Who: The country of Israel and the Hamas terrorist group.
Hamas is a Palestinian militant organization that was founded in 1987. It has both political and military wings and is designated as a terrorist organization by several countries and international bodies, including the United States, Israel, the European Union, and others Benjamin Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel.
When: The conflict started on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023.
An estimated 2,200 rockets were set off by Hamas militants into the country of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas also broke through the Israeli borders and killed 1,400 Israeli civilians, and abducted 240 more people. Since then, Israel has fired thousands of rockets into the Palestinian-occupied territory of Gaza. According to the United Nations report on November 15th, An estimated 12,200 Palestinian civilians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023. 4,500 of the those including children.
Where: Israel and Gaza.
Israel is a country, and the Gaza strip is an occupied territory that houses the Palestinian people. Gaza borders Israel, and Israel borders the countries of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Gaza is significantly smaller than Israel. To put it into perspective, the state of New Jersey and the country of Israel are similarly sized and both have a population of roughly 9.1 million people. The state of Rhode Island is roughly 14 times larger than Gaza. Gaza’s population is an estimated 590,000 people.
Why: The Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
Israel and Hamas have been in conflict for decades. The catalyst of the current war was the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Israel ceased humanitarian aid shipments of supplies to Gaza because of the Hamas militants presence in the southern part of Israel. As a result of the shortage of supplies in Gaza, they sent 300 missiles to Israel because of their lack of being able to live, and now these two countries are at war for the time being.
The U.S. Response: The President of the United States, Joe Biden, proceeded to the country of Israel 11 days after the attack from Hamas. Also, President Biden commented on this conflict and said, “Israel has the right to defend itself. We must make sure they have what they need to protect their people today and always,” He also posted “At the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu and I have discussed how Israel must operate by the laws of war.” That means protecting civilians in combat as best as they can.” We can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in Peace.” Biden also expressed that people are suffering in Gaza, and there needs to be some flow of humanitarian aid to flow into the Gaza Strip from Egypt and not Israel.
