The background to the ongoing Gaza war focusing on key events from 1967 to 2023, including occupation, the rise of Hamas, multiple military confrontations, economic hardships in Gaza, and the lead-up to the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel.
In 1967, following the Six-Day War fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan), Israel occupied the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip which had formerly been occupied by Egypt. [3] A process of Arab-Israeli normalization began in the 1970s, with the fourth and final war between Arab states and Israel ending in 1973 and an Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty signed in 1979. [4] In 1987, the First Intifada, a popular uprising by the Palestinians against the Israeli occupation, began. [5] Following the failure of the subsequent peace talks at the Camp David Summits in 2000, [6] violence once again escalated during the Second Intifada, which ended with the Sharm El Sheikh Summit and Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and subsequent blockade. [7] [8] The Israeli closures, together with repeated conflicts, resulted in high levels of poverty, unemployment, and low economic development. [9]
Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and a subsequent battle in the Gaza Strip between it and Fatah, which led to Hamas taking over governance of Gaza in 2007, and further escalating tensions with Israel. [10] [11] Israel, along with Egypt, imposed a blockade that significantly damaged Gaza's economy, citing security concerns as the justification. [12] International rights groups have characterized the blockade as a form of collective punishment, [13] [14] while Israel defended it as necessary to prevent weapons and dual-use goods from entering the territory. [15] [16] The Palestinian Authority has not held national elections since 2006. [12] [17]
Since 2007, Israel has been involved in numerous military confrontations with Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza. [12] [11] [18] There have been four previous major hostilities, including two full-scale wars, between Israel and Hamas: in 2008–2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021. [19] [20] Hamas's tactics included tunnel warfare and firing rockets into Israeli territory, whereas Israel generally conducted airstrikes in Gaza. [18] Israel also conducted ground invasions of Gaza in the 2008–2009 and 2014 wars. [21] In 2018–2019, there were weekly organized protests near the Gaza-Israel border involving thousands of Gazan participants. The protests were met with violence by Israel, with hundreds killed and thousands injured by sniper fire. [22] [23] Surveys in 2023 of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank before the war indicated that a majority supported the use of "armed struggle", the creation of "militant groups", and an intifada ("uprising") against the Israeli occupation. [24] [25] The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported roughly 6,400 Palestinians and 300 Israelis were killed in the wider Israeli–Palestinian conflict from 2008 through September 2023 before the start of this war. [26] [1] [2]
Due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, UNRWA reported that 81% of people were living below the poverty level in 2023, with 63% being food insecure and dependent on international assistance. [2] [27] According to an analysis in The Independent , the Gaza blockade created hopelessness among Palestinians, which was exploited by Hamas, convincing young Palestinian men that violence was their only solution. [28]
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by a number of Western states and regional blocs, including the US, the UK, Japan, Australia and the EU. [29] [30] [3] [31] China and Russia do not regard Hamas as a terrorist organization, [32] [33] [34] and a 2018 motion to condemn Hamas for "acts of terror" at the UN failed to pass. [35]
In February–March 2021, Fatah and Hamas reached agreement to jointly conduct elections for a new Palestinian legislative assembly, in accordance with the Oslo Accords, and for Hamas to enter the PLO. Hamas committed to upholding international law, transferring control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority and to allowing it to negotiate with Israel to establish a Palestinian state along the 1967 ceasefire lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital. According to Menachem Klein, Israeli Arabist and political scientist at Bar-Ilan University, Mahmoud Abbas subsequently cancelled the elections under pressure from Israel and the United States. [36] Soon after the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis exploded, the Al-Qassam Brigades started planning the 7 October 2023 operation. [36] [37]
Hamas officials stated while announcing the attack that it was a response to the Israeli occupation, blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israeli settler violence against Palestinians, restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, and imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians, whom Hamas sought to release by taking Israeli hostages. [38] [39] [40]
Mohammad Deif, the head of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades (their militant wing), [41] said on 7 October that the Hamas attack was in response to what he called the "desecration" of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Israel killing and wounding hundreds of Palestinians in 2023. [42]
In his speech, he mentioned that "every day the occupation attacks our towns and homes in the West Bank, spreading corruption by infiltrating houses, arresting, and killing hundreds in this year alone, and the Israeli occupation continues to impose its criminal siege of the Gaza Strip. In the midst of these continuous crimes against our Palestinian people and their rights, in the midst of showing utmost disregard for international laws and resolutions, and in the midst of US and Western support and international silence, we have decided to put an end to all of that and announce a military operation "Al-Aqsa Flood" against the Israeli occupation so that it can no longer revel without punishment". [43] [44] [45] [46]
A speculated additional motive of Hamas was to prevent a diplomatic normalization between Israel and Arab countries that was gaining momentum with the Abraham Accords. [47] But the only aspect of international relations that Hamas or their allies have emphasised is Western and United States support for the occupation. [46] [48] [49] Deif also highlighted other conflicts in the region which he saw as related to the Palestinian struggle. [49] [50]
In his 7 October speech, [49] Mohammed Deif, "Chief of Staff" of the Qassam Brigades, [51] called on Palestinians and members of "Islamic resistance" groups throughout the region to "expel the occupiers and demolish the walls." [49] [42] [52]
Deif instructed the Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Israel to take the opportunity to overthrow the occupation. [49] [53] He then called on people in "all parts of the Arab and Islamic homeland" from Morocco to Indonesia, to "start now, not tomorrow, your daily advance towards Palestine, and do not let borders, regimes or restrictions deprive you of the honour". Deif went on to quote the Quran: "And kill them wherever you confront them, and expel them from where they expelled you." [49] [54] In the same speech Deif directed, "Do not kill the elderly and children, and remove this filth from your land and from your holy things." [55] [56] [57]
The long-term goals of Hamas are disputed. Hamas has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, notably in its 1988 charter. [58] [a] Bruce Hoffman has argued that Hamas' 1988 charter lays out aims that are antisemitic and "genocidal" in nature. [59] In 2017, Hamas replaced its old charter with a new one that removed antisemitic language and stated that its struggle was with Zionists, not Jews. [60] [61] The new charter indicates that Hamas will accept the peace agreements only provisionally, without relinquishing a claim to the entirety of Palestine nor recognizing Israel. [62] [59]
The attack was also seen[ who? ] as a resolution of internal tensions within Hamas as to whether the group's main goal is governing the Gaza Strip or fighting against Israel. [63] Internal strife in Israeli society caused by protests against the judicial reform encouraged Hamas to go ahead with its attack. [64] [65]
On 21 January 2024, Hamas released an 18-page English-language document reiterating its previously stated rationales and framing the attack in a wider context as a struggle against colonialism, describing its actions as "a necessary step and a normal response to confront all Israeli conspiracies against the Palestinian people". [66] [67] It said that "maybe some faults happened" during the attacks "due to the rapid collapse of the Israeli security and military system, and the chaos caused along the border areas with Gaza" and that "[if] there was any case of targeting civilians it happened accidentally". [68] [66] The timing of the release raised questions; sources in Gaza, including those aligned with Hamas, told Haaretz that the document was designed to contend with criticism of the heavy price Gazans have paid for the attacks on Israel. [69] [70]
Internal documents revealed that Hamas, in an initiative led by Yahya Sinwar, attempted to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to join the October 7 attacks. [71] The group postponed the assault, codenamed "the big project," from its original 2022 date in hopes of securing broader regional involvement. While Iran and Hezbollah expressed support, they were not fully prepared, leading Hamas to proceed without them. [71] This was contested by Dropsite, which stated that the New York Times had failed to properly verify the documents. This included only showing their one named source a single page (out of 30), despite relying on this source to assess the documents' authenticity. [72]
The Netanyahu government has been criticized within Israel for having championed a policy of empowering the Hamas government in Gaza by, for instance, granting work permits to Gazan residents, facilitating the transfer of funds to Hamas and maintaining relative calm. [73] [74] [75] By the conclusion of Netanyahu's fifth government in 2021, the issuance of work permits to Gazans reached approximately 2,000–3,000. Later, under the Bennett-Lapid government, this number significantly increased to 10,000, [73] and since Netanyahu's return to power in 2023 the number rose again to 20,000. [73] These workers were accused of spying on Israel and being complicit in the October 7 attack. [76] [77] [78] After the attack, the Israeli war cabinet granted additional 8,000 work permits to West Bank residents, despite concerns about their vetting and potential security risks. [76]
In addition to granting workers permits, millions of dollars from Qatar have been transported into Gaza, escorted by Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, intended for Gaza's power plant, infrastructure projects and monthly stipends for impoverished Palestinian families, while Israeli officials were aware that Hamas might divert the funds to acquire weapons and rockets. [79] [74]
These strategies towards Hamas have been criticized as having backfired in light of the attacks on 7 October 2023. [75] Critics cautioned that such policies may have strengthened Hamas's power in Gaza while weakening Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, thus sabotaging a two-state solution. [80] [75] This criticism has been echoed by several Israeli officials, including former prime minister Ehud Barak and former head of the Shin Bet internal security service Yuval Diskin. [80] The Palestinian Authority and Saudi Arabia were also critical of Netanyahu's government allowing Qatar to deliver suitcases of money to Hamas [80] in exchange for maintaining the ceasefire. [73] Haaretz and The Nation have described Netanyahu's strategy towards the Palestinian issue as that of "divide-and-conquer". [81] [82] Netanyahu himself has criticized opinions on his responsibility for the 7 October attacks, stating "Did people ask Franklin Roosevelt, after Pearl Harbor, that question? Did people ask George Bush after the surprise attack of November [sic] 11?" referring to the 11 September 2001 terror attacks. [83]
Numerous commentators have identified the broader context of Israeli occupation as a cause of the war. [84] [85] [86] [87] [88] The Associated Press wrote that Palestinians are "in despair over a never-ending occupation in the West Bank and suffocating blockade of Gaza". [89] Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, [90] B'Tselem [91] and Human Rights Watch [92] have likened the Israeli occupation to apartheid, although supporters of Israel dispute this characterization. [93] [94]
In 2023, before the October 7 assault, 32 Israelis and two foreign nationals were killed in Palestinian attacks. At least 247 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces. [95] Increases in settler attacks had displaced hundreds of Palestinians, and there were clashes around the Al-Aqsa Mosque which sits on the Temple Mount, a contested holy site in Jerusalem. [96] In August 2023, 1,264 Palestinians were held in administrative detention in Israel without charge or trial, [97] [98] which Israel said was necessary to contain dangerous militants. [97]
Tensions between Israel and Hamas rose in September 2023, and the Washington Post described the two "on the brink of war". [99] Israel found explosives hidden in a shipment of jeans and halted all exports from Gaza. [99] In response, Hamas put its forces on high alert, and conducted military exercises with other groups, including openly practicing storming Israeli settlements. [99] Hamas also allowed Palestinians to resume protests at the Gaza–Israel barrier. [99] On 13 September, five Palestinians were killed at the border. According to the Washington Post, the Palestinians were attempting to detonate an explosive device. [99] Al-Jazeera reported that a Palestinian Explosives Engineering Unit was working to deactivate the device. [100] On 29 September, Qatar, the UN, and Egypt mediated an agreement between Israel and Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip to reopen closed crossing points and deescalate tensions. [101] [102]
Simon Tisdall argues that an uptick in Israeli–Palestinian violence in the West Bank in the first half of 2023 had portended war, [103] and stated that Netanyahu's "refusal to contemplate any type of peace process" added "fuel to the smouldering fire" in the context of "the relentless expansion of illegal Israeli settlements". [103] Prior to the attack, Saudi Arabia warned Israel of an "explosion" as a result of the continued occupation, [104] Egypt had warned of a catastrophe unless there was political progress, [105] and similar warnings were given by Palestinian Authority officials. [105] Two months before the attacks, King Abdullah II of Jordan commented that Palestinians have "no civil rights; no freedom of mobility". [105]
Israeli intelligence officials initially stated that they had no warnings or indications of the 7 October attack by Hamas, despite Israel exercising extensive monitoring over Gaza. [106] However, in the weeks and days preceding 7 October, the US intelligence community produced at least two assessments based partly on Israeli intelligence warning the Biden administration of an increased risk for Hamas-initiated violence. [107] Egypt said it warned Israel days before the attack, "an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big". [108] Israel denied receiving such a warning, [109] but the Egyptian statement was corroborated by Michael McCaul, Chairman of the US House Foreign Relations Committee, who said warnings were made three days before the attack. [110]
