The origins of the Hamas-Israel
war explained
Israel says it's at war after Palestinian militants launched a major terror attack at the center of this conflict is Israel's military occupation of one Palestinian territory the West Bank and its blockade of the other the Gaza Strip to understand what's happening it helps to go back to World War I when Britain took control of the region the land at the time had an Arab majority and a Jewish minority an Arab Rebellion and ongoing Jewish migration was followed by the Holocaust targeting Jews in World War II and a big increase in Jewish migration in 1947 the United Nations with Australia being a key driver agreed that what had been known as the British mandate for Palestine would be divided into a Jewish State and an Arab State the Jewish side accepted this hence the state of Israel was formed but the Arab side rejected it sparking a one-year War War as Britain withdrew but as the years went on Israel took more land than had been agreed by the UN Palestinians call this the NABA or catastrophe as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled at the end of the war Israel controlled all the land in blue except for Gaza here which Egypt controlled the West Bank which was controlled by Jordan and the Golden Heights controlled by Syria in 1967 in what's known as The Six Day War Israel seizes the West Bank the Gaza Strip and the Golden Heights Israel then went on to occupy thousands of kilometers of Palestinian territory which the UN says is illegal this is what we now refer to as the occupied territories despite objections from the International Community Israeli civilians choose to live in the areas for political and religious reasons or for cheap homes here's where a lot of conflict happens as Palestinians are displaced we are protesting and demonstrating against in 2005 Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip a small coastal territory home to 2.3 million people one of the most densely populated places in the world Israel controls the airspace and the Sea and it controls the crossings used to ship most of the goods in out the Crossing into Egypt is mainly used by people conditions for gazans under the blockade are tough with an unemployment rate of 50% as well as deteriorating Health Systems and infrastructure the group Hamas was formed in the late 1980s as frustrations grew hamas's goal is dedicated to Israel's destruction and it's been designated a terrorist group by many countries including Australia Hamas which has a militant wing and a political arm won Democratic elections in 2006 but wouldn't renounce violence against Israel and was isolated by the International Community it ceased control of Gaza a year later and while Israel withdrew from Gaza it continues to occupy the West Bank this means the Israeli Army is the ultimate Authority in the West Bank the 3 million Palestinians there and the 2.3 million in Gaza do not want an Israeli occupation or a blockade another point of contention is Jerusalem it's home to holy sites from three major religions Judaism Christianity and Islam clashes in the region often escalate around major religious holidays like the Jewish holiday of yam Kapur or Ramadan this is a region that's face tension for years but these attacks show things could escalate even further