President Joe Biden publicly states that the US will cease weapons supply to Israel if a major assault on Rafah, the last remaining city in Gaza untouched by the offensive, takes place. Israel orders Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah amidst clashes claiming control of a key crossing. The World Health Organization warns of hospitals in southern Gaza running out of fuel. The conflict has led to the death of thousands, displacement of civilians, and a humanitarian crisis with famine looming in northern Gaza. The US-Israel relationship is under scrutiny as the US attempts to assert control over its military support actions.
The United States stopped a significant weapon shipment to Israel due to worries about a potential military offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza. President Biden aims to broker a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas to prevent a large-scale assault on the city where over a million Palestinians reside in harsh conditions. The halted weaponry included 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, as the US is particularly focused on halting Israel's use of heavy bombs in urban areas. Despite this action, Israel's existing large arsenal makes a full offensive unlikely.
Israel has initiated a major military operation in Rafah, Gaza, targeting the last four Hamas brigades, prompting warnings from the UN of a potential human catastrophe and famine in northern Gaza. The US halted a shipment of 3,500 bombs to Israel over concerns that they could contribute to the violence in Rafah. The international community, including the UN, UK, and Qatar, has called for a ceasefire to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians and prevent the violation of international law and potential genocide in Rafah.
Israeli forces conducted a precise counterterrorism operation in eastern Rafah, including 100 airstrikes across Gaza, eliminating Hamas terrorists and destroying underground infrastructure. The IDF gained operational control of the Gazan side of Rafah Crossing, conducting targeted raids and dismantling terrorist infrastructure. President Biden criticized Israel for proceeding with the attack and halted a US ammunition shipment. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was urged by Biden to refrain from the operation, which occurred the day after the discussion.
The U.N. World Health Organization has only three days of fuel for medical operations in southern Gaza, leading to the closure of one of three hospitals in Rafah. The Rafah border crossing with Egypt remains closed, blocking humanitarian aid. Northern Gaza faces a full-blown famine. The death toll in Gaza has risen to over 34,500 people. The conflict began on Oct 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, resulting in approximately 1,200 deaths and 250 abductions. Israel claims militants still hold around 100 hostages and 30 remains. Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed two attacks in the Gulf of Aden. President Biden stated the U.S. will not supply weapons for Israel to attack Rafah.
Following the eruption of the Israel–Hamas war, the United States began to send warships and military aircraft into the Eastern Mediterranean and supplying Israel with ammunition and military equipment. The US stated that Israel would receive "whatever it needs" to support a counteroffensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. It also promised more military aid to Israel. On 20 October, President Biden announced that he had asked Congress for $14 billion in additional aid.Israel and the United States were becoming increasingly isolated amid growing global calls for a ceasefire, with the latter vetoing multiple United Nation Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire and increased humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza. International rights groups have condemned the U.S. for providing military and diplomatic support that risks complicity in war crimes. Biden has faced increasing opposition to US support for Israel, including from within his own administration.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong expressed concerns over the devastating impact an expanded military operation in Rafah could have on Palestinian civilians, with more than half of Gaza's population seeking shelter there. UN Secretary-General and World Health Organization also warned against a full-scale military operation citing dire humanitarian consequences. Israeli forces have seized control of the Rafah border crossing, leading to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians. The US has paused arms shipments to Israel amid concerns over their use in Rafah.
Israel has urged Palestinians in parts of the Gazan city of Rafah to evacuate, preparing for a potential assault on Hamas units. Hamas officials deem it a dangerous escalation, while a resident expresses uncertainty and concern for their family's safety. The UNRWA warns of potential civilian suffering and casualties, vowing to continue aid efforts. The Israeli military initiates a limited operation for temporary evacuation in eastern Rafah, emphasizing it's not a city-wide evacuation. Refugees in Rafah express worries amid the unfolding situation. Israeli Defence Minister briefs the U.S. on recent Hamas attacks near the Rafah Crossing.
The Biden administration is set to issue a formal verdict on whether Israel's actions in the Gaza conflict comply with international and U.S. laws, focusing on airstrikes and aid restrictions. This decision could impact military support to Israel and pressure President Biden to reconsider weapon and money flows. The review, prompted by Democrats, evaluates Israel's use of U.S. military aid lawfully and its handling of humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza. Tensions rise amid ceasefire talks and the threat of an Israeli offensive in Rafah, potentially altering the direction of the conflict and U.S. backing.
Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with US counterpart Lloyd Austin, stating that military action is required in Rafah due to stalling talks over the release of Israeli hostages. The Pentagon confirmed ongoing discussions on hostage negotiations, humanitarian aid, and the need for a credible plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians during any military operation. The Israeli army has ordered Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah for humanitarian reasons, aiming to move about 100,000 people to a designated humanitarian zone called Al Mawasi.
The Rafah offensive is a planned offensive in the city of Rafah, part of Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip. Israel announced plans to invade the city in February 2024, and conducted intensified airstrikes as a result. Israel stated it would invade the city if hostages weren't freed by Ramadan.Israel states that multiple Hamas brigades are present in the city which is therefore crucial to its goal of destroying the militant group. Because of the more than one million displaced people in Rafah, and it being the southernmost city in Gaza, multiple countries expressed concerns about potential high casualties. The United States, Israel's largest military supplier, did not approve of plans to invade. Egypt, concerned about a possible refugee crisis in Sinai, increased security on its border with Gaza.
The Israeli army is poised to launch an assault on Rafah in southern Gaza, instructing Palestinians to evacuate parts of the city amidst a breakdown in truce negotiations blamed on Hamas. Israeli forces have called for residents in eastern Rafah to move to an expanded humanitarian area in al-Mawasi refugee camp. Despite warnings of a humanitarian disaster from US allies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on the offensive, citing Rafah as a Hamas stronghold. Concerns arise over where the city's population of around 1.4 million can seek safety during the impending military operation.
Iran's recent attack on Israel has escalated tensions in the region, challenging President Biden's efforts to de-escalate the conflict while deterring Iran. The US-Israel relationship, strained over humanitarian aid issues, has seen a shift with successful joint military action. Despite hopes for a restrained Israeli response, the situation signals a worrying change in the region.
