The violent battle between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza is part of the ARAB ISRALI, which has been going on for decades. After Israel was founded in 1948, millions of Palestinians fled their homelands and settled in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. At that time, Gaza belonged to Egypt. In 1967, Israel occupied the area after the 6-Day War. In the decades that followed, several conflicts have arisenbetween Palestinians and Israelis The Gaza Strip is a 25 mile-long area on the Mediterranean . Most of its 1.8 million people live in extreme poverty. Infrastructure is weak; food and electricity re often scarce. Over 40% of the Palestinians are unemployed because they cannot find any work in Gaza. Some of them travel across the border to work in Israel. The UN manages almost half of the schools in Gaza, but more are needed to deal with the rise in population, which is expected to grow to over 2 million by 2020. The UN also says that more and more HOUSES AND APARTMENTS re needed for people who have lost their homes during Israeli air strikes. In 2005, Israel decided to withdraw their army from the Gaza Strip in an attempt to allow Palestinians to rule themselves. It also pulled out 5000 Israelis, who settled in the region shortly afterwards, a terrorist organization called Hamas took power after winning general elections. Hamas does not recognise Israel as a sovereign state and wants to destroy the Jewish country. Its aim is to give Palestinians their old homeland back. In the last few years, Israel has led an all-out war against Hamas. It controls what gets in and out of Gaza at the bordercrossings in the east and north. Israel has set up land and sea blockades to protect itself and controls the airspaceover Gaza. Egypt has closed its own border with Gaza because it is afraid that hundreds of thousands will flee to the Arab country. Hamas does not have a regular army, however terrorists constantly fire rockets into Israel, mostly from a system of tunnels that they have built. This draws Israel more and more into an armed conflict, seeking revenge for Israeli civilians who have been killed. Israel’s airstrikes have not only destroyed Hamas’ military command posts but also killed thousands of innocent civilians.
