trade through this route.
● apan is one of the many Asian and Arab countries which trade through this
route. The trade also includes LNG supply from Arab countries to Europe and
Chinese goods headed for Europe. The Suez canal accounts for roughly 10
percent of the total global maritime trade.
● Geopolitics disrupting maritime trade is a challenging prospect for the global
economy since squeezed supplies and higher transport costs can hike inflation
at a time when globally inflation is seen to be cooling and central bankers
might pivot early next year to cutting rates.
● Higher transport costs as well as higher insurance premiums due to escalated
geopolitical risks mean higher prices of energy and other goods.
● Many think it's premature to see the belligerent Houthis as a wider concern for
shipping and trade. Other countries have resisted getting drawn into the
Israel-Hamas conflict so far.
● The oil market has shrugged off the impact of the Israel-Hamas war. The
Houthis seizing the ship may not be an escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict
and it may still remain contained especially when a negotiated truce is being
talked about.