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For around 100 years, Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting over land. There have been many attempts to make peace and find a solution, but they have not yet been successful. Recently, in October 2023, another war broke out.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most long-lasting and complicated issues in the world. It is a dispute between two groups of people who both wish to have independence and their own country in the same piece of land.
Over the years, there have been many further fights and disagreements between the two groups. Basically, the Palestinians say they have the right to fight for their freedom, and the Israelis say they have the right to defend themselves from being attacked so there is an awful cycle of violence. These fights are about who gets to live where and who controls important places like Jerusalem, a city that both groups claim as their capital.
Sometimes, the disagreements turn into wars, and many people get hurt or lose their homes. The Israeli Government has put their military forces into the West Bank area of Palestine (known as an occupation), stating that it is necessary for security reasons, however the Palestinians see this occupation as illegal and as a motivation for ongoing resistance against Israel. Hamas, the group that controls the Gaza Strip (a narrow strip of land between Israel and Egypt), which many countries consider to be a terrorist organisation, often fights with Israel by launching rockets at cities in Israel, and Israel often retaliates with its own missiles. People who live in the Gaza Strip are deprived of many basic human rights, as there is also a blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt, restricting everything that passes in and out, both goods and people. This leads to a lot of tension and suffering for the people living in those areas.
The latest and most serious fighting in the history of this conflict started on October 7th, 2023, when Hamas crossed into Israel from Gaza in a surprise attack. Over a thousand people were killed in the attack and over 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas. Israel retaliated with air strikes (bombs and missiles that are launched from planes) and has sent its army into Gaza, with the aim of disrupting Hamas’s network of tunnels and its leadership. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Gaza leading to a humanitarian catastrophe, and the conflict has also spilled over into fighting in parts of the West Bank and the wider Middle East.
People all around the world want peace and justice in the region. It’s a difficult problem, and there are no easy answers, but leaders and people from all over the world are trying to help and to lend their support to their friends in the region.
Sometimes when there is fighting in another country, it can feel difficult to make a difference. But amazing people like you can help too.
You can:
If you’d like to learn more about war and peace around the world, check out the page on UN Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.