An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in and around the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. After clearing Hamas militants from its territory, the Israeli military embarked on an extensive aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip followed by a large-scale ground invasion beginning on 27 October. Clashes have also occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and with Hezbollah along the Israel–Lebanon border. The hostilities constitute the fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008 and are part of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict. They are considered to be the most significant military escalation in the region since the Yom Kippur War 50 years earlier.The Hamas offensive involved 3,000 militants breaching the Gaza–Israel barrier and attacking Israeli communities and military bases. During this attack, 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, while 253 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive to the Gaza Strip. The attack was proclaimed as a response to the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, the prospect of Arab–Israeli normalization, and the plight of Palestinian refugees and prisoners. In response, Israel declared a state of war, tightened its existing blockade of Gaza and launched one of the most severe bombing campaigns in history, before commencing the ground invasion on 27 October. Israeli forces laid siege to Gaza City on 2 November and moved south to attack Khan Yunis a month later on 3 December; both sieges remain ongoing. Israel's next objective is the capture of Rafah. An estimated 6,000-12,000 militants have been killed during the conflict, and Israel has lost over 200 soldiers during its invasion. A United Nations resolution calling for a humanitarian pause passed on 15 November; the seven-day truce took effect at the end of that month.A humanitarian crisis has developed in the Gaza Strip, with healthcare in a state of collapse, shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel due to the blockade, electricity and communications blackouts, and potential famine conditions. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the conflict, including over 12,300 children and 8,400 women. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million population have been internally displaced. The widespread civilian deaths have led to accusations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas. In February 2024 576,000 people were "facing catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation", stated The United Nations. More than 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops that opened fire when huge crowds raced to pull goods off an aid convoy.The war has had significant international repercussions. Popular protests that primarily call for a ceasefire have occurred across the world. Israel's actions have been denounced by the Islamic world and much of the Global South; South Africa launched an International Court of Justice case alleging that Israel committed genocide. Israel has however received significant support from its traditional Western allies, especially the United States, which vetoed multiple UN Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire. In response, Iran-backed militias have attacked American military bases in the Middle East, while the Yemeni Houthi movement attacked commercial ships they alleged were linked to Israel, incurring a military response from a number of countries.
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on residential building in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah) Palestinian medics treat a girl that was wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramez Habboub) Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, May 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramez Habboub) Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on residential building in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah) An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip, in a position near the Israel-Gaza border, Tuesday, May 7, 2024.
Fighting between Israel and Hamas forced the evacuation of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, one of the main medical centers receiving people wounded in airstrikes on Rafah in recent weeks, as Israeli troops seized control of the vital Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza. (AP Video shot by Mariam Daggah) (Produced by Wafaa Shurafa) Fighting between Israel and Hamas forced the evacuation of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, one of the main medical centers receiving people wounded in airstrikes on Rafah in recent weeks, as Israeli troops seized control of the vital Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza. (AP Video shot by Mariam Daggah) (Produced by Wafaa Shurafa) Fighting between Israel and Hamas forced the evacuation of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, one of the main medical centers receiving people wounded in airstrikes on Rafah in recent weeks, as Israeli troops seized control of the vital Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza. (AP Video shot by Mariam Daggah) (Produced by Wafaa Shurafa) Thousands of people who fled eastern parts of the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip to the relatively safe area of Muwasi, further north, are suffering harsh conditions and a lack of services. (AP video/Mohammad Jahjouh, Wafaa Shurafa) Thousands of people who fled eastern parts of the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip to the relatively safe area of Muwasi, further north, are suffering harsh conditions and a lack of services.
Israeli airstrikes in eastern Rafah have led to the evacuation of Palestinian civilians, with residents describing fear and despair as they are uprooted from their homes. The Israeli military urged around 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate immediately, causing panic and appeals from world leaders and humanitarian groups. The ongoing conflict has resulted in over 34,600 deaths and forced more than 1 million Palestinians to seek refuge in Rafah, where conditions for survival are dire. The situation in Gaza, particularly in Rafah, continues to worsen as Israeli airstrikes persist despite international warnings and concerns.
Israeli forces continue military attacks in Gaza, focusing on the as-Salam neighborhood in eastern Rafah, while negotiations for a ceasefire are ongoing in Egypt. The Karem Abu Salem crossing remains closed despite Israeli claims of reopening for humanitarian aid. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed and wounded, with the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah receiving 35 bodies and 129 wounded individuals. Families, displaced multiple times, are moving to Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, facing challenges in accessing basic necessities in the war zone.
Israeli troops have pulled out of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City after a raid two weeks ago, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) suspected Hamas was using it as a base. Witnesses reported heavy fighting and tanks surrounding the facility during the raid. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed 21 patient deaths in the hospital, expressing concern over the deteriorating conditions and lack of supplies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the soldiers' efforts, describing the hospital as a "terrorist lair." Tensions rise between the U.S. and Israel over Netanyahu's plans, while the region faces escalating conflicts.
The United States has halted a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel, including 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, over concerns about their impact on dense urban settings like Rafah. This decision was made amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military assault on Rafah and the objection of U.S. President Joe Biden.
Multiple officials, including Cindy McCain and Samantha Power, have expressed concerns about a "full-blown famine" in northern Gaza, with reports of malnourished children and escalating conflict hindering food aid efforts. The World Health Organization and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have also highlighted the risk of famine, emphasizing the urgent need for humanitarian aid and a ceasefire to prevent further devastation in the war-torn region.
A shipment of humanitarian aid has left a port in Cyprus for Gaza's US-built pier, marking the first delivery to the newly constructed ramp. The vessel, loaded with essential aid, aims to transfer as much assistance as possible through the maritime corridor. The trip follows U.S. President Joe Biden's order to build a floating platform off the Gaza coast to serve as the launching pad for aid deliveries.
On the evening of 27 October 2023, Israel launched a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip, with the stated goals of eliminating and destroying Hamas, a military and political movement which led an attack against Israel earlier in October, and to free hostages taken by Hamas. Following the attack, Israel declared a state of war, tightened its blockade, ordered the evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip, and launched "Operation Swords of Iron".More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israeli operation, including over 12,500 children and 7,000 women, with another 7,000 people missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. By mid-December Israel had dropped 29,000 munitions on Gaza, destroying or damaging 70 percent of homes in the Strip. Experts say that the scale and pace of destruction in Gaza is among the most severe in recent history. During the invasion, Israel destroyed at least a third of Gaza's homes and hundreds of cultural landmarks, and desecrated dozens of cemeteries in the strip.A severe humanitarian crisis has developed, with healthcare in a state of collapse, shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel due to the blockade, electricity and communications blackouts, and the UN warning of potential famine. It was widely reported that there is "no safe place in Gaza" as Israel struck areas it had previously told Palestinians to evacuate to. The widespread civilian deaths have led to accusations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million population have been internally displaced and around 250,000–500,000 Israelis were internally displaced, while thousands of Palestinians have been detained by Israel, and Israel has stated it lost 225 additional soldiers in its invasion as of 4 February 2024.As a result of the invasion, South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), charging that Israel was guilty of committing a genocide, and requesting that the ICJ render provisional measures of protection.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have expanded their operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, with ground operations observed alongside airstrikes. New satellite images show IDF vehicles mustering and penetrating over a mile into the Palestinian enclave. The strikes have destroyed buildings, killed at least four people, and injured dozens. CNN footage captured the aftermath, with injured individuals, children arriving without parents, and casualties at Al Kuwaiti hospital. The Tal Al Sultan neighborhood in Rafah saw four deaths and around two dozen injuries from Israeli airstrikes.
A blockade has been imposed on the movement of goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip following Hamas's takeover in 2007, led by Israel and supported by Egypt. The blockade's current stated aim is to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, although previously stated motivations have included exerting economic pressure on Hamas. Human rights groups have described the blockade as illegal and a form of collective punishment as it restricts the flow of essential goods, contributes to economic hardship, and limits the freedom of movement for Gaza's residents. The blockade and its effects have led to the territory being described as an "open-air prison".Exit and entry into Gaza is prohibited by sea and air. There are only three crossings to go in and out of Gaza, two of them controlled by Israel and one by Egypt. Movement of Palestinians through Erez is heavily regulated by Israel, with applications being considered only for a small number of laborers (less than 5% the number in the year 2000) and for limited medical and humanitarian reasons. Israel's military cooperation with Egypt and its control of the population registry (through which it controls who can obtain the necessary travel documents) provides it with influence over movement through Rafah. Imports are heavily restricted, with "dual use" items being only permitted as part of donor projects. This includes construction material and computer equipment. Exports are also heavily restricted with the main impediment to economic development in Gaza being Israel's ban on virtually all exports from the Strip.Israel blockaded the Gaza Strip at various levels of intensity in 2005–2006, with Israeli imposed closures having a history going back to 1991. In 2007, after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, Israel imposed an indefinite blockade of Gaza that is ongoing to present day, on the grounds that Fatah and Palestinian Authority forces had fled the Strip and were no longer able to provide security on the Palestinian side. In response, Hamas fired thousands of rockets towards urban areas in Israel. Israel stated that the blockade was necessary to protect itself from Palestinian political violence, rocket attacks, and to prevent dual use goods from entering Gaza.Israel has been accused of violating or failing to fulfill specific obligations it had committed to under various ceasefire agreements on different occasions to alleviate or lift the blockade. "Crossings were repeatedly shut and buffer zones were reinstated. Imports declined, exports were blocked, and fewer Gazans were given exit permits to Israel and the West Bank." The blockade has been decried by human rights groups, international community representatives and legal professionals as a form of collective punishment in contravention of international law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention. Rights groups have held Israel mainly responsible as the occupying power.
Displaced residents of Gaza, weary from ongoing conflict, are hopeful for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to end the seven-month pummeling of the Gaza Strip. Talks have faced deadlock as Hamas seeks a permanent end to the war while Israel only offers a temporary pause. Despite skepticism, families like Abeer al-Namrouti's and Wael el-Nabahin's long to return home, highlighting weariness and a desperate need for relief among Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to continue until objectives are met, warning against showing weakness in negotiations. Brokered talks in Cairo hope to secure hostages' release and discuss a potential ceasefire.
The Gaza–Israel conflict is a localized part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict beginning in 1948, when 200,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes, settling in the Gaza Strip as refugees. Since then, Israel has fought 15 wars against the Gaza Strip. The number of Gazans killed in the most recent 2023 war — 27,000 — is higher than the death toll of all other wars of the Arab-Israeli conflict.Israel fought four wars against the Egyptian-administered Gaza Strip: 1948 Palestine War, border attacks of 1949–1956, first occupation of Gaza during the Suez Crisis and the capture of Gaza in 1967. During the first occupation, 1% of Gaza Strip's population was either killed, tortured or imprisoned by Israel. Following two periods of low-level insurgencies, a major conflict between Israelis and Palestinians erupted in the First Intifada (523 Gazans killed). The 1993 Oslo Accords brought a period of calm. But, in 2000 the Second Intifada erupted. Towards the end of the Second Intifada, Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005, Hamas won the 2006 election and seized control of Gaza in 2007.In 2007, Israel imposed a land, air and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip, turning it into an "open-air prison". The blockade was widely condemned as a form of collective punishment, while Israel defended it as necessary to stop Palestinian rocket attacks. Hamas considered it a declaration of war. A 2008–2009 Israeli invasion of Gaza resulted in more than 1,000 deaths and widespread destruction of homes, schools and hospitals. A 2012 Israeli operation also killed more than 100 people.In 2014, Israel invaded Gaza in a major war that resulted in the deaths of 73 Israelis (mostly soldiers) and 2,251 Palestinians (mostly civilians). The invasion resulted in "unprecedented" destruction, damaging 25% of homes in Gaza city and 70% of homes in Beit Hanoun. After 2014, notable events in the conflict included the "Great March of Return" (2018-2019) and clashes in November 2018, May 2019 and November 2019. The 2021 crisis saw 256 Palestinians and 15 Israelis killed.On October 7, 2023, Palestinian militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people (mostly civilians). Israel responded with bombing Gaza Strip and launching an invasion that has killed more than 29,000 Gazans as of February 2024.
The Gaza War, also known as Operation Cast Lead (Hebrew: מִבְצָע עוֹפֶרֶת יְצוּקָה), also known as the Gaza Massacre (Arabic: مجزرة غزة), and referred to as the Battle of al-Furqan (معركة الفرقان) by Hamas, was a three-week armed conflict between Gaza Strip Palestinian paramilitary groups and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that began on 27 December 2008 and ended on 18 January 2009 with a unilateral ceasefire. The conflict resulted in 1,166–1,417 Palestinian and 13 Israeli deaths. Over 46,000 homes were destroyed in Gaza, making more than 100,000 people homeless.A six month long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended on 4 November, when the IDF made a raid into Deir al-Balah, central Gaza to destroy a tunnel, killing several Hamas militants. Israel said the raid was a preemptive strike and Hamas intended to abduct further Israeli soldiers, while Hamas characterized it as a ceasefire violation, and responded with rocket fire into Israel. Attempts to renew a truce between Israel and Hamas were unsuccessful. On December 27, Israel began Operation Cast Lead with the stated aim of stopping rocket fire. In the initial air assault, Israel attacked police stations, military targets including weapons caches and suspected rocket firing teams, as well as political and administrative institutions, striking in the densely populated cities of Gaza, Khan Yunis and Rafah. After hostilities broke out, Palestinian groups fired rockets in retaliation for the aerial bombardments and attacks. The international community considers indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian structures that do not discriminate between civilians and military targets as illegal under international law.An Israeli ground invasion began on 3 January. On 5 January, the IDF began operating in the densely populated urban centers of Gaza. During the last week of the offensive (from 12 January), Israel mostly hit targets it had damaged before and struck Palestinian rocket-launching units. Hamas intensified its rocket and mortar attacks against mostly civilian targets in southern Israel, reaching the major cities of Beersheba and Ashdod for the first time during the conflict. Israeli politicians ultimately decided against striking deeper within Gaza amid concerns of higher casualties on both sides and rising international criticism. The conflict ended on 18 January, when the IDF first declared a unilateral ceasefire, followed by Hamas' announcing a one-week ceasefire twelve hours later. The IDF completed its withdrawal on 21 January.In September 2009, a UN special mission, headed by the South African Justice Richard Goldstone, produced a report accusing both Palestinian militants and the Israeli army of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, and recommended bringing those responsible to justice. In 2011, Goldstone wrote that he does not believe that Israel intentionally targeted civilians in Gaza as a matter of explicit policy. The other authors of the report, Hina Jilani, Christine Chinkin, and Desmond Travers, stated that no new evidence had been gathered that disputed the report's findings. The United Nations Human Rights Council ordered Israel to conduct various repairs of the damages. On 21 September 2012, the United Nations Human Rights Council concluded that 75% of civilian homes destroyed in the attack were not rebuilt.