According to a New York Times report, Israeli officials obtained an approximately 40-page document detailing the Hamas battle plan for its 7 October attack more than a year prior to the actual event. The document described operational plans and targets, including the size and location of Israeli forces, and raised questions in Israel as to how Hamas was able to learn these details. The plans included a large scale rocket assault prior to invasion, drones to knock out surveillance cameras and gun turrets that Israel deployed along the border, and gunmen invading Israel with paragliders. The Times report's authors wrote, "Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision". They also claimed the document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders who largely dismissed the plan as being beyond Hamas's capabilities, though it was unclear if political leaders were informed. In July 2023, a veteran analyst with the Israeli signals intelligence unit warned other intelligence experts that Hamas was conducting exercises for an assault. A colonel within the IDF's Gaza Division concluded that no real threat was imminent. [111]
The Financial Times and Politico reported that alerts from the signals unit were ignored partly because they originated from lower-ranking female soldiers. Furthermore, these warnings contradicted the Israeli government's belief that it had effectively contained Hamas by blockading Gaza, bombing its military capabilities, and permitting Qatar to channel hundreds of millions of dollars in aid money to Gaza. The upper echelons of Israel's political and military leadership subscribed to the narrative that Hamas had moderated and was seeking to avoid a full-scale war. [112] [113]
In June 2024 it was reported that a document titled "Detailed End-to-End Raid Training" was given to the Israeli public broadcaster Kan. The document was compiled within the IDF's Gaza Division less than three weeks before 7 October, warning that Hamas was training for a large-scale hostage-taking operation. Estimates within the document suggested Hamas aimed to seize 200–250 hostages. [114] [115]
At the time of the attack, Israel and Saudi Arabia were conducting negotiations to normalize relations. Amid the negotiations, in early August, Israeli PM Netanyahu rejected a Palestinian state. [116] [117] [118] Neverthelees Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said normalization was "for the first time real". [119] This was an apparent reversal of Saudi policy, articulated in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, when Saudi Arabia had offered Israel normalization with the whole Arab world if Israel allows the creation of a Palestinian state. [120] [121] [122] [123] Israeli [123] and other officials involved in the negotiations confirmed that the Saudis were considering normalization with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state. [124] Many Palestinians worried that Israeli-Saudi normalization would cost them their last significant leverage for Palestinian statehood. [125] Most in the US foreign policy establishment believed Palestinian statehood "no longer matters in the Middle East". [126]
On October 21, US President Joe Biden said the aim of the 7 October attacks was to disrupt the normalization talks. [127] According to Menachem Klein, Israeli normalization with other Middle Eastern states, including Saudi Arabia, threatened to leave the Palestinians "isolated and weak". [36] On 7 February 2024, Saudi Arabia stated that diplomatic relations with Israel requires an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. [128] On October 4, three days before the Hamas attack, US diplomat Dennis Ross said Palestinian statehood "is not an option" in the Israeli-Saudi talks. [129] In October 2024, a year after the attacks, Israeli military claimed to have Hamas documents that said it wanted to disrupt Saudi-Israeli talks. [71]
The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. Inhabited by mostly Palestinian refugees and their descendants, Gaza is one of the most densely populated territories in the world. An end of 2024 estimate puts the population of the Strip at 2.1 million. Gaza is bordered by Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the east and north. The territory has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.
The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas, is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist political organisation with a military wing known as the Al-Qassam Brigades. It has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007.
Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, better known as Mohammed Deif, was a Palestinian militant and the head of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist organization Hamas.
Al-Qassam Brigades, also known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, named after Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, is the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist organization Hamas. Led by Mohammed Deif until his death on 13 July 2024, the Al-Qassam Brigades is the largest and best-equipped militia operating within the Gaza Strip in recent years.
Hamas is a Palestinian nationalist and Islamic fundamentalist socio-political organization based in the Gaza Strip with an associated paramilitary force, the al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas (حماس) Ḥamās is an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement".
