On 7 October, Hamas, a militant Palestinian group, launched an unprecedented attack on Israel. Hundreds of gunmen infiltrated communities near the Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli statistics, more than 250 hostages were taken into Gaza and around 1,200 people died.
Gaza’s Hamas run health ministry reports that Israeli air and artillery attacks have resulted in the deaths of more than 33,000 Palestinians.
More on the Israel-Gaza War
* Why is there a war? What is Hamas, and why does it fight Israel?
* Gaza Strip map: Life under siege in Gaza
* Explained: the faces of hostages taken by Israel
What was Israel like before 1948?
After World War One, Britain gained control of the area called Palestine after the Ottoman Empire lost its power in that part of Middle East.
The land was inhabited primarily by Arabs and a Jewish majority, but also by smaller ethnic groups.
Tensions between two peoples increased when the international community assigned the UK the task to establish a “national homeland” in Palestine for Jewish citizens.
This was a result of the Balfour Declaration, which was made in 1917 by then Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour. It was a promise he made to Britain’s Jewish Community.
The declaration was enshrined by the British mandate in Palestine and endorsed in 1922 by the newly created League of Nations, the forerunner of United Nations.
Palestinian Arabs claim the land as their ancestral home but Jews also claim it.
In the 1920s and 1940s the number of Jews who arrived in Israel grew as many fled persecution in Europe.
Violence against British rule and between Jews and Arabs also increased.
In 1947, the UN voted to split Palestine into separate Jewish states and Arab states. Jerusalem was made an international city.
The plan was rejected by the Arabs and never implemented.
Why and how was Israel created
In 1948, Britain, unable of solving the problem, withdrew, and Jewish leaders announced the creation of Israel.
It was meant to be both a safe haven and a national home for Jews who fled persecution.
Five Arab countries attacked Israel the day after Israel declared its statehood.
In what they call Al Nakba or the “Catastrophe”, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee or leave their homes.
By the time the fighting ceased in a ceasefire a year later, Israel controlled the majority of the territory.
Jordan occupied the land that became known as West Bank and Egypt occupied Gaza.
Jerusalem was divided by Israeli forces to the West and Jordanian Forces to the East.
There were more wars in the following decades because there was no peace agreement.
Maps of Israel’s borders
Map of Israel
In 1967, Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and most of the Syrian Golan Heights. It also occupied Gaza and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
Most Palestinian refugees, and their descendants, live in Gaza, the West Bank and in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
Israel has not allowed them or their descendants to return to their homes. Israel claims that this would threaten the existence of Israel as a Jewish State.
Israel still occupies West Bank and claims Jerusalem as its entire capital, while Palestinians claim East Jerusalem is the capital of the hoped-for Palestinian state. The US is among a small group of countries that recognises the city as Israel’s capital.
Over the past 50 years, Israel has built settlements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem where more than 700 000 Jews now reside.
The UN Security Council, the UK government and others hold that settlements are illegal under international law. Israel rejects this.
What is the Gaza Strip?
Gaza is a narrow strip sandwiched between Israel, the Mediterranean Sea and Egypt.
It is only 41km long (25 miles), and 10km wide. With more than 2 million residents, it is one of the densestly populated places on Earth.
Gaza was occupied for 19 years by Egypt after the war of 1948-1949.
Israel occupied Gaza during the 1967 war, and stayed there until 2005. During this time, it built Jewish settlements.
Israel retracted its troops and settled in 2005. It retained control of its airspace, shared boundary and shoreline. The UN still considers that the territory is occupied by Israel.
Where is Gaza Strip located?
* Gaza Strip on maps: What’s it like for the people living there?
What are the main issues between Israelis and Palestinians today?
There are several issues on which the two sides can’t agree.
Included are:
What should be done with Palestinian refugees?
* Should Jewish settlements in the West Bank be removed or left?
* Should the two sides share Jerusalem?
* The most difficult question of all is whether a Palestinian State should be created alongside Israel
What steps have you taken to resolve this problem?
Between the 1990s to 2010, Israel-Palestinian talks were held intermittently, with violent outbursts.
Early on, a negotiated peace seemed possible. Oslo Peace Process was born from a series of secret talks held in Norway. In 1993, President Bill Clinton presided over a ceremony at the White House lawn.
In a historic moment the Palestinians recognized the State of Israel, and Israel recognised the Palestine Liberation Organisation as the sole representative of Palestinians. A self-governing Palestinian Authority has been established.
But cracks appeared soon, as then opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu called Oslo a mortal danger to Israel. The Israelis intensified their project to settle Jews within the occupied Palestinian Territories. Hamas, a militant Palestinian group that recently emerged, sent suicide bombers into Israel to kill people and ruin the chances of an agreement.
The atmosphere in Israel became ugly, culminating with the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish extremeist on 4th November 1995.
In the 2000s, there were attempts to revive the peace-process. A roadmap was developed by world powers in 2003 with the ultimate goal being a two-state resolution. However, this was never implemented.
In 2014, peace efforts stalled when Israelis and Palestinians failed to reach an agreement in Washington.
Prime Minister Netanyahu called the most recent US peace plan, prepared when Donald Trump was President, “the deal” of the century. But the Palestinians dismissed it as being one-sided and that it never got off the floor.
Why are Israel and Gaza at War Now?
Hamas is the ruling party in Gaza, an Islamist organization that is dedicated to the destruction and destruction of Israel. The UK and many other nations have designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
Hamas won Palestinians’ last election in 2006 and took control of Gaza by ousting Fatah, the rival movement of West Bank President Mahmoud Abdullah.
Since then, militants have fought with Israel several times. Israel, along with Egypt, has maintained a partial blocking of the Gaza Strip to isolate Hamas, and to try to stop attacks.
Palestinians in Gaza claim that Israel’s restrictions on Gaza and its air strikes against heavily populated areas are collective punishment.
The UN has stated that this year was the deadliest ever for Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Palestinians also complain about the restrictions and military action being taken there in response to deadly Israeli attacks.
Hamas’ latest attack could have been a result of tensions.
The militants may have also been trying to increase their popularity among ordinary Palestinians by using hostages as a way to pressure Israel into releasing some of the estimated 4500 Palestinians it holds in its prisons.
Who is supporting who in the Israel-Hamas conflict?
The US, European Union and other Western nations have all condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel.
The US, Israel’s closest ally, over the years has given the Jewish State more than $260bn of military and economic assistance. It has also promised additional equipment, guided bombs, air defence missiles and ammunition.
Where does Israel obtain its weapons?
It also sent two aircraft carriers strike groups to eastern Mediterranean to prevent Israel’s enemies – notably Lebanon’s Hezbollah – from opening a new front in the conflict.
The US has criticised Israel for the number of Palestinians killed in the war, but there are now sharp differences between the two allies.
Both Russia and China have refused to condemn Hamas and claim they are in contact with both sides of the conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed US policies for the lack of peace in the Middle East.
Iran, Israel’s archenemy is a major supporter of Hamas. Hezbollah’s militants are also a key supporter. They have been exchanging gunfire with Israeli forces nearly every day since Hamas launched its attack.
After reports that Iran gave the go ahead days earlier, questions have been raised about Iran’s involvement in the Hamas attack. Tehran has denied any involvement.
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