On 12 February 2024, Israel Defense Forces launched an assault on Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip, killing over 83 people. The airstrikes destroyed at least one mosque and multiple inhabited homes, killing most or all of their occupants. Israeli government sources linked the airstrikes to its hostage rescue operation, Operation Golden Hand, describing the airstrikes as a diversion or "covering fire." Israel freed two hostages in that operation. The strikes came as Israel proposed a ground invasion of the city, which caused international concern. The killings are known in Gaza as "the Super Bowl Massacre."Casualties from the Israeli bombings began to reported by 2:30am and 20 were confirmed dead by 5:30am. The total number of deaths was estimated as at least 94 people according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has estimated the death toll to be over 100. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which pulled information from Rafah hospitals the dead included at least 27 children and 22 women. The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor compiled a list of 83 people killed, of whom 29 were children and another third were women (as identified by their names).
The Gaza Strip ( ; Arabic: قِطَاعُ غَزَّةَ Qiṭāʿ Ġazzah [qɪˈtˤɑːʕ ˈɣaz.za]), or simply Gaza, is a polity and the smaller of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the West Bank). On the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Gaza is bordered by Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the east and north.The territory came into being when it was controlled by Egypt during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war, and became a refuge for Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestine war. Later, during the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured and occupied the Gaza Strip, initiating its decades-long military occupation of the Palestinian territories. The mid-1990s Oslo Accords established the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a limited governing authority, initially led by the secular party Fatah until that party's electoral defeat in 2006 to the Sunni Islamic Hamas. Hamas would then take over the governance of Gaza in a battle the next year, subsequently warring with Israel.In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its military forces from Gaza, dismantled its settlements, and implemented a temporary blockade of Gaza. The blockade became indefinite after the 2007 Hamas takeover, supported by Egypt through restrictions on its land border with Gaza. Despite the Israeli disengagement, the United Nations (UN), the International Committee of the Red Cross, and many human-rights organizations continue to consider Gaza to be held under Israeli military occupation, due to what they consider Israel's effective military control over the territory; Israel disputes that it occupies the territory. The land, sea, and air blockade prevents people and goods from freely entering or leaving the territory, leading to Gaza often being called an "open-air prison." The UN, as well as at least 19 human-rights organizations, have urged Israel to lift the blockade. Israel has justified its blockade on the strip with wanting to stop flow of arms, but Palestinians and rights groups say it amounts to collective punishment and exacerbates dire living conditions.The Gaza Strip is 41 kilometres (25 miles) long, from 6 to 12 km (3.7 to 7.5 mi) wide, and has a total area of 365 km2 (141 sq mi). With around 2 million Palestinians on approximately 365 km2 (141 sq mi) of land, Gaza has one of the world's highest population densities. More than 70% of Gaza's population are refugees or descendents of refugees, half of whom are under the age of 18. Sunni Muslims make up most of Gaza's population, with a Palestinian Christian minority. Gaza has an annual population growth rate of 1.99% (2023 est.), the 39th-highest in the world. Gaza's unemployment rate is among the highest in the world, with an overall unemployment rate of 46% and a youth unemployment rate of 70%. The population has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. Gaza has throughout the years been seen as a source of Palestinian nationalism and resistance.
The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge (Hebrew: מִבְצָע צוּק אֵיתָן, romanized: Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan, lit. 'Operation Strong Cliff'), and Battle of the Withered Grain (Arabic: معركة العصف المائكول, romanized: Mʿa-rakkat Al-ʿasf Al-Ma’kool) was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that has been governed by Hamas since 2007. Following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank by Hamas-affiliated Palestinian militants, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initiated Operation Brother's Keeper, in which some 350 Palestinians, including nearly all of the active Hamas militants in the West Bank, were arrested. Hamas subsequently fired a greater number of rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, triggering a seven-week-long conflict between the two sides. It was one of the deadliest outbreaks of open conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in decades. The combination of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes resulted in over two thousand deaths, the vast majority of which were Gazan Palestinians. This includes a total of six Israeli civilians who were killed as a result of the conflict.The Israeli military operation aimed to stop rocket fire into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Conversely, Hamas' attacks aimed to bring international pressure onto Israel with the strategic goal of forcing the latter to lift the Israeli–Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip; among its other goals were to end Israel's military offensive, obtain a third party to monitor and guarantee compliance with a ceasefire, release Palestinian political prisoners and overcome its isolation. According to the BBC, Israel launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in retaliation to the rocket attacks by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and other Palestinian militant groups.On 7 July, after seven Hamas militants died in a tunnel explosion in Khan Yunis that was caused either by an Israeli airstrike (per Hamas, Nathan Thrall, BBC, and a senior IDF official) or an accidental explosion of their own munitions (per the IDF), Hamas assumed responsibility for rockets fired into Israel, and subsequently launched 40 more rockets towards Israel. The Israeli aerial operation officially began the following day, and on 17 July, it was expanded to include a full-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of destroying Gaza's tunnel system; the Israeli ground invasion ended on 5 August. On 26 August, an open-ended ceasefire was announced. By this time, the IDF reported that Hamas, PIJ, and other Palestinian militant groups had fired 4,564 rockets and mortars into Israel, with over 735 projectiles having been intercepted mid-flight and shot down by Israel's Iron Dome. Most Gazan mortar and rocket fire was inaccurate, and consequently hit open land; more than 280 projectiles had landed within the Gaza Strip, and 224 had struck residential areas. Palestinian rocketry also killed 13 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, 11 of them children. The IDF attacked 5,263 targets in the Gaza Strip; at least 34 known tunnels were destroyed and two-thirds of Hamas's 10,000-rocket arsenal was either used up or destroyed.Between 2,125 and 2,310 Gazans were killed during the conflict while between 10,626 and 10,895 were wounded (including 3,374 children, of whom over 1,000 were left permanently disabled). Gazan civilian casualty estimates range between 70 percent by the Gaza Health Ministry, 65 percent by the United Nations' (UN) Protection Cluster by OCHA (based in part on Gaza Health Ministry reports), and 36 percent by Israeli officials. The UN estimated that more than 7,000 homes for 10,000 families were razed, together with an additional 89,000 homes damaged, of which roughly 10,000 were severely affected by the bombing. Rebuilding costs were calculated to run from US$4–6 billion over the course of 20 years. 67 Israeli soldiers, 5 Israeli civilians (including one child) and one Thai civilian were killed while 469 Israeli soldiers and 261 Israeli civilians were injured. On the Israeli side, the economic impact of the operation is estimated to have had an impact of NIS 8.5 billion (approximately US$2.5 billion) and a GDP loss of 0.4 percent.
