Gaza: One Year After "Operation Cast Lead"

No Change, No Accountability
January 2010

One Year After 'Operation Cast Lead': No Change, No Accountability

On December 27, 2008, the Israeli government launched a 22-day offensive on Gaza and its people in an effort to halt rocket and mortar attacks into Southern Israel by the armed faction, Hamas. Operation 'Cast Lead' resulted in about 1,400 casualties, over 5,000 injured, and a debilitating blow to its already fragile infrastructure. The damage and casualties incurred surpassed that of any previous siege.

The use of indiscriminate military tactics on part of the Israeli Defense Forces resulted in a disproportionate level of damage and casualties. Twenty thousand people remain homeless making due with makeshift tents, residing with relatives, or in their damaged homes. Further exacerbating the deteriorating humanitarian crisis as a result of the attack, is the blockade in place since June 2006.

The severe restrictions on goods, raw materials, medicine, educational material, and people in and out of Gaza has incapacitated a region and its people to the degree that it constitutes as collective punishment. 1.2 million of the Gazan population relies on international food aid, and 80% live in poverty. Gaza has virtually turned into an "open-air" prison.

"One Year After 'Operation Cast Lead': No Change, No Accountability," takes a look back at the degree of death and destruction caused as a result of the 22-day conflict, and the indiscriminate methods of warfare employed by both the IDF and Hamas. The international communities' condemnation and lack of follow through continues to display a level of ineptness. It's imperative that both parties to this conflict are held fully accountable for their violations of international law and crimes of humanity in order to institutionalize the change in that region that has been deliberated for decades.