Due to the severity of the situation and the fast flowing news cycle, we have decided to create a general megathread for discussion regarding the conflict.
Informal/Satirical news sources are not allowed on the main feed of the community but you are free to post them in this thread.
Please remember that all community and instance rules apply to this thread hence keep is civil.
Hamas and other groups surrounding the area, for example the Hisbollah from Iran, hate Jewish people and see them as literal enemies of Allah. Since Palestinians in Gaza want to end being controlled by Israel, Hamas was able to get in power. They want a pure Muslim country, with Israel gone, and some Palestinians and Palestinian activists around the world agree with them. Though, not all. Some want a two state solution.
The current leader of Israel and some of the Israelis didn’t accept the borders to the Palestinian areas in the past and today. Although they claim to not occupy Gaza, most people disagree since they control the access to the place (together with Egypt) and especially Gaza was left in a poor state because of it, basically depending on the mercy sometimes and sometimes not shown by Israel. Some Israelis, again, don’t agree with this and want a two state solution.
If you look at a map you can easily see the problem. Gaza is caught in a tiny corner between Egypt and Israel. The other part of Palestine is the Westbank. With Israel taking up more and more space in the middle over the last ~70 years Palestine is now divided.
This was the original two state plan btw:
The hatred between the two groups grew in part because they are uneven. And there were several wars and other violent incidents between the two states. Israel is getting supported mostly by the west, and therefore has a huge military force. Palestine is getting supported mostly by some Muslim countries but since access is difficult they don’t have a big military, instead rely on groups like Hamas.
Israel grew in part because Jewish people all around the globe were killed and exiled throughout history and fled to Israel. The west basically promised them Israel as compensation. But there was always a Jewish population in the area. Even before the conflict.
Also, Jerusalem is a whole other can of worms since both groups want that city very very much.
Beneath it all lies a complicated history of the whole area before it was Israel/Palestine (you would have to start with reading up on Transjordan or Kerak, going all the way back to the ancient world). And to make it even more complicated, the internet is littered with propaganda, fake news and one-sided reports from both sides.