On October 7, 2023, after Hamas attacked Israel by carrying out terrorism, the IDF started to fire airstrikes and secured the area in Gaza. The United States, Egypt, and Qatar arranged a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas fifteen months after the battle in Gaza. Even with hundreds being released from Palestinian prisons, more individuals traveling home from the South to the North in Gaza, and 600 humanitarian aid trucks entering every day, Hamas has freed just thirty-three hostages. On March 18, the Israeli Air Force unleashed more attacks and ground operations across central and southern Gaza that brought an end to the cease-fire.
Tensions across the Middle East have grown because of the conflict. Months of border clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah led the IDF to invade Lebanon after Hezbollah attacked Israel in the north in retaliation for Hamas’ October 7 raid. A group linked to Iran has carried out attacks on several US bases in Iraq and Syria. After firing missiles at Israel and attacking ships in the Red Sea, the Houthi rebels in Yemen are still making threats against Israel.
Historical background of Hamas’ support against Israel
Even though the dispute only became international in the 1800s, it previously involved Israelis and Palestinians. A war broke out between its citizens and Arabs as Israel became a country on May 14, 1948. Relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt, were becoming strained in the area. Because of the 1956 Suez Crisis and Egypt’s invasion of Sinai, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt agreed to cooperate and form an alliance. In June of 1967, Israel attacked the air forces of Egypt and Syria, starting the Six-Day War after President Abdel Gamal Nasser talked assertively and took aggressive action against Israel.
Egyptian leader Anwar al-Sadat claimed the war was triumphant for Egypt because it opened the door for Western negotiations to recover land that had been taken from Egypt and Syria in the past. After six years, Egypt and Syria launched an unexpected attack on two fronts (the Yom Kippur War or the October War), hoping to regain the land, but the effort ended without success for any side. The fighting that lasted thirty years between Egypt and Israel ended in 1979 with the signing of the Camp David Accords or peace agreement, by officials from both countries after a series of ceasefires and talks.
Countries that support Hamas
Multiple organizations have funded Hamas, which the US and EU identify as a terrorist organization.
1. Iran
Iran gives financial, weaponry, and training help to Hamas. In the past, Hamas could shoot rockets into Israel because Iran helped them with training and technology. The US says Hamas, PIJ, and other organizations supported by Iran are terrorist organizations, and $100 million is given to them annually.
2. Turkey
Turkey has been accused of financing Hamas’s terrorism through, among other things, redirecting funds from the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency due to the Turkish relationship with Hamas.
3. Qatar
With the Israeli government’s knowledge and assistance, Qatar hosts the Hamas political office and gives it financial support.
4. Hezbollah
In its wars with Israel, Hezbollah has given Hamas weaponry and training, while Hamas has supported Hezbollah politically and morally.
5. Individual donors’ private
Historically, Palestinians and expats in the Persian Gulf have donated money to Hamas. Most of the funding is from supporters who focus on what Hamas calls its humanitarian work on behalf of Palestinians, but considerable funding is also from investments that nurture Hamas’ ideological foundation, an area in which Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States dominate.
What are the main reasons behind the UK, France, and Canada’s opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza?
The three countries have condemned Israel for its military offensive in Gaza, and while being quite strong in their condemnation that the level of suffering there is intolerable. They were outraged by the enormous and tragic dislocation of the population of Gaza and the massive loss of civilian lives (over 53,000 Palestinians since October 2023).
From March 2, 2025, a blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza has made it hard for people in the area to obtain sufficient food, fuel, and medical care. The blockade has made a humanitarian crisis worse and may cause a breach of international humanitarian law. These countries say the little Gaza receives is far too little. For governments in the UK, France, and Canada, Israel’s continual expansion of the occupied West Bank goes against the law, threatens the region’s stability, and endangers any plan for a Palestinian state.
Government officials say there are indications that Israel goes against international humanitarian principles and laws, some of which are moving civilians and barring humanitarian help to areas where they operate. The government’s powers affirmed that the Israeli government’s talk and actions toward Gaza were unacceptable and might go against international law. The officials urged Hamas to free detainees from the attacks on October 7, 2023, instructed Israel to end its military operations, and mentioned soon allowing UN humanitarian aid in Gaza.
The governments of the UK, France, and Canada said strongly that they could impose targeted sanctions if Israel continued their military activities and failed to lift restrictions on aid. Settlers who take part in violence have been sanctioned by the UK, and trade talks with Israel have been stopped.
Leaders said these acts suggest that Israel is violating humanitarian law by attacking the principle of forced removals and continual obstacles to humanitarian help. They both made it clear that the actions of the Israeli government against Gaza violate international law. Both the UN and other key international allies are calling on Israel to stop attacking Gaza, allow help into Gaza from aid agencies, and urge Hamas to release the detainees from October 7 who were captured during the air strikes. Unless Israel stops attacking and allows support and medical aid into the region, leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada said they would take further steps against the nation, including enacting sanctions. Previously, the UK had broken off discussions on future trade and sanctioned settlers for using violence.
What are the current developments towards Hamas?
On the 7th of October, 2023, Hamas fired rockets into Israel and unexpectedly took and razed several southern cities and villages less than 20 kilometers from the border with Gaza. Over 1,300 Israelis lost their lives, while another 3,300 suffered injuries, and hundreds of settlers were taken hostage. One day after the October 7 event, the Israeli cabinet went to war with Hamas and instructed the IDF to blockade all Gaza entry points. Recently, the situation between
Israel and Palestine have gotten worse than at any time in many years. On October 25, the more than one million Palestinians living in northern Gaza were told to relocate before the Israeli army started its ground campaign on October 27. Due to a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas between November 24 and 30, 2023, humanitarian supplies flowed to the Strip, and Israeli prisoners were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Then, clashes were renewed after each side accused the other of breaking the ceasefire.
