Motives and Reasons Behind the 2023 Gaza War: An Analytical Reading of the Local, Regional, and International Dimensions

Abstract

    This research analyzes the motives and reasons that led to the outbreak of the 2023 Gaza War (Al-Aqsa Flood), through a comprehensive study of local, regional, and international factors. At the local level, the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007 has created a stifling humanitarian and economic environment, coupled with escalating settlement policies in the West Bank and Jerusalem, particularly attempts to displace the residents of Sheikh Jarrah, as well as repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque and the accompanying attacks on worshippers. The issue of Palestinian prisoners was also a primary driver of the confrontation, given the escalating Israeli measures against them, along with the qualitative developments in the capabilities of the Qassam Brigades, which demonstrated an advanced level of military and organizational readiness.

At the regional level, relations with Iran and the axis of resistance contributed to strengthening the military and logistical capabilities of the factions, allowing them greater room for maneuver. The accelerating wave of Arab normalization with Israel also served as a pressure factor, pushing the resistance to escalate, realizing that its cause was being marginalized on the Arab agenda. At the international level, American bias toward Israel has manifested itself through unlimited political, military, and economic support, as well as controversial steps such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. Based on the above, the study concludes that the 2023 Gaza War was not the product of a temporary circumstance, but rather the result of a complex interplay between accumulating local pressures, regional shifts, and biased international contexts. This made military confrontation a near-inevitable course of action in the absence of effective political solutions.