On October 7th 2023, militants from the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas stormed the Gaza border and invaded Israel. The attack immediately prompted a response from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which swiftly took back its invaded territory. However, before Israel took back its lands, Hamas committed multiple massacres of Israelis and took 200 hostages. Since then, Gaza has been under the spotlight of international media. The current situation in Gaza is a testament to the complicated relationship between Israel and Palestine and decades of conflict.
History of Israeli-Palestine Conflict.
The roots of the current war are the result of a long, simmering conflict between Israel and Palestine. In 1948, the United Nations (UN) drafted a resolution to divide Palestine into two states for the respective ethnic groups within Palestine: the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs. This resolution, although approved by the Israelis, never manifested as Arab nations declared war on Israel immediately after the creation of Israel. The subsequent Arab-Israeli War in 1948, resulted in the preservation of Israeli independence. However, in the process, Israel illegally occupied lands that were supposed to be recognized as a then-proposed Palestinian state. Consequently, Palestinian terrorist groups, calling for the destruction of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state, were formed, most notably the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Originally, Israel’s main enemies were their Arab neighbors that did not recognize Israel and sought to instate a Palestinian state. Israel bordered these Arab nations, most notably Egypt and Jordan, within Palestine itself-Egypt controlled the Gaza strip while Jordan controlled the West Bank. The tide of the Arab-Israeli conflict changed in 1967, when Israel launched a preemptive invasion that captured the Gaza strip, the West Bank, the Golan heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. The Six Day War-named in line with the length of the duration of the war-allowed Israel control of all Palestinian territory. After a brief war in 1973, The dynamics of the Arab-Israeli war changed. In 1978, Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords, which would stipulate Israel to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and require Egypt to recognize Israel. As a result, Israel-Egyptian relations warmed; Subsequently, several Arab nations also followed Egypt’s lead. With Arab relations warmed, Israel turned to the issue of Palestine. During this period, the Israeli government illegally sponsored settlers to settle in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. As a result of the illegal settlements and conflicts between Israel and the PLO, tensions increased between Israelis and Palestinians. Tensions boiled over in 1987, when Palestinians rebelled against their Israeli occupiers in the First Intifada. It was during the First Intifada that the Sslamist terrorist group Hamas emerged. The First Intifada demonstrated the urgency for immediate measures for the peace of Palestine. In 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo accords, which stipulated the creation of the Palestinian National Authority, which would have its own legislature elections. These developments signaled hope for an eventual peace settlement between the Palestinians and Israeli. However, the progress made by Oslo quickly dissipated as right-wing Israeli and Palestinian extremists undermined a possible transition process.
Lead Up To Recent War
In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip. Subsequent Palestinian elections occurred throughout Palestine. The two-dominant parties within Gaza were Fatah, the party favored by the PLO, and Hamas; a radical islamist group that saw the PLO as too secular. The 2006 elections resulted in Hamas dominating Gaza. This led to a civil war within the Gaza strip between Hamas and Fatah, which resulted in Hamas victory. Since then, Israel and Hamas have engaged in several conflicts such as the current war in 2023. What distincts the recent war is that the intensity of previous conflicts are not as far-reaching as the current conflict; The recent attack by Hamas, penetrated deep into Israeli territory, while most previous conflicts revolved around the Gaza border.
Current Situation
As of the writing of this article, Israel and Hamas have signed a brief truce. While Israel allows a pause in the war, which would allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, Hamas would return hostages taken by them during the October 7th Attacks. Negotiated by Qatar and the US, the truce could finally end the war. However, Israel has promised that It will continue its goal of destroying Hamas permanently. The truce is expected to be extended as Israel begins to accept a new round of released hostages.
