A Palestinian woman stands in a street in Gaza City amid destruction from airstrikes. Mohammed Zaanoun / Activestills
On Oct. 7, 2023, Palestinians from Gaza carried out attacks in Israel that killed at least 1,200 Israelis, injured thousands more, and took an estimated 240 hostages. Israel immediately launched attacks on Gaza. Since then, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have been killed. And the majority of Gaza's over 2 million people have been forcibly displaced multiple times.
Israel also blocked most food, water, medicine, and other lifesaving aid from entering Gaza. As a result, people are dying of starvation and disease. Today, Gaza is facing a genocide and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that grows worse by the day.
In the West Bank, violence against Palestinians has also escalated as Israeli settler attacks, mass arrest campaigns, and military raids have increased. Hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed and many more injured.
As a Quaker organization, AFSC firmly opposes violence in all its forms and strives to address its root causes. We have been working in Israel, Gaza, and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory since 1948. We are committed to working to end this violence and build a just and lasting peace.
To address the situation, it is important to understand the context in which this violence is taking place. Here are five things you need to know:
1. Violence did not begin with the attacks from Gaza.
Even before the attacks, 2023 was one of the most violent years in Palestine in more than a decade. At least 247 Palestinians—including 47 children—had been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers before the end of September. During the same period, Israeli settlers launched over 800 attacks on Palestinians and Palestinian-owned property. Additionally, over 1,100 Palestinians had been forcibly displaced from their homes.
These actions occurred in a context where Israeli land confiscation, mass arrest campaigns, military attacks on Palestinian cities, and threats to Palestinian control over Al-Aqsa mosque—an important religious site in Jerusalem—have all increased.
Since coming to power, the far-right Netanyahu government in Israel has escalated violence against Palestinian communities while rejecting any possibility of Palestinian independence or equality. Settler leaders now hold sway in Israel and have taken concrete steps toward annexing the West Bank while pushing forward efforts to eliminate Palestinians from the majority of the West Bank.
For Palestinians, violence is an extreme, daily reality.
2. Gaza has been under a violent blockade for 17 years.
For over 17 years, the people of Gaza have lived under an Israeli-imposed blockade that severely limits travel, trade, and everyday life for its over two million residents. As a result, the effects have been brutal, even prior to the expanded siege now underway:
- 80% of people in Gaza rely on international assistance to survive.
- More than 50% of the population are unemployed.
- Hospitals have consistently been out of up to 40% of needed supplies and medicine.
- Approximately 96% of water in Gaza is undrinkable.
- Electricity is only available sporadically.
The blockade severely impacts the lives and health of all Palestinians in Gaza. Children’s growth is stunted due to malnutrition. Palestinians die because they can’t access medical care. Families are separated due to movement restrictions.
And the blockade is enforced through violence. Israeli military incursions into Gaza occur weekly, Israeli forces fire into Gaza daily, and bombings of Gaza occur regularly.
Israel’s military actions in Gaza have claimed thousands of Palestinian lives over the years. Between Jan. 1, 2008 and Sept. 19, 2023, more than 5,365 Palestinians have been killed, including 1,206 children.
After Israel’s previous attacks on Gaza, there were promises that the blockade would be lessened or ended. But the blockade continues with deadly effect for Palestinians in Gaza.
3. Under international law, both Palestinians and Israelis have bounded legal rights to use violence. But violence will not bring just and lasting peace.
The U.S. government has repeatedly said that people living under foreign military occupation—as in Ukraine—have a right to militarily resist their occupation. Palestinians have that same right. At the same time, the laws of war that lay out the right to resist occupation also limit that right, forbidding attacks on civilians—like those witnessed on Oct. 7—and other war crimes.
The same laws of war lay out obligations for occupying powers, including Israel, and limit their actions. For decades, Israel has systematically violated its obligations under international law toward Palestinians, violating their rights and implementing a system of apartheid in the areas it controls. The prohibition on attacks on civilians and civilian targets also applies to Israel.
As a Quaker organization, AFSC opposes all violence and works toward its end. We know that violence will not end through more violence. To bring change, we must address the roots of conflict, including historic and ongoing Palestinian displacement, occupation, and the reality of apartheid.
4. The U.S. funds, arms, and supports injustice, inequality, and violence perpetrated by the Israeli government.
For decades, the U.S. has offered uncritical support to Israel as it has systemically violated Palestinian rights. Despite agreement between international human rights organizations that Israel is enforcing apartheid against Palestinians, the U.S. provides $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel every year. Despite the fact that the current Israeli government opposes the formation of a Palestinian state and has moved to take over Palestinian land at record rates, the U.S. government continues to build close ties with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his allies. And despite record levels of violence against Palestinians by Israel—including Palestinians with U.S. citizenship—the U.S. continues to offer Israel impunity and blocks efforts at accountability.
This lack of accountability and a sense by Palestinians that they have been abandoned by the international community is important to understanding recent violence. For violence to end, U.S. policy must change. Israel must be held accountable for its rights violations, and the system of apartheid must end.
5. You can take action to help bring change.
Here are a few things you can do right now.
Tell Congress: Demand lifesaving aid for Gaza now!: Urge them to insist that Israel adhere to international humanitarian and human rights law and call for a permanent cease-fire to end Israel's bombing of Gaza.
Donate to AFSC's work in Gaza. AFSC is providing food, water, hygiene kits, and other vital aid to displaced Palestinians in Gaza as we continue to advocate in the U.S. for an end to the violence. You can support our efforts.
Join the Apartheid-Free campaign. To bring lasting change, the systems of occupation, apartheid, and settler colonialism that are at the roots of violence in Israel and Palestine must end. Learn more about how you can join AFSC and hundreds of other congregations and groups organizing for an end to these systems so that a just and lasting peace can be realized.
Learn more. Explore our resource “6 ways you can support Palestinians in Gaza.”
