By now, most people know about the Israel and Palestine conflict and how it’s affected many lives in the Middle East, but many don’t know the history behind these two countries and what led up to the war. The conflict goes back to 1947 when the UN adopted the partition plan which divided British territory into the states of Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. As a result, Arab countries near Israel wanted Palestine not to receive additional lands, and this conflict started multiple wars. Israel won all of them and gained a little more territory each time. In 1979, however, a treaty was forced on Israel and Egypt stating they had to be at peace and stop most of the fighting. In 2014 and 2018, minor skirmishes broke out between Israel and Palestine, but the war ended.

In 2023, the Hamas terrorist group located in the Gaza Strip was accused of working with Iranian intelligence forces to plan a bombing of Israel. The head of Israel’s military intelligence, Rosh Hamateh Haklali, says it was his fault and took full responsibility that there was an intelligence failure ahead of the Hamas strike. The cause for Hamas to bomb Israel is because they “openly sought ‘obliteration’ of Israel” as CBS News says. They didn’t attack because of religious disputes, but more due to land disputes and Palestine’s desire to reclaim their land that they say used to belong to them, before the British split the land. Iran claims they had no relation with Hamas but it wouldn’t be able to exist without Iran’s support. In fact, recent evidence shows that Tehran and officials in Gaza have had a stronger connection but again, cannot prove they have gotten help.

Let’s see how the U.S. has responded to the war and what they’ve done to help. Joe Biden has made a strong statement supporting Israel and is sending shipments of weapons, etc. to Israel through the Mediterranean Sea. The U.S. has sent out 2,000 troops to the Middle East and has given information on the Pentagon sending two of its powerful weapons because of certain conflict escalations. Many people around the world and officials are concerned about this knowing how past conflicts between both countries have not ended well. Though both Israel and Palestine have created multiple conflicts, this one so far has been the most significant and dangerous in decades.