ISRAELI-HAMAS WAR IN PALESTINE AND THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN GAZA, 2006-2023

Abstract

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has been a longstanding and complex issue with deep historical backgrounds, rooted in the broader Arab-Israeli conflict and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The territorial disputes over land, particularly in Gaza and the West Bank, have been contentious issues between the two forces in Gaza. The Gaza Strip has been subject to an Israeli blockade since 2007, following Hamas' takeover of the territory. The blockade restricted the movement of goods and people, contributing to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Scholars and conflict analysts also attributed the ongoing war in Gaza to issues such as the status of Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State. Therefore, this paper analyzes how the US’s strategic interest in Israel intensifies the war between Hamas and Israel, leading to reoccurring hostilities and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The paper was anchored on realist theory as its theoretical framework of analysis. The paper depended on the time series research design and utilizes the documentary data generation method. Content analysis was used for analysis of data generated from documents. The paper found that the US’s strategic interest in Israel intensified the war between Hamas and Israel, leading to the reoccurring hostilities and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. This paper recommended that the US should embrace the UN Security Council Resolutions calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied territories and the two-state solution by not vetoing the resolutions critical of Israel.