On Oct. 7, the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, Hamas launched a surprise attack into several towns in Israel. This is one of the biggest deemed terrorist attacks in recent history. So who is Hamas, and why did this all happen?
Hamas was founded in 1987 as an official Islamic Resistance Movement. Since 2007, Hamas has been the ruling government body of the Gaza Strip. Since their control in 2007,Hamas has been to war with Israel four times. This conflict has even been rooted before 2007, in fact it all started in 1948, when Israel was created. The United Nations General Assembly in 1947, partitioned Palestine into two states, Arab and Jewish, and international rule over Jerusalem. In 1948 David Ben-Gurion announced the state of Israel as a safe-haven for Jews. This split immediately sparked conflict between Palestine and Israel, and was heightened when Hamas took power in 2007. This most recent attack occurred because Hamas has promised the destruction and end of Israel, as well as freedom and self-determination. Palestine had been trapped by Israel for about 16 years. Israel has enforced an illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip, blocking trade going in and out. This has caused a humanitarian crisis in the strip. Hamas said they finally have had enough of this ill treatment and wanted to fight back.
Hamas has entered more than ten towns in Israel, kidnapping and killing more than 1,400 innocent civilians. They are holding more than 245 hostages, including U.S citizens, and are threatening that for every attack that Israel conducts on civilians in Gaza, they are going to commit an execution. Hamas attacked Israel every which way, through sea, land, and even air with rockets. These atrocities have shocked the world. In response to this, Israel has bombed the Gaza strip with multiple air strikes, killing an astounding 8,500 people.
The main issue surrounding this however, is the way both Hamas and Israel are fighting. They are murdering innocent civilians to try and prove a point to each other. It doesn’t matter who is right in the war, civilians should never be killed over a conflict, especially purposefully. While Israel has said to the U.S that they are not “deliberately” targeting civilians, Hamas is targeting civilians, murdering them in cold blood, and keeping them as hostages to kill them later on. Hamas’ actions are not justified, but neither are Israel’s. They have both killed a combined number of over 8,000 innocent people, and injured over 22,000. Israel continues to bomb Gaza, killing more and more civilians. Vowing to destroy Hamas, just like Hamas vowed to destroy Israel.
In the midst of all this, many pro-Palestine and pro-Israel groups have arisen. Rallies and protests throughout the world have popped up in support and hate for both sides. This has even trickled down to universities in America. Harvard University has had many pro-Palestine rallies, but some have turned violent. A student at Harvard got mobbed by a group of pro-Palestinians. This has sparked fear across the country and world not only from Jews, but also Palestinians. Fear over their countries and own lives from the violence that has ensued.
While the outcome of the war is unsure, one thing is: if the war doesn’t stop now, thousands if not hundreds of thousands more innocent lives will be taken. That simply cannot happen.
