Timeline of Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Intense fighting is raging in Israel and Gaza after the terror outfit Hamas launched thousands of rockets into Israel and gunmen infiltrated Southern Israel. “We are at war, and we will win it,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

- 

The current fighting is the worst the area has seen since 2021, but it is pertinent to note that it is part of a complex, bitter conflict that reaches back to the First World War. Though its borders have shifted over the years, Palestinian territories used to be what is now Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. The history, culture, and identity of both Israeli Jews’ and Palestinian Arabs’ are linked to these territories and to the ancient city of Jerusalem, which is considered one of the “most bitterly contested cities on earth.” 

DISPUTED TERRITORY

GAZA: The Gaza Strip is home to about 2 million Palestinians, many displaced after leaving or being driven from Israel during the War of Independence.

WEST BANK: The West Bank is east of Israel. About 3 million Palestinians live there, most of them Muslim Arabs. The West Bank contains a number of Jewish holy sites, which are visited by thousands of pilgrims every year.

EAST JERUSALEM: The holy city of Jerusalem itself is a divided, disputed city. It was sectioned in two after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Israel controlled the western portion and Jordan controlled the east. Israel captured the entire city in the 1967 Six-Day War. Jerusalem’s ownership is disputed, Israeli officials claim it as the undivided capital of Israel. In 2017, the Donald Trump administration moved the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, a formal recognition of Jerusalem as the capital. However, most nations do not acknowledge Jerusalem as belonging to either Israelis or Palestinians.

 CONFLICTING SIDES

HAMAS: