By Claire McCullough
Several times within the last decade the U.S. has inched close into getting involved with international wars. The most recent being the conflict between Gaza and Israel. While most Americans perceive the current war between the two countries starting in October of 2023 history of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians goes back approximately eighty years.
` According to an article written by the Global Conflict Tracker written by the Center for Preventive Action published in July of 2025 titled “Israeli Palestinian conflict”, the United Nations (UN) implemented Resolution 181, the Partition Plan, in 1947. The plan’s purpose was to “divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.” Israel, the Jewish state, was established in May of 1948, but Israel’s beginnings started the Arab Israeli war. 750,000 Palestinians were displaced when Israel won. After the war, land was split up to make Israel, the Gaza strip, and the West Bank. Conflict between Palestine and Israel has only ever continued since then.
Tensions once again rose in 2006 when Hamas won an election against the Palestinian Authority, Gaza’s former government, stated by Wichita State’s Associate Professor of Political Science Michael Hall. However, a BBC article by Emir Nader titled “Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world’s leading experts say” published on Sept. 1, 2025, states that current conflict was started on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 251 hostages.
A CBS article published on Sept. 3 titled “Almost 300 reported killed in Gaza 3 days since global experts accused Israel of genocide “states that International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) stated that Israel’s recent actions towards the people of Gaza resemble genocide. The IAGS is not alone in their accusations, the United Nations Special Rapporteur, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and even B’Tselem, an Israeli organization, share the same sentiment. According to Nader, these organizations cite actions of Israel such as preventing and limiting food, medical treatment, and other forms of aid from entering the country. However, these organizations opinions have no ruling on the UN’s International Court of Justice’s decision where Israel will present a case against the genocide allegations in January 2026.
According to CBS, shortly after the IAGS’s genocide ruling Gaza City, Gaza’s largest and most populated city, was labeled by Israel a “dangerous combat zone” and announced that they were planning to take over the city. Many Palestinians began to leave, most heading further south in the country. Hall stated that Palestinians who are desperate to leave the area might go to Egypt, if they can get past the Israeli military blocking entry to the country, or to Jordan. There are Palestinians who might not leave the city due to the expense of moving, overflowing refugee areas, illness, old age, or there responsibly as medical staff stated by the Associated Press article titled “With Israel advance looming Palestinians in Gaza City ask when to leave and where to go” written by Wafaa Shurafa, Julia Frankel, and Sally Abou Aljoud published on Sept. 3.
According to NBC’s article “Netanyahu tells Gaza City residents to leave as he pledges retaliation for Jerusalem attack” by Freddie Clayton published on Sept. 9, the Israeli military has now gone through the northernmost half of the city. The same day the article was published Israel dropped thousands of leaflets on what remains of Gaza City recommending the remaining citizens leave.
As the war between Gaza and Israel continues and more conflict around the globe starts the U.S. might get involved involuntarily or not. Many citizens of the U.S. have chosen not only to look away from Gaza and Israel, but from other conflicts additionally. Given the U.S.’s presence on the international stage, they may no longer have that choice forever. There may come a time when they can no longer choose to avoid what’s going on, so staying informed on international affairs is vital.
