KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The war between Israel and the Hamas, a terrorist group, stretches back at least half a century.
Mona Lyne, an associate Political Science professor at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, gave KSHB 41 a look back at where the tension started.
"The UN had a plan to provide a two-state solution, so Israel moved quickly in 1948 and established themselves as a state, declared themselves as a state with sovereignty," Lyne said. "One day after that, there was the first war."
Israel continues to find itself in the center of war. This is arguably one with the highest human cost in a long time.
"It is probably the most causalities Israel has suffered since the Holocaust," Lyne said.
The attacks are a reminder of the Yom Kippur War. The Hamas' strike on Saturday was 50 years and a day from the 1973 war on the holiest Jewish celebration of the year.
"I'm sure there was a feeling they'd be unprepared, and it turns out they were, just like the Yom Kippur War," Lyne said. "It was a very surprise attack."
A focal point is territory.
"Gaza is an important key to the conflict — it was taken over in the 1967 war, it led to the rise of the Hamas, it was the source of a lot of attacks on Israel," Lyne said. "In 2005, Israel said, 'Okay, if the conflict is about land, we're going to leave,' but attacks increased after they left."
There's no doubt, the professor said, that Israel can handle itself.
"They have a formidable military and they will prevail," she said.
The professor pointed out Israel is held to a standard incomparable to any other country, as they are constantly attacked by states trying to wipe them out.
"Israel exercises extreme constraint, partially because they are supported by the U.S. and the U.S. is strict about that," she said.
Constraint in this situation, the professor said, might not look like it has in the past.
"I don't think Israel is going to stop until they think Hamas has been eliminated," she said. "I think after that they will withdraw."
This, the professor said, is probably the most causalities Israel has suffered since the Holocaust and there are reasons people should should care in the U.S.
"Israel is an important U.S. ally — It is the only democracy in the Middle East, the eyes and ears of the U.S. in the Middle East," she said.
Lyne said the risk that powers are more than likely trying to avoid is the conflict escalating to a regional war, involving the Hezbollah, an Islamist militia in Lebanon.
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