Rafah (Arabic: رفح Rafaḥ [rafaħ]; Hebrew: רָפִיחַ Rafiaḥ [ʁaˈfi.aχ]) is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip; it is the capital of the Rafah Governorate, located 30 kilometers (19 mi) south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. As a result of massive bombardment and ground assaults in Gaza City and Khan Yunis by Israel during the Israel–Hamas war, about 1.4 million people are believed to be sheltering in Rafah as of February 2024.When Israel withdrew from the Sinai in 1982, Rafah was split into a Gazan part and an Egyptian part, dividing families, separated by barbed-wire barriers. The core of the city was destroyed by Israel and Egypt to create a large buffer zone.Rafah is the site of the Rafah Border Crossing, the sole crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Gaza's only airport, Yasar Arafat International Airport, was located just south of the city. The airport operated from 1998 to 2001, until it was bombed and bulldozed by the Israeli military (IDF).
Gaza ( GAH-zə; Arabic: غَزَّة, romanized: Ġazzah, IPA: [ˈɣazza] ), also called Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip. Before the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, it was the most populous city in the State of Palestine, with 590,481 in 2017.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BCE, Gaza has been dominated by different peoples and empires throughout its history. The Philistines made it a part of their pentapolis after the ancient Egyptians had ruled it for nearly 350 years. Under the Roman Empire, Gaza experienced relative peace and its Mediterranean port flourished. In 635 CE, it became the first city in the Palestine region to be conquered by the Rashidun army and quickly developed into a centre of Islamic law. However, by the time the Crusader states were established in 1099, Gaza was in ruins. In later centuries, Gaza experienced several hardships—from Mongol raids to severe flooding and locust swarms, reducing it to a village by the 16th century, when it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. During the first half of Ottoman rule, the Ridwan dynasty controlled Gaza and the city went through an age of great commerce and peace. The municipality of Gaza was established in 1893.Gaza fell to British forces during World War I, becoming a part of Mandatory Palestine. As a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly formed Gaza Strip territory and several improvements were undertaken in the city. Gaza was occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967, and in 1993, the city was transferred to the newly created Palestinian National Authority. In the months following the 2006 election, an armed conflict broke out between the Palestinian political factions of Fatah and Hamas, resulting in the latter taking power in Gaza. The Gaza Strip was then subject to an Israeli-led, Egyptian-supported blockade. Israel eased the blockade allowing consumer goods in June 2010, and Egypt reopened the Rafah Border Crossing in 2011 to pedestrians.The primary economic activities of Gaza are small-scale industries and agriculture. However, the blockade and recurring conflicts have put the economy under severe pressure. The majority of Gaza's Palestinian inhabitants are Muslim, although there is also a Christian minority. Gaza has a very young population, with roughly 75% under the age of 25. The city is currently administered by a 14-member municipal council.As of March 2024, as part of the Israel–Hamas war, the Israeli army has bombed large portions of the city and surrounding areas of the Northern Gaza Strip, destroying many buildings and infrastructure. Almost all residents have fled or been evacuated to Southern Gaza, or killed as a result. Therefore, previous recorded or estimated population numbers have become outdated.
Since the 1960s, the United States has been a very strong supporter of Israel. It has played a key role in the promotion of good relations between Israel and its neighbouring Arab states—namely Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, along with several others in the 2020 Abraham Accords—while also holding off hostility from other Middle Eastern countries such as Syria and Iran. Relations with Israel are a very important factor in the U.S. government's overall foreign policy in the Middle East, and the U.S. Congress has likewise placed considerable importance on the maintenance of a close and supportive relationship.Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid: until February 2022, the United States had provided Israel US$150 billion (non-inflation-adjusted) in bilateral assistance. In 1999, the US government signed a Memorandum of Understanding through which it committed to providing Israel with at least US$2.67 billion in military aid annually, for the following ten years; in 2009, the annual amount was raised to US$3 billion; and in 2019, the amount was raised again, now standing at a minimum of US$3.8 billion that the US is committed to providing Israel each year.Since 1972, the United States has also extended loan guarantees – a form of indirect U.S. assistance to Israel, as they enable Israel to borrow from commercial US banks at lower rates – to Israel to assist with housing shortages, Israel's absorption of new Jewish immigrants and its economic recovery following the 2000–2003 recession, caused in part by the Second Intifada. Moreover, the United States is Israel's largest trading partner, and Israel is the United States' 25th-largest trading partner; two-way trade totaled some $36 billion in 2013. Bilateral trade increased to nearly $50 billion by 2023.In addition to financial and military aid, the United States also provides large-scale political support to Israel, having used its United Nations Security Council veto power 42 times against resolutions condemning Israel, out of a total 83 times in which its veto has ever been used. Between 1991 and 2011, out of the 24 vetoes invoked by the United States, 15 were used to protect Israel.The United States' readiness to stand on behalf of Israel has, among other factors, been linked to the influence of Zionist lobbies in U.S. politics, most notably AIPAC.Bilateral relations have evolved from an initial American policy of sympathy and support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in 1948, to a partnership that links a small but powerful Israeli state with an American superpower attempting to balance influence against other competing interests in the region, namely those of Russia and its allies. Some analysts maintain that Israel is a strategic ally for the United States, and that relations with the former will strengthen the latter's influence in the Middle East. Israel is designated by the United States as a major non-NATO ally, and was the first country to be granted this status alongside Egypt in 1987; Israel and Egypt remain the only countries in the Middle East to have this designation. Then senator Jesse Helms, argued that the military foothold offered by Israel in the region alone justified the expense of American military aid; referring to Israel as "America's aircraft carrier in the Middle East". As of 2021, the United States remains the only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to have recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and moved its embassy to the disputed city from Tel Aviv in 2018. The United States is also the only country to have recognized the Golan Heights (internationally recognized as Israeli-occupied Syrian territory) as non-occupied Israeli sovereign territory, doing so via a presidential proclamation under the Trump administration in 2019. However, under the subsequent Biden administration, the U.S. State Department’s annual report on human rights violations around the world once more refers to the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights as territories that are occupied by Israel. Nevertheless, in June 2021, in response to a claim by The Washington Free Beacon that it had "walked back" its recognition, the Near Eastern Affairs account of the U.S. State Department tweeted that "U.S. policy regarding the Golan has not changed, and reports to the contrary are false."
