The 2023 phase of the Israel–Palestine conflict was triggered by a major Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s massive military response in Gaza, but it is rooted in decades of struggle over land, occupation, security, and national self‑determination. There is no single agreed “starting point”: each side connects the 2023 war to a longer history of displacement, violence, and political failure.

Quick Scoop: What caused the 2023 conflict?

In October 2023 , fighters from Hamas (the Islamist group that controls Gaza) launched an unprecedented surprise attack into southern Israel. They killed over a thousand people, fired thousands of rockets, and took hundreds of hostages back into Gaza.

Israel treated this as an act of war and responded with a massive air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip, aiming to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities. This quickly turned into one of the deadliest and most destructive episodes in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, with enormous civilian casualties and a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Immediate spark: October 7, 2023

Many news outlets and analysts describe 7 October as the “spark” of the 2023 Gaza war. Key elements of that day:

  • Hamas and allied groups breached the border fence between Gaza and Israel.
  • Gunmen attacked Israeli communities, military bases, and a music festival near the border.
  • Around 1,200–1,300 people in Israel were killed and hundreds were taken hostage to Gaza.
  • Thousands of rockets were fired toward Israeli cities.

Israel’s government declared a state of war against Hamas, imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza (cutting electricity, food, fuel and other supplies), and began large‑scale bombardment followed by a ground invasion. In Israeli public discourse, this is seen primarily as a war of self‑defence after a shocking mass attack on civilians.

Hamas, in its own messaging, framed the operation as a response to Israeli occupation and specific grievances in Jerusalem and Gaza, including tensions around the al‑Aqsa Mosque compound and the treatment of Palestinians in prisons and the West Bank.

Deeper roots: long‑term causes

The 2023 escalation sits on top of a long, layered conflict going back to the early 20th century. Commonly cited structural causes include:

  • Territory and statehood
    • Palestinians seek an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
    • Israel insists on security guarantees and has maintained control over borders, airspace and large parts of the West Bank.
  • Occupation and settlements
    • Israel has occupied the West Bank (and previously Gaza) since the 1967 war; it withdrew settlers and troops from inside Gaza in 2005 but has kept tight external control.
* Ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is seen by most Palestinians and many international bodies as illegal and as shrinking the land available for a future Palestinian state.
  • Refugees and right of return
    • Millions of Palestinians trace their displacement to the 1948 and 1967 wars and claim a right to return to homes in what is now Israel or to receive compensation.
* Israel fears that a large‑scale “right of return” would erase its Jewish majority and undermine its identity as a Jewish state.
  • Status of Jerusalem and holy sites
    • Jerusalem holds deep religious and national importance for Jews, Muslims and Christians.
    • Disputes over sovereignty, access, and police/military actions around the al‑Aqsa Mosque compound repeatedly fuel clashes and are often cited by Palestinian groups as a reason for escalation.
  • Security, blockade, and rocket fire
    • After Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, Israel (with Egypt) imposed a blockade that severely restricts movement of people and goods.
* Israel sees the blockade and military operations as necessary to stop rocket attacks and arms smuggling by Hamas and other militant groups.
* Palestinians and many international organizations describe the blockade as collective punishment that has devastated Gaza’s economy and living conditions.

Why 2023, specifically?

Several shorter‑term trends and tensions helped set the stage for 2023:

  1. Rising violence before October
    • 2022–early 2023 saw the highest levels of deadly violence in the West Bank in years, with frequent Israeli raids and settler–Palestinian clashes, and armed Palestinian groups growing more active.
 * This created a sense of “boiling over” in Palestinian society and heightened anxiety and anger on both sides.
  1. Internal politics on both sides
    • In Israel, a new government elected in late 2022 included far‑right figures and pushed controversial judicial reforms, sparking huge protests and raising questions about internal cohesion and policies toward Palestinians.
 * Palestinian politics were deeply divided between Hamas (in Gaza) and Fatah/the Palestinian Authority (in the West Bank), with no elections for many years and widespread frustration at corruption and ineffectiveness.
  1. Regional and international shifts
    • Several Arab states had normalized relations with Israel in recent years (Abraham Accords), which many Palestinians saw as their cause being sidelined.
 * Hamas also has backing from Iran and is part of a broader axis of groups opposed to Israel and the United States, which shaped both its capabilities and the regional reaction once the war began.
  1. Narratives about deterrence and surprise
    • Analysts have suggested Hamas believed Israel was distracted by internal political crisis and regional diplomacy, reducing its deterrence and making a large surprise attack seem possible.
 * Israeli officials have since faced criticism for intelligence and security failures that allowed the October 7 attack to happen despite long‑standing awareness of Hamas as a threat.

Different viewpoints: who is “to blame”?

Because your query is very similar to how people ask on forums (“what cause the conflict between israel and palestine 2023”), it helps to lay out how narratives differ:

  • Many Israelis and supporters of Israel emphasize:
    • The 2023 war was caused by Hamas’s decision to launch a large‑scale attack that deliberately targeted civilians and took hostages.
    • Israel’s military campaign is framed as self‑defence and as a necessary effort to dismantle a group whose charter has historically called for Israel’s destruction.
  • Many Palestinians and their supporters emphasize:
    • The 2023 events are a consequence of decades of occupation, blockade, land confiscation, settlement expansion, and lack of a political horizon for statehood.
    • Hamas’s actions are often presented in their discourse as “resistance” to systemic oppression, even as others in Palestinian society criticize the strategy and the human cost.
  • Many international observers and human‑rights groups emphasize:
    • The long‑term structural issues (occupation, blockade, statelessness, and cycles of impunity for abuses) make eruptions of extreme violence more likely.
    • Both the October 7 attacks and aspects of Israel’s subsequent military conduct have been scrutinized under international humanitarian and human‑rights law.

Put simply:

  • The immediate cause of the 2023 war was the Hamas attack on October 7 and Israel’s military response.
  • The underlying causes lie in a century of conflict over land, sovereignty, security, displacement, and identity that neither side feels has been resolved.

Short TL;DR

  • October 7, 2023: Hamas launches a large surprise attack on Israel; many civilians are killed and hundreds taken hostage.
  • Israel declares war on Hamas and wages a massive campaign in Gaza, leading to huge destruction and loss of life.
  • Behind this are long‑running issues: occupation, blockade, settlements, refugees, Jerusalem, and competing national stories that make each side feel threatened and wronged.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.