This weeks crisis in Israel-Palestine began with a vicious, unprecedented offensive against Israeli communities. Now the flare-up is expected to mostly play out in occupied Palestinian territory specifically in Gaza, the coastal enclave from which Hamas militants launched their Oct. 7 attack.

The Israeli military has been bombarding Gaza since the weekend, killing nearly 800 people . Many international officials and national security experts believe Israel will soon launch a ground invasion of Gaza with the stated goal of exacting revenge upon the territorys ruling party, Hamas, and other armed Palestinian groups.

Its clear that Israels operation will have dire consequences for nearly everyone in the densely populated area. Already, the chief hospital in Gaza City looks like a slaughterhouse, Mahmoud Shalabi of the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians told the BBC . The United Nations said Tuesday in a statement that nearly 200,000 Gazans have been displaced from their homes.

Israel is imposing what its defense minister called a complete siege on Gaza no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel and has repeatedly bombed the only exit point from Gaza into another country, the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

The emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy, Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari told journalists on Tuesday, while Mark Regev, an adviser to Israels leader, told CNN he expected a new reality in Gaza.

Amid worldwide shock over the assault on Israel, theres little international pressure for Israeli restraint in the name of recognizing the difference between the perpetrators and ordinary people. Asked by reporters on Monday evening whether the U.S. wants its Israeli counterparts to refrain from collective punishment of Gazans, White House spokesperson John Kirby said: Israel has the right to defend itself We and Israel, as democracies, we have a lot of shared values, [and] one of those shared values is respect for life, the kind Hamas is not showing at all.

The toll of Israels operation and the prolonged conflict that will likely ensue as Hamas and its allies retaliate against Israeli targets, prompting more Israeli retribution will be tremendous. Gaza, a battered strip of land that hosts 2.3 million people in desperate conditions, is set to be one of the worlds bleakest battlefields.

A Dark Familiarity

Gazans are among the globes most impoverished groups, with the majority living in refugee camps and relying on humanitarian aid. They have repeatedly suffered during fighting between Israel and militant Palestinian organizations.

After Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005 retaining control of most of its borders and critical infrastructure Hamas won elections there in 2006 and took over in 2007. Since then, Israel has blockaded Gaza and launched major offensives against it in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021, as well as several smaller operations. Some involved significant civilian casualties, like a monthslong Israeli crackdown on protesters at the Israel-Gaza border in 2018.

The current Israeli campaign has so far targeted a number of residential areas and damaged multiple hospitals, mosques and aid facilities. Israels pledges to make Hamas pay a massive price suggest it will continue to hit a broad range of targets. And its self-proclaimed siege, which U.N. experts described as collective punishment , will likely lead to painful shortages.

During the darkest hours of our presence in Gaza we never envisaged a scenario where 2 million civilians could possibly live through heavy bombing, deprived of water, food, electricity [and] medicines, Fabrizio Carboni, the regional director for the International Committee of the Red Cross, wrote on X on Monday. All measures to avoid such a situation should be taken immediately.

Ghada Kord, a freelance journalist in Gaza, told HuffPost she already feels like shes in a nightmare. She cant shake the scent of the dead bodies of humans, dogs and cats that she saw on the ground immediately after a recent Israeli airstrike hit the center of Gaza City.

The lack of fuel and closed-down streets mean that ambulances cant access people who have been killed and injured, Kord said. She has no electricity, and her internet is spotty. Pharmacies and clinics have shut down. A blanket of smoke has filled the sky.

Two million people live in Gaza not all of them belong to [armed] factions. They are civilians, she said.

Kord hasnt been able to contact her own family yet. She knows its only going to get worse.

We are going to face a huge disaster, she said.