Rafah (Arabic: رفح, IPA: [ˈɾɑfɑħ]) is a city in North Sinai and Egypt's eastern border with the Gaza Strip currently undergoing demolition. It is the capital of Rafah center in North Sinai Governorate, and is situated on the eastern Mediterranean coast of Egypt.Rafah is the site of the Rafah Border Crossing, the sole crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian government announced in early 2015 that it would raze the entire city and build a new settlement for its residents, in order to expand a security buffer between Egypt and Gaza Strip. The Egyptian military reportedly began bulldozing sections of Rafah in late 2014.
President Joe Biden condemned the surge of anti-Semitism in America and globally during a Holocaust memorial ceremony at the US Capitol. He explicitly mentioned Hamas' crimes and warned against retaliation, which Iran disregarded by launching over 300 missiles and drones at Israel. Biden also cautioned Israel about rooting out Hamas in Rafah to avoid civilian casualties. However, his words seemingly had little impact as warnings were ignored, especially in the face of increasing anti-Semitism on university campuses.
A U.S. Navy ship is set to aid in constructing a floating naval dock to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, where over half of the 2 million residents are starving amidst famine conditions. Concerns arise about crowds hindering aid distribution and security risks like recent mortar attacks. The operation plans to start with 90 trucks daily, increasing to 150, but faces challenges following the closure of the Rafah border crossing and Israeli military presence.
Military relations between Israel and the United States have been consistently close, reflecting shared security interests in the Middle East. Israel is designated as a major non-NATO ally by the U.S. government. A major purchaser and user of U.S. military equipment, Israel is also involved in the joint development of military technology and regularly engages in joint military exercises involving United States and other forces. The relationship has deepened gradually over time, though, as Alan Dowty puts it, it was "not a simple linear process of growing cooperation, but rather a series of tendentious bargaining situations with different strategic and political components in each."Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid: until February 2022, the United States had provided Israel US$ 150 billion (non-inflation-adjusted) in bilateral assistance. In 1999, the US government signed a Memorandum of Understanding through which it committed to providing Israel with at least US$2.67 billion in military aid annually, for the following ten years; in 2009, the annual amount was raised to US$3 billion; and in 2019, the amount was raised again, now standing at a minimum of US$3.8 billion that the US is committed to providing Israel each year.In addition, the only foreign military installations on Israeli soil are US bases, including an AN/TPY-2 early missile warning radar station on Mt. Keren.
By Kaia Hubbard May 5, 2024 / 10:41 AM EDT / CBS News Palestinians and others in the Middle East see the U.S. as an "enabler" of Israel in its war with Hamas , Queen Rania al Abdullah of Jordan said Sunday on "Face the Nation." "People view the U.S.
US President Joe Biden will address the issue of rising antisemitism at a Holocaust event in Washington DC, acknowledging the increase in antisemitic incidents in the US since the Israel-Hamas conflict, particularly on university campuses. He will discuss the moral duty to combat antisemitism and is expected to outline efforts for a national strategy against it. As pro-Palestinian protests continue, there have been reports of antisemitic rhetoric and threats towards Jewish students. Biden's administration is taking steps to combat antisemitism on campuses and beyond, with a focus on education and prevention.
The Rafah Governorate (Arabic: محافظة رفح Muḥāfaẓat Rafaḥ) is a Governorate of Palestine in the southernmost portion of the Gaza Strip. Its district capital or muhfaza is the city of Rafah located on the border with Egypt. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the governorate had a population of 267,635 in mid-year 2022. It contains the closed down Yasser Arafat International Airport.
The Battle of Rafah primarily refers to any of the military engagements fought in and around Rafah, today in the Gaza Strip:
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. ( , BY-dən; born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who is the 46th and current president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama and represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden moved with his family to Delaware in 1953. He graduated from the University of Delaware before earning his law degree from Syracuse University. He was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and to the U.S. Senate in 1972. As a senator, Biden drafted and led the effort to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act. He also oversaw six U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, including the contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. Biden ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008. In 2008, Obama chose Biden as his running mate, and he was a close counselor to Obama during his two terms as vice president. In the 2020 presidential election, Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, defeated incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence. He is the oldest president in U.S. history, and the first to have a female vice president.As president, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession. He signed bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing. He proposed the Build Back Better Act, which failed in Congress, but aspects of which were incorporated into the Inflation Reduction Act that he signed into law in 2022. Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. He worked with congressional Republicans to resolve the 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis by negotiating a deal to raise the debt ceiling. In foreign policy, Biden restored America's membership in the Paris Agreement. He oversaw the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that ended the war in Afghanistan, during which the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized control. He responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russia and authorizing civilian and military aid to Ukraine. During the Israel–Hamas war, Biden announced military support for Israel, and condemned the actions of Hamas and other Palestinian militants as terrorism. In April 2023, Biden announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 presidential election.
Ambassador Gilad Erdan says the move is against the United Nations charter and called on the US to defund the UN. (Credit: Israeli Mission to the U.N.) The U.S.
The Rafah Border Crossing (Arabic: معبر رفح, romanized: Ma`bar Rafaḥ) or Rafah Crossing Point is the sole crossing point between Egypt and Palestine's Gaza Strip. It is located on the Egypt–Palestine border. Under a 2007 agreement between Egypt and Israel, Egypt controls the crossing but imports through the Rafah crossing require Israeli approval.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; Hebrew: צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , lit. 'The Army for the Defense of Israel'), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym Tzahal (צה״ל), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and the Israeli Navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security apparatus. The IDF is headed by the Chief of the General Staff, who is subordinate to the Israeli Defense Minister.On the orders of David Ben-Gurion, the IDF was formed on 26 May 1948 and began to operate as a conscript military, drawing its initial recruits from the already-existing paramilitaries of the Yishuv—namely Haganah, the Irgun, and Lehi. It was formed shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, and has participated in every armed conflict involving Israel. In the wake of the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty and the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty, the IDF underwent a significant strategic realignment. Previously spread across various fronts—Lebanon and Syria in the north, Jordan and Iraq in the east, and Egypt in the south—the IDF redirected its focus towards southern Lebanon and its occupation of the Palestinian territories, the Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In 2000, the IDF withdrew from Southern Lebanon and in 2005 from Gaza. Conflict between Israel and Islamist groups based in Gaza, notably Hamas, has continued since then. Moreover, notable Israeli–Syrian border incidents have occurred frequently since 2011, due to regional instability caused by the Syrian civil war.Since 1967, the IDF maintains a close security relationship with the United States, including in research and development cooperation, with joint efforts on the F-15I, the Tactical High-Energy Laser, and the Arrow defense systen, among others. The IDF is believed to have maintained an operational nuclear weapons capability since 1967, possibly possessing between 80 and 400 nuclear warheads.
