On October 8th, 2023 a militant group in Gaza known as Hamas launched a coordinated attack on Israel and Israeli citizens. This was also the date of Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday of singing, dancing, and carrying copies of the Torah.  Since the attack, the government of Israel has formally declared war on Hamas. Despite skirmishes and small-scale operations in the past, this is the first time a formal state of war was declared since the Yom Kippur war nearly 50 years ago. Since this declaration of war, further attacks have been launched from inside Gaza and the Israeli Defense force has mobilized and can be seen moving in on the Gaza Strip.

This attack comes from a history of strife between Israel and the Palestinians.  On May 14th, 1948 the Jewish state of Israel was established along with a proposed separate Arab state in the area of Palestine. The next day May 15th 1984 armies from the countries: Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq invaded Israel in a war that lasted for 10 months and ended with a victory for Israel and with Israel gaining land past the proposed borders and into the proposed Arab state. As another result of this war The west bank was occupied by Jordan and the Gaza Strip by Egypt. After this, violence from Arab states and other attacks were seen from 1950-1967 until the 6 Day War. The 6 Day War was a preemptive strike from Israel on Egypt that ended with Israel gaining the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as well as the part of Jerusalem they did not own. This gain of land led to a sizeable Palestinian minority in Israel. These annexed territories and the subsequent growth of the Palestinian minority led to the emergence of organizations that opposed the occupation of these lands. This situation has been seen in small skirmishes throughout the decades since and now we see it in the earlier mentioned state of war now declared.

As the current conflict continues in Israel we can see tensions rising internationally as both sides look for outside support. A few countries have already expressed support for Israel or Palestine and we continue to watch as more countries follow suit and the conflict grows.