Israeli-Palestinian conflict: a brief history

In 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, known as the Partition Plan, dividing Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. But while the Jewish leadership embraced the plan, the Arab side rejected it, and it was never implemented.

In 1948 British authorities decided to withdraw from the conflict and Jewish leaders proclaimed the founding of Israel. However, Palestinians objected, leading to the Arab-Israeli war.

The war ended in 1949 with Israel’s victory, and the displacement of around 750,000 Palestinians that were driven from their homes in what came to be known as Al Nakba, or "The Catastrophe".

Photo: Palestinians clash with Israeli soldiers in Al Nakba 50th anniversary demonstration.

Over the next several years, Israel and Palestine, as well as Egypt, Jordan and Syria, had many conflicts over territory, some small and some very deadly.

In 1987, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rose up against the Israeli government in what is known as the first intifada, when Hamas was established.

Founded in Gaza by Sheikh Ahmed Yasin and Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi, Hamas stands for the "Islamic Resistance Movement", whose objective is to liberate historic Palestine through armed resistance.

Hamas does not recognize Israel's statehood but accepts the idea of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, and is part of a broader regional alliance that includes Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Hamas, either as a whole or its military wing in some cases, is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Canada, Egypt, and Japan.

In response, the Israeli government approved the  construction of a barrier wall  around the West Bank in 2002, despite opposition from the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

While Israel has dismissed apartheid accusations as antisemitic, many notable Israelis, such as former Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair and historian Benny Morris, among others, have spoken out against the situation in occupied territories.

Hamas spokesperson Khaled Qadomi told ‘Al Jazeera’ in October that the group carried out its attacks in response to atrocities that Palestinians have faced over decades and as a retaliation for Israel’s attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque a few weeks before October 7.

Israel’s response to Hamas’s attacks however, described by Israeli authorities as merely “self-defense”, has been critized by some world leaders as disproportionate and by human rights organizations as genocidal.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including at least 12,660 children since October 7.

According to the Red Cross, it’s projected that the entire 2.2 million population of Gaza is now experiencing food insecurity at crisis levels or above; the highest share of a population facing high food insecurity that has ever been classified by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) anywhere in the world.