On Saturday, October 7th, 2023, over 2300 missiles were launched from the Gaza Strip by the Hamas terrorist organization aimed at targets in western Israel: furthermore, Hamas terrorist “death squads” invaded southern Israel, killing over 1300 Israeli civilians and kidnapping approximately 200 hostages. Since then, things have only escalated. Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident. Israel has had high tensions with the Hamas terrorists since they took control of the Gaza Strip back in 2007, ousting the Palestinian Authority, and even further back since Hamas’ founding in 1987.

Hostilities between the Arabs and Israelis can be traced back to the United Nations Resolution 181, which partitioned Great Britain’s former Palestinian mandate into Jewish and Arab states in May 1948. The Palestinian Arabs refused to recognize this arrangement. Fighting broke out between Palestinian Arabs and Jewish militias. The Arab goal was to block UN Resolution 181 and to prevent the establishment of the Jewish state; on the other hand, the Jewish goal was to gain control over the territory allotted to them in UN181.

After Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, an Arab attack involving the coalition forces of Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria eventually ended with an armistice; however, Israel gained the upper hand by gaining some of the territory granted to the Palestinian Arabs under the United Nations resolution in 1947. Israel’s military bombed 29 villages in the southern region of Palestine. Because of this, thousands of Palestinians fled to what is now the Gaza Strip.  These armistice lines held until 1967. Further conflicts in 1967 and 1973 instigated by Arab forces led to further territory coming under the control of Israel and forcing more Palestinians into refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank, who have not been allowed to return to their homes.  Israel claims by allowing the refugees back into their homes, the country would be overwhelmed and threaten its existence as a Jewish state. Most of the territorial gains from those two conflicts remain under Israeli control to this day.

After the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab countries, the Gaza Strip went under Israeli occupation. Since then, there have been two large uprisings, in 1987-1991 and in 2000-2005, trying to end the Israeli occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state in Gaza. Israel withdrew from Gaza on September 22, 2005, relinquishing control to the Palestinian Authority.

After Hamas was founded, they along with some other militant groups, launched several attacks against Israeli targets within Gaza which led to their military withdrawing from the Gaza Strip back in 2005. During Palestine’s 2006 elections, Hamas – who is bent on destroying the State of Israel – was voted in. Because of the internal government corruption they created, there have been no elections held since Hamas came into power. As a result, citing security reasons, Israel with the support of the United States, instituted a blockade/movement restriction around Gaza isolating the over two million occupants. Unfortunately, even if they hold an election, Hamas will likely stay in power. Back in March of 2023, a poll found that around 45% of Gazans would still vote for Hamas even today.

The question that is on everybody’s mind: who has a legitimate claim to the area? However, the answer is quite complex. Both Jews and Palestinians consider the land their ancestral home. As late back as 1209 BCE, writings from the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah, mentioned the area inhabited by Israelites. On the other hand, Amarna Correspondence, a series of diplomatic letters between Canaanite city-state kings and their Egyptian overlords during the 14th-century BCE, mentions Arabs, Hamites, Canaanites, and Jebusites as the original inhabitants of the land.

As of the present time of this writing, Israel is preparing to invade Gaza after continuous airstrikes and artillery bombardments striking known Hamas military locations, in response to the terrorists’ latest attack. Israel has vowed to wipe Hamas off the face of the earth.