Yemen's Houthi rebels have targeted two ships in the Gulf of Aden with ballistic missiles and drones, claiming they were Israeli-affiliated vessels. The United States-led Joint Maritime Information Center confirmed the attacks but stated that no ships were hit and crews remained safe. The Houthis also claimed an attack on a third ship in the Indian Ocean, vowing to target ships heading to Israeli ports. These actions are part of a campaign in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel's war on Gaza, leading to rerouted shipping routes and increased costs for shipping firms.
On 13 April 2024, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of Iran, in coordination with the Popular Mobilization Forces of Iraq, Lebanese group Hezbollah, and the Houthis of Yemen, launched attacks on Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, with drones, cruise, and ballistic missiles. The retaliatory attacks, codenamed Operation True Promise (Persian: وعده صادق, romanized: va'de-ye sādeq), were launched in response to the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus on 1 April that killed 16 people. It was Iran's first direct attack on Israel and the first direct conflict since the start of the Iran–Israel proxy war.Iran launched a massive standoff attack on Israel on 13 April 2024 with about 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles, and more than 120 ballistic missiles. 99 percent were shot down by defensive measures, most before entering Israeli airspace. Only a few missiles were not downed; one caused minor damage to the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel, which remained operational. Israel used Arrow 3 and David's Sling systems to shoot down the incoming weapons; the United States, the United Kingdom, and Jordan also used their own forces to down Iranian drones. France deployed its navy.The IRGC's Tasnim News Agency said the downed drones were "kamikaze" Shahed 136 drones meant to saturate and overwhelm Israeli air defenses to clear the way for dozens of ballistic missiles in the second wave, which damaged the bases used in the attack on the Iranian consulate.Jordan reported some shrapnel falling on its territory, causing no significant damage or injuries. In Israel, one child, a 7-year old Israeli Bedouin girl, was struck and injured by part of a missile. Thirty-one other people suffered either minor injuries while rushing to protected areas or were treated for anxiety. The next day, Iran's envoy to the United Nations said that the attacks "can be deemed concluded".The attack was the biggest drone strike to date and the first time since 1991 that Israel itself was attacked by the military of a UN member state.Iran's attacks have drawn criticism from the United Nations, several world leaders, and political analysts, who warned that they risk escalating into a full-blown regional war.
Palestine (Arabic: فلسطين, romanized: Filasṭīn), officially the State of Palestine (دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn), is a state in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Founded on 15 November 1988 and officially governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), it claims the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip as its territory, all of which have been Israeli-occupied territories since the 1967 Six-Day War. The West Bank contains 165 Palestinian enclaves that are under partial Palestinian rule, but the remainder, including 200 Israeli settlements, is under full Israeli control. The Gaza Strip was governed by Egypt but conquered by Israel in 1967. Israel governed the region until it withdrew in 2005. The United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and various human-rights organizations still consider Gaza to be held under Israeli military occupation – due to what they regard as Israel's effective military control over the territory – as well as under blockade by Israel and Egypt. Israel disputes this. Hamas seized power after winning the 2006 Palestinian legislative election.After World War II, in 1947, the United Nations (UN) adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine, which recommended the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. Immediately after the United Nations General Assembly adopted the plan as Resolution 181, a civil war broke out in Palestine, and the plan was not implemented. The day after the establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948, neighboring Arab countries invaded the former British Mandate and engaged Israeli forces in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Later, the All-Palestine Government was established by the Arab League on 22 September 1948 to govern the All-Palestine Protectorate in the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. It was soon recognized by all Arab League members except Transjordan, which had occupied and later annexed the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Palestine is currently recognized by 138 of the 193 United Nations (UN) member states. Though jurisdiction of the All-Palestine Government was declared to cover the whole of the former Mandatory Palestine, its effective jurisdiction was limited to the Gaza Strip. During the Six-Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.On 15 November 1988 in Algiers, Yasser Arafat, as Chairman of the PLO, issued the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which established the State of Palestine. A year after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was formed to govern (in varying degrees) areas A and B in the West Bank, comprising 165 enclaves, and the Gaza Strip. After Hamas became the PNA parliament's leading party in the most recent elections (2006), a conflict broke out between it and the Fatah party, leading to the Gaza Strip being taken over by Hamas in 2007 (two years after the Israeli disengagement).The State of Palestine's mid-year population in 2021 was 5,227,193. Although Palestine claims Jerusalem as its capital, the city is under the control of Israel; both Palestinian and Israeli claims to the city are mostly unrecognized by the international community. Palestine is a member of the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the G77, the International Olympic Committee, as well as UNESCO, UNCTAD and the International Criminal Court. Following a failed attempt in 2011 to secure full United Nations member state status, the United Nations General Assembly voted in 2012 to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state. On 26 February 2024, the Palestinian government collapsed, with the entire Palestinian government resigning, including the prime minister.
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict in the Levant. Beginning in the mid-20th century, it is one of the world's longest-continuing conflicts. Key areas of the conflict include the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the status of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, borders, security, water rights, Palestinian freedom of movement, and the Palestinian right of return.The conflict has its origins in the arrival of Jewish immigrants and settlers to Palestine in the late 19th and 20th centuries and the advent of the Zionist movement. The local Arab population opposed Zionism, primarily out of fear of territorial displacement and dispossession. The Zionist movement garnered the support of an imperial power in the 1917 Balfour Declaration issued by Britain, which promised to support the creation of a "Jewish homeland in Palestine". Following World War I, Mandatory Palestine was established, and tensions grew into open sectarian conflict between Jews and Arabs. In 1936, an Arab revolt erupted demanding independence, which the British suppressed.The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine triggered the 1948 Palestine war, which saw the expulsion and flight of most Palestinian Arabs, the establishment of Israel on most of the Mandate's territory, and the control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by Egypt and Jordan, respectively. In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which became known as the Palestinian territories), which is now considered to be the longest military occupation in modern history, and has drawn international condemnation for violating the human rights of the Palestinians.The conflict has claimed many civilian casualties, mostly Palestinian, since its inception. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside efforts to resolve the broader Arab–Israeli conflict. Progress towards a negotiated solution between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was made with the Oslo Accords of 1993–1995. The majority of recent peace efforts have been centred around the two-state solution, which involves the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Public support for a two-state solution, which formerly enjoyed support from both Israeli Jews and Palestinians, has dwindled in recent years. Official negotiations are mediated by the Quartet on the Middle East, which consists of the United Nations, the United States, Russia, and the European Union. The Arab League, which has proposed the Arab Peace Initiative, is another important actor, along with Egypt and Jordan. Since 2006, the Palestinian side has been split between Fatah dominating the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas that gained control of the Gaza Strip. Attempts to remedy this have been repeated and continuing. Since 2019, the Israeli side has also been experiencing political crisis. The latest round of peace negotiations began in July 2013 but were suspended in 2014. Since 2006, Hamas and Israel have fought five wars, the most recent of which began in 2023 and is ongoing as of March 2024.
