Recently there has been conflict in the Middle East involving Israel and Palestine.
Two groups of people, those of Israel and Hamas, have been involved in conflict for many years now.
Mr. Paul Culcasi, a history teacher at Del Val explained that there has been involvement from other countries including the Arab states and the United States.
The group called Hamas, formed from a Palestine branch known as the Muslim Brotherhood, formed in 1987.
This conflict began when Palestine was split into two separate states on Nov. 29, 1947 under the United Nations Resolution 181. This resolution created one Arab state, now known as Palestine, and one Jewish state, now known as Israel.
Israel declared its independence less than a year later on May 14, 1948, and since then, there has been conflict between the two countries.
On June 5, 1967, the Six Day War began and lasted until June 10, 1967. This war was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors: Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
This conflict extends back to the Ottoman Empire, and then “Following World War One, that area was mandated to England,” said Culcasi.
The 2023 conflict arose when Hamas launched a surprise attack against the Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, and 11 days later Biden promised $100,000,000 in aid to the Gaza Strip.
Culcasi said that Hamas was covering the Gaza Strip and then crossed out of the Gaza Strip and attacked Israel. In response, Israel bombed the Gaza Strip and is mobilizing. This action explains why the United States of America is advocating for restraint from Israel and for the country not to invade.
As of Oct. 23, 2023, Israel has sealed off the Gaza Strip, which has caused major problems concerning its water, fuel, food and electricity supplies because these resources have now become limited.
There have also been reports that the Gaza health system is on the verge of collapse.
Hamas has released two elderly hostages who were previously in its custody, but it is still holding 222 people.
Due to the conflict, there have been over 5,000 people killed, 2,055 of whom were children, and there are at least 15,273 injured.
Israel and Palestine have been engaged in a long conflict, with deadly and devastating results for the two states, and there is no easy and quick end in sight as peace conferences have been unsuccessful.
