Officials say over 1,000 Israelis and Palestinians are now dead following a rocket and ground assault by Hamas, who broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip early Saturday, striking five Israeli cities including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally declared war, ordering a full siege of the Gaza Strip and vowing to turn parts of Gaza “into rubble.”
New Jersey is home to some of the largest Jewish and Palestinian communities in the U.S., with deep economic ties and direct government relations. Gov. Phil Murphy and other top leaders in the state are pledging their solidarity with Israel.
Haggai Matar, executive director of 972 Magazine and board member of the Union of Journalists in Israel, caught up with NJ Spotlight News from Tel Aviv.
This Hamas attack comes after 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades. Around 97% of the water in the Gaza Strip is considered unsafe for drinking and over half of the population lives under the poverty line.
The United Nations said Palestinian civilians are “trapped and helpless” in the bloody conflict. Meanwhile, the White House authorized military aid to support Israel and deployed aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean Sea in an effort to stabilize the region. New Jersey’s U.S. Sen. Cory Booker was in Jerusalem for official meetings when the attacks occurred. He posted a video to social media that he departed safely.
“I think it was surprising indeed,” Matar said in his interview with NJ Spotlight News. “There was no lead-up in the sense of a direct warning as we have seen in previous incidents.
“At the same time, I think it would be wrong to call it unilateral or unprovoked in the sense that Israel has been maintaining a siege of the Gaza Strip for many, many years, almost 20 years now, an ongoing occupation in the West Bank with apartheid policies throughout the country. And that reality wherein Palestinians are regularly exposed to violence from Israel where Palestinian families are also massacred by Israel.”
