*The Spartan Scoop staff acknowledges that this is a complex and multi-faceted issue. The intent of this article is to recognize the recent developing conflict, rather than the layered history that is decades old.*

Barrages of missiles are exchanged every day in Israel and Palestine, each with the intent to kill a mass of enemies. It’s like storing two reactive chemicals next to each other; they’re bound to explode. Although the weapons are modern now, the hatred for each other has stayed the same.

The Israel-Palestine conflict as we know it today started all the way back in 1948, just after Israel became a nation. The fighting between the two peoples spans for much longer than just the last 100 years, however, and the history is very dense. Many different wars have been fought since Israel was reinstated as a nation such as the Six Day War and the many Palestinian uprisings. The two groups have a spiteful past that generations of theirs have been unable to forget.

Why it’s happening

Before 1948, Palestine laid claim to most of the land that Israel now calls home. They inhabited Jerusalem and other holy sites. Then Israel was established and the land was carved up by the United Nations. Most of original Palestine was given to the Israelis, with the Palestinians having two separate chunks of land, Gaza and West Bank. Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, was in the center of West Bank and was a special, shared zone. Both peoples could visit the city for religious purposes or live there.

Palestinians weren’t happy with the splitting of Jerusalem. Their heart remained set on what they had before: complete control over their former land. Conflicts arose from radical groups within Gaza and attacks on Israelite cities grew common. 

Israel has attacked Palestine multiple times throughout their modern occupation of the land. Palestinians argue that a lot of these attacks were unsolicited. Many of those living in Gaza and West Bank feel like Israel has unfairly treated them and robbed them of their land. Those who side with Palestine around the world believe this also.

This is a 1400 year old dispute that has yet to be solved and there doesn’t seem to be a solution on the horizon. Most recently added to the list of violent controversy is the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. 

Timeline of The October Attacks So Far

• October 7th, 2023

Roughly 5000 rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel’s cities. Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, is responsible for these attacks. The U.S. classifies them as a terrorist organization. Around the same time as the rockets, Hamas also broke through security checkpoints and entered into Israel. They sent paragliders and people on boats to assist the effort to kill Israelis. 

A notable event on the first day of the attacks was the massacre of over 260 Jews at a music festival. Thousands of people attended the festival in hopes of a good time with friends and family. At around 6:00 AM, the missiles started pouring overhead and gunshots were heard nearby. The festival intersected with the path of the approaching Hamas militias. 

Attempting to escape, the festival-goers were shot down as they ran across empty fields. Numerous people fled to their cars to try and escape quicker, but for some, even this was not enough. Cars and bodies of the less fortunate lay everywhere having been struck by the Hamas bullets.

• Late morning and for rest of the day

Hamas troops target police stations and manage to blow past the Israeli Defense Force in order to go deeper into Israel. Hundreds of people are killed in the process. Cities are bombed and shot up, citizens are taken hostage and killed. These people may have been taken hostage for leverage over the more mighty Israel Defense Force (IDF). Some of these hostages were taken inside Gaza. The areas subject to Hamas’ terrorism has yet to be returned to Israel and much fighting is ensuing to regain it.

• October 8th and 9th

Israel launched a full force retaliation against Hamas with the Israeli Defense Force. The effort has been called “Operation Iron Swords”. The goal is to drive Hamas all the way out of Israel and has already proved to be successful. The IDF had taken criticism for its slow response to the attacks. A lot of the damage done by Hamas was because of their failure to act sooner. 

Israel is now massing hundreds of thousands of troops at the border of Gaza. It seems that their intent is to cripple Hamas’s military capabilities by a ground invasion.

Given the severity of the attack, such an outcome is likely. Israel has every reason to institute an offensive effort in retaliation to the mass murders. The last time a ground assault was conducted was in 2014, nine years ago. 

The Israeli kill count continues to climb higher as the conflict progresses. So far, 600 have been killed and 2000 wounded. The number of hostages is estimated to be 100 and climbing. Hostages that were taken and not transported to Gaza have been mostly freed, but the situation is still evolving and minor incidents are not yet accounted for. 

Because of the extreme aggression and terrorism, Israel officially declared war on Hamas on October 8th.

• Late October 9th

Israel lays siege to Gaza, restricting what can go in and out of it. The Hamas leaders don’t like this at all and threaten to start killing hostages. A leader named Abu Obalda stated, “we will respond to any targeting of our people who are safe in their homes without warning, with the execution of our civilian hostages, and we will broadcast it with audio and video,” 

This harrowing threat hasn’t seemed to do much, as the siege is still in progress. Along with the Jews in captivity are some Americans and other people of various nationalities. America has a very close eye on the situation partially because of this reason and also because Israel is one of their allies. America hasn’t had much time to act yet, but sooner or later they will get involved. America may even send in military troops of their own.

Where does this lead?

This recent invasion feels different. It has been a very coordinated effort so far by the Hamas group, and they don’t show signs of letting up. The people in Gaza are still blaming Israel as the original instigators. Even if all is settled in this particular struggle, it’s highly unlikely that they will quit instigating in the future. 

The constant pestering of Israel by middle-eastern countries will continue to go on as the region becomes more contested. History tells the world that just as this problem has managed to stay relevant throughout years and years of history, it will continue to do so. 

What is the ultimate outcome? It very well could be the complete eradication of one group from the ancient area. Israel dislikes Hamas so much that they are willing to compare the recent attacks to those in Pearl Harbor. Hamas and other groups hate Israel so much that they’re willing to conduct rampant suicide bombings in Israeli cities. If it continues on like this, a peaceful solution may be completely out of reach for a very long time.