(RepublicanNews.org) – Hamas’ assault on civilians in Southern Israel began on October 7th. According to the United Nations, within three days, almost 10% of the Palestinian population in Gaza had been displaced. By October 11th, that number had risen to 263,000. Only 24 hours after that, it had climbed yet again to 338,000.
As it stands, about 17% of Gaza’s residents have been forced to flee their homes. Most would likely agree that an Israeli ground invasion would add several degrees of magnitude to the number of displaced Palestinians. Thus far, the Gaza Strip has only been subjected to aerial bombardment, but most reports circulating in the media suggest an IDF ground attack is imminent.
The U.N. did not provide specific totals for the number of displaced Israelis, but unofficial totals provided by one outlet suggested that a minimum of “tens of thousands” of the nation’s civilians had been evacuated from their residences in the southernmost portion of the country.
According to the latest figures, the conflict has claimed the lives of around 1,200 Israelis and about 1,100 Gazans, the overwhelming majority of which on both sides are civilians. If readers find themselves wondering why neighboring Arab states are declining to open their doors to refugees from Gaza and the West Bank, they should be aware that they already have.
In many cases, those open-armed policies were carried out to excess and history shows that it hasn’t always turned out well for their hosts. In 1970, fighters with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, who originally arrived in Jordan as refugees, attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow the nation’s monarchy in an event known as “Black September.”
The PLO also had a leading hand in kicking off Lebanon’s 15-year civil war in 1975. In addition to those facts, most surrounding nations are already saturated with Palestinian refugees. In Jordan alone, they account for 3 million of the country’s 11 million residents.
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