For over a year now Israel and Hamas (the terrorist organization in charge of Palestine) have been at war and it has caused many deaths and countless dollars of destruction and has only continued the near century long conflicts and wars between Israel and its neighbors.
On Oct 7th 2023 the terrorist government of Palestine Hamas invaded the country of Israel and took hundreds of hostages and killed many Israelis and citizens from around the globe. This dragged the Palestinians and Israelis into a conflict that has taken the internet and the Middle East by storm and has caused massive geopolitical discourse and discussion, completely derailing any and all talk and topics other than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this article, the many events and issues of the conflict will be recapped to tell the first year of this uncertain conflict
Photo of a rocket exchange between Israel and Palestine
To start with, before we may talk about the war as it is now, it must be explained the lead up to the war and present raging tensions. Israel was created after the end of the second world war to provide refuge for the Jewish people. The idea being to give them back to their historic, ancient land to create a safe Jewish state. The only problem for the new Jewish people arriving into Israel is the people who were and still do live there. The now Muslim majority in the Palestinian territory were already not happy with Jewish people due to the doctrines of Islam claiming them to be heretics, and with the Jews moving into the soon-to-be Israel many were fiercely unhappy. To fully cover the conflicts between Israel and its neighbors would be to make this article span pages but to give a brief and very oversimplified overview: the Palestinians and Muslim neighbors of Israel were very unhappy and warred with Israel until such a point that Israel occupied much of former Palestinian land won through defensive wars to defend against Muslim aggression. The Palestinians have always been in conflict with Israel and have always been in high tensions with each other that have only recently boiled over once more into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
With the democratic election of Hamas (A terrorist organization based off of radical Islamic fundamentalism and set on the destruction of the Jewish state and its people) and the attack on Oct 7th marking the beginning of the war it caused a massive wave of discourse and discussion online, in the media and in the real world with many being harshly divided on who’s right and what’s wrong. But as of the writing of this article, here’s a brief description of the events of the war
To start with Hamas militants took many hostages and killed many on the 7th and eventually were pushed out by Israel and then on the defensive by the IDF (Israeli defense force) the leader of Israel, Netanyahu, who is a very controversial figure in his own right, has called for a complete destruction of Hamas and their operatives. However, here is where the waters muddy and true horrors begin to start. To begin, the treatment of the hostages by Hamas is abhorrent and a literal war crime, as hostages are illegal under modern rules of war. Not to mention the placing of military targets in the middle of civilian areas to deter strikes due to the heavy collateral and civilian deaths, condemning the Palestinians to die so Hamas may be safe. Along with that, the stealing of humanitarian aid meant for the citizens is causing many to die as supplies needed are stolen by the terrorists. That is not to say Israel is without any wrongdoing as well though. With reports of white phosphorus being used (A war crime under international law) and the rampant collateral damage to the civilians of Gaza, it’s safe to say that they’ve had their share of destruction. Not to mention the cutting off of all electricity and running water and a blockade of the Gaza Strip, making the area a desolate wasteland with no way out and little way to live. And that’s not even touching on the IDF’s many reported wrongdoings. Let it be known that both sides of this war are soaked in blood, with the deaths of many upon all of their shoulders.
The international response to the conflict outside the Middle East has been rather firm in the request for a cease fire and a return to the drawing board for a possible two-state solution, allowing both Palestinians and Israelis to exist in their own land. Unfortunately, the many solutions proposed have either been rejected by Hamas or talks cease for months over an escalation. The only assured thing is that the longer the conflict draws, the more innocents die by crossfire from Hamas and Israel.
To conclude, the Israeli Palestinian conflict is a horrifying situation with many hotly contested arguments and an area with so much gray it’s impossible to find an actor without wrongdoing. The only thing that we can hope for is that an end to the conflict is near, with the Israeli hostages being returned and the Palestinians able to be freed from Hamas’ iron rule.