The Gaza–Israel conflict is a localized part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict beginning in 1948, when about 200,000 of the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes settled in the Gaza Strip as refugees. Since then, Israel has been involved in about 15 wars involving organizations in the Gaza Strip. The number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza war (47,000+) is higher than the death toll of all other wars in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict combined.
The 2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire was an Egyptian-brokered six-month Tahdia "for the Gaza area", which went into effect between Hamas and Israel on 19 June 2008. According to the Egyptian-brokered agreement, Israel promised to stop air strikes and other attacks, while in return, there would not be rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza. Once the ceasefire held, Israel was to gradually begin to ease its blockade of Gaza.
Israel–Jordan relations are the diplomatic, economic and cultural relations between Israel and Jordan. The two countries share a land border, with three border crossings: Yitzhak Rabin/Wadi Araba Crossing, Jordan River Crossing and the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge Crossing, that connects the West Bank with Jordan. The relationship between the two countries is regulated by the Israel–Jordan peace treaty in 1994, which formally ended the state of war between the two countries since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and provided the platform for diplomatic and trade relations. On 8 October 2020, Israel and Jordan signed an agreement allowing flights to cross over each other's airspace.
Marwan Abdel Karim Ali Issa was a Palestinian militant who was the deputy commander of Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.
The two-state solution is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, by creating two states on the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. It is often contrasted with the one-state solution, which is the establishment a single state in former Mandatory Palestine with equal rights for all its inhabitants. The two-state solution is supported by many countries and the Palestinian Authority. Israel currently does not support the idea, though it has in the past.
Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar was a Palestinian militant and politician who served as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from August 2024, and as the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from February 2017, until he was killed in a clash with the IDF in October 2024, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh in both roles.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, on 20 December 2019 announced an investigation into war crimes allegedly committed in Palestine by members of the Israeli military and Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups since 13 June 2014.
Since the 1970s, there has been a parallel effort made to find terms upon which peace can be agreed to in the Arab–Israeli conflict and also specifically the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Over the years, numerous Arab League countries have signed peace and normalization treaties with Israel, beginning with the Egypt–Israel peace treaty (1979). Despite the failure to implement the Israeli–Lebanese peace accords (1983), more treaties continued with the Israeli–Palestinian peace process (1991–present), the Israel–Jordan peace treaty (1994), the Abraham Accords normalizing relations between Israel–United Arab Emirates and Israel–Bahrain (2020), the Israel–Sudan normalization agreement (2020) and the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement (2020). Moreover, numerous Arab League members established semi-official relations with Israel.
The Gaza war has been fought between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip and Israel since 7 October 2023. It is the fifth war since 2008 in the Gaza–Israel conflict, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The first day of the war was the deadliest for Israel, and it is the deadliest war for Palestinians in the history of the conflict, sparking an ongoing Middle Eastern crisis.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Wikipedia articles available about the Gaza war. It is an evolving list.
The siege of Gaza City was an engagement of the Israel–Hamas war that began on 2 November 2023, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded Gaza City, amid the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, which was a counterattack to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Gaza City is the most populated city in the Gaza Strip and the battle started on 30 October 2023, when Israel and Hamas clashed in Gaza City. According to Oxfam, about 500,000 Palestinians, along with 200 Israelis and other captives, were trapped in a "siege within a siege" in northern Gaza.
The Gaza war sparked a major diplomatic crisis, with many countries around the world reacting strongly to the conflict that affected the momentum of regional relations. At least nine countries took the drastic step of recalling their ambassadors or cutting diplomatic ties with Israel. The conflict has also resulted in a renewed focus on a two-state solution to the ongoing conflict.
On 19 August 2014, the Israel Defense Forces carried out an airstrike at the home of Mohammed Deif, leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades. Deif was unharmed, but his wife, Widad Asfura, and two of their children were killed.
On 13 July 2024, Israeli airstrikes hit the Al-Mawasi area near Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war. The attack killed at least 90 Palestinians, among them women and children, and injured over 300. Israel said that the strike targeted Hamas top leaders. Survivors reported that they were targeted without warning in an area they were told was safe.