The United Nations World Food Program's deputy executive director highlighted concerns about the agency being unprepared for a potential increase in nutritional requirements in Lebanon if the conflict along the Lebanese-Israeli border intensifies. The country, grappling with a severe economic crisis since 2019, already receives aid for approximately 100,000 vulnerable families,
In 2024, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict escalated to a direct conflict between the two countries. On 1 April, Israel bombed an Iranian consulate annex in Damascus, Syria, killing multiple senior Iranian officials. In response, Iran and its proxies launched strikes inside Israel on 13 April. Israel then carried out retaliatory strikes in Iran on 19 April.
The Arab–Israeli conflict is the phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between various Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century. The roots of the Arab–Israeli conflict have been attributed to the support by Arab League member countries for the Palestinians, a fellow League member, in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict; this in turn has been attributed to the simultaneous rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism towards the end of the 19th century, though the two national movements had not clashed until the 1920s.Part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict arose from the conflicting claims by these movements to the land that formed the British Mandatory Palestine, which was regarded by the Jewish people as their ancestral homeland, while at the same time it was regarded by the Pan-Arab movement as historically and currently belonging to the Arab Palestinians, and in the Pan-Islamic context, as Muslim lands. The sectarian conflict within the British Mandate territory between Palestinian Jews and Arabs escalated into a full-scale Palestinian civil war in 1947. Taking the side of the Palestinian Arabs, especially following the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the neighbouring Arab countries invaded the by-then former Mandate territory in May 1948, commencing the First Arab–Israeli War. Large-scale hostilities mostly ended with ceasefire agreements after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Peace agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, resulting in Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula and the abolition of the military governance system in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in favor of Israeli Civil Administration and consequent unilateral annexation of the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem.The nature of the conflict has shifted over the years from the large-scale, regional Arab–Israeli conflict to a more local Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which peaked during the 1982 Lebanon War when Israel intervened in the Lebanese Civil War to oust the Palestinian Liberation Organization from Lebanon. With the decline of the 1987–1993 First Intifada, the interim Oslo Accords led to the creation of the Palestinian National Authority in 1994, within the context of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. The same year, Israel and Jordan reached a peace accord. In 2002, the Arab League offered recognition of Israel by Arab countries as part of the resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in the Arab Peace Initiative. The initiative, which has been reconfirmed since, calls for normalizing relations between the Arab League and Israel, in exchange for a full withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories (including East Jerusalem) and a "just settlement" of the Palestinian refugee problem based on UN Resolution 194. In the 1990s and early 2000s, a ceasefire had been largely maintained between Israel and Syria, while limited warfare continued in Lebanon against Iranian proxy militias. Despite the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan, the interim peace accords with the Palestinian Authority and the generally existing ceasefire, until the mid-2010s the Arab League and Israel had remained at odds with each other over many issues. Among Arab belligerents in the conflict, Iraq and Syria are the only states who have reached no formal peace accord or treaty with Israel, with both supporting Iran.The Syrian civil war reshuffled the situation near Israel's northern border, putting the Syrian Arab Republic, Hezbollah and the Syrian opposition at odds with each other and complicating their relations with Israel, upon the emerging warfare with Iran. The conflict between Israel and Hamas-ruled Gaza, is also attributed to the Iran–Israel proxy conflict. By 2017, Israel and several Arab Sunni states led by Saudi Arabia formed a semi-official coalition to confront Iran. This move and the Israeli normalization with Gulf states was marked by some as the fading of the Arab–Israeli conflict.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials of violating the Genocide Convention, citing the ground invasion of Rafah and the use of U.S. funding for the attack. Tlaib stated over 35,000 Palestinians were killed, 600,000 children displaced, and called for Netanyahu's arrest. She criticized U.S. Congress and President Biden for funding the conflict and enabling atrocities, alleging active participation in genocide.
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, the Red Sea to the south, Egypt to the southwest, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and the Palestinian territories – the West Bank along the east and the Gaza Strip along the southwest. Tel Aviv is the financial, economic, and technological center of the country, while its seat of government is in its proclaimed capital of Jerusalem, although Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is unrecognized internationally.Israel is located in the Southern Levant, a region known historically as Canaan, Palestine, or the Holy Land. In antiquity, it was home to several Canaanite, Israelite and Jewish kingdoms, and is referred to as the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition. The region was ruled by powers such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Achaemenids, Greeks, and Romans. During Roman rule, Jews became a minority in Palestine. The region later came under Byzantine and Arab rule. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Islamic Caliphates, the Crusader Kingdom, and the Ottoman Empire. The late 19th century saw the rise of Zionism, a movement advocating for the establishment of a Jewish homeland. Under the British Mandate placed by the League of Nations after World War I, Jewish immigration to the region increased considerably leading to intercommunal conflict between Jews and the Arab majority. The 1947 UN partition plan triggered a civil war between these groups which would see the expulsion or fleeing of most Palestinians from Mandatory Palestine. The British terminated the Mandate on 14 May 1948, and Israel declared independence on the same day.On 15 May 1948, the armies of five neighboring Arab states invaded the area of the former Mandatory Palestine, starting the First Arab–Israeli War. An armistice in 1949 left Israel in control of more territory than the UN partition plan had called for; no new Arab state was created, as the rest of the former Mandate territory was divided between Egypt, which occupied the Gaza Strip, and Jordan, which annexed the West Bank. The 1967 Six-Day War ended with Israel occupying both the West Bank and Gaza alongside the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and the Syrian Golan Heights. Israel has since effectively annexed both East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, and has established settlements across the occupied territories, actions which are deemed illegal under international law. Since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt, returning the Sinai Peninsula, and with Jordan, and more recently normalized relations with several Arab countries. However, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not succeeded. Israel's practices, in the longest military occupation in modern history, have drawn international condemnation for violating the human rights of the Palestinians.The country has a parliamentary system elected by proportional representation. The prime minister serves as head of government, and is elected by the Knesset, Israel's unicameral legislature. Israel has the highest Human Development Index of all countries in the Middle East and is one of the richest countries in the Middle East and Asia, and an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member since 2010. It has the highest standards of living in the Middle East, and has been ranked as one of the most advanced and technological countries, with a population of nearly 10 million people, as of 2023. It has the world's 29th-largest economy by nominal GDP and 16th by nominal GDP per capita.
Anti-Israel protests have spread from U.S. college campuses to Europe, with demonstrations at the University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and protests at universities in the U.K., including Oxford and Cambridge. Riot police confronted protesters at the University of Amsterdam, where an anti-Israel encampment was broken up. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for an end to antisemitic abuse at U.K. universities amidst concerns about antisemitism. In response to the protests, a House Republican bill proposes sending individuals convicted of illegal activity on college campuses to Gaza for six months.
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