Middle East crisis — explained The conflict between Israel and Palestinians — and other groups in the Middle East — goes back decades. These stories provide context for current developments and the history that led up to them.
IDF fires artillery shells into Gaza as fighting between Israeli troops and Islamist Hamas militants continues on Oct. 12, 2023.
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Middle East crisis — explained

Children stare at the destruction following an Israeli strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday. Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (left) and Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi attend a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, on Oct. 27, 2024. Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool photo via AP hide caption

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Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool photo via AP

Holding a poster of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, students attend an annual rally in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, marking the 45th anniversary of Iranian students' takeover of the embassy, starting a hostage crisis. Vahid Salemi/AP/AP hide caption

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Vahid Salemi/AP/AP

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to the crowd during a meeting with school and university students, in Tehran on Saturday. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/AP hide caption

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Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/AP

Ukrainian emergency workers respond at the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital in the capital Kyiv after it was hit by a Russian missile on July 8. Alex Babenko/AP hide caption

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Alex Babenko/AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on Oct. 27. Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

How the next president could change the course of Israel's wars

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Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area on the outskirts of the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, in the Bekaa Valley, on Thursday. Nidal Solh/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Nidal Solh/AFP via Getty Images

Raneem Hijazi holds her baby, Mariam, on her lap in her wheelchair, as Hijazi's mother-in-law, Soha Sakallah (standing), helps her. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

A year in the life of a mom and baby from Gaza

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Ukrainian emergency workers respond at the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital in the capital Kyiv after it was hit by a Russian missile on July 8. Alex Babenko/AP hide caption

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Alex Babenko/AP

HUMANITARIAN FAILURES

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A Palestinian girl searches in the rubble of a building after an Israeli strike in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. -/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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-/AFP via Getty Images

An Israeli airstrike in north Gaza killed dozens of people, as parliament bans UNRWA

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Ivana Likbiri, an 18-month-old Lebanese baby who got injured during an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, is hospitalized at Geitaoui Hospital's burn unit, in Beirut, on Oct. 18. Ali Khara for NPR hide caption

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Ali Khara for NPR

Residents and members of a civil defense team conduct search and rescue operations after the Israeli army targeted Asma School, run by the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza Strip on Sunday. The wounded, including children, were brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The bodies of those who lost their lives were also brought to the hospital. Omar El Qattaa/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption

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Omar El Qattaa/Anadolu via Getty Images

Jaffa is a district in southern Tel Aviv, Israel, where Palestinian citizens of Israel and Jewish Israelis live and work. But the atmosphere has changed since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack in Israel. Ayman Oghanna for NPR hide caption

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Ayman Oghanna for NPR

How life has changed for Palestinian citizens of Israel in the last year

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Israeli police and rescue services inspect the site where a truck driver rammed into a bus stop near an army base, wounding dozens of people, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. Oded Balilty/AP/AP hide caption

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Oded Balilty/AP/AP

Jewish Israeli activists attend a Sukkot gathering near the Gaza Strip, where far-right activists and members of the Israeli Knesset hold an event billed as "Preparing to Resettle Gaza" on Monday. Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images hide caption

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Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images

Calls grow inside Israel's right wing government for permanent occupation of Gaza

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