Zaher Jabarin is a Palestinian in exile and a member of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). He is the head of the Office of Martyrs, Wounded, and Prisoners, and financial administrator in the Hamas Movement.
A panel of five independent U.N. rights experts [said] the blockade had subjected Gazans to collective punishment in 'flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law.'* "Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories". Amnesty International Report 2022/23: The State of the World's Human Rights. London: Amnesty International. 2023. pp. 206–211. ISBN 978-0-86210-502-0. Archived from the original on 16 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
This compounded the impact of a 15-year ongoing Israeli blockade that amounts to illegal collective punishment* "Deprived and Endangered: Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip". Human Rights Watch. 13 January 2009. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
The blockade is a form of collective punishment in violation of international law.* "Hamas hardliner Yahya Sinwar elected as Gaza leader". BBC News. 13 February 2017. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
Israel and Egypt maintain a blockade around Gaza aimed at preventing attacks by militants there, though the measure has been condemned by rights groups as a form of collective punishment.
The unemployment rate soared to "probably the highest in the world", four-fifths of the population were forced to rely on humanitarian assistance, three-quarters became dependent on food aid, more than half faced "acute food insecurity", one in ten children were stunted by malnutrition, and over 96 percent of potable water became unsafe for human consumption.
As the Israeli occupation maintains its siege of the Gaza Strip and continues its crimes against our Palestinian people showing utmost disregard for international laws and resolutions amid US and Western support and international silence, we have decided to put an end to all of that and announce a military operation "Al-Aqsa Flood" against the Israeli occupation.
He also said Hamas had in the past asked Israel for a humanitarian deal to release Palestinian prisoners, but this was rejected. "In light of the orgy of occupation and its denial of international laws and resolutions, and in light of American and western support and international silence, we've decided to put an end to all this," he said.
In light of the continuing crimes against our people, in light of the orgy of occupation and its denial of international laws and resolutions, and in light of American and Western support, we've decided to put an end to all this," said the speaker, filmed shrouded in shadows, "so that the enemy understands that he can no longer revel without being held to account.
As the Israeli occupation maintains its siege of the Gaza Strip and continues its crimes against our Palestinian people showing utmost disregard for international laws and resolutions amid US and Western support and international silence, we have decided to put an end to all of that and announce a military operation "Al-Aqsa Flood" against the Israeli occupation.
The almost daily bombardment of Syria and Iraq is over; time is up for those who gamble on the division of the Umma and the dispersal of its forces into internal conflicts. The time has come for all Arab and Islamic forces to join together to clear out this occupation from our sacred sites and from our land.
To the people of Jordan and Lebanon, of Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, of Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, and all parts of the Arab and Islamic homeland, start now, not tomorrow, your daily advance towards Palestine, and do not let borders, regimes or restrictions deprive you of the honour... Today, history opens its clearest, most noble and brightest pages. Who will record their name, their family name and the name of their city in the pages of light and glory?
Do not kill the elderly and children...
A regime that uses laws, practices and organized violence to cement the supremacy of one group over another is an apartheid regime. Israeli apartheid, which promotes the supremacy of Jews over Palestinians, was not born in one day or of a single speech. It is a process that has gradually grown more institutionalized and explicit, with mechanisms introduced over time in law and practice to promote Jewish supremacy. These accumulated measures, their pervasiveness in legislation and political practice, and the public and judicial support they receive – all form the basis for our conclusion that the bar for labeling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met.
In an early August interview with Bloomberg, Netanyahu...called the Palestinian issue no more than a "checkbox" and reiterated his opposition to a Palestinian state.
To which [Palestinian state] Bibi emphatically says, "No, never." Many in Israel and elsewhere are confident that the Saudis aren't really serious about Palestinian statehood and are unwilling to sacrifice their own interests for it.
It is not lost on anyone, least of all the Palestinians, that in 2002, then–Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz conditioned recognition for Israel on Palestinian statehood. Now–Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has removed that condition.
[MBS] effectively abandoning a two-decade-old Saudi pledge to only make peace with Israel after it fully withdraws from land it occupies.
[bin Salman] stopped short of calling for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, which has been Riyadh's official stance for two decades.
Riyadh understands that immediate Palestinian statehood is not an option