RCMS students and teachers have been empathizing and stressing for the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

According to Crsreports.congress.gov, the current Israel and Hamas war started in 2023, but Israel and Palestinians have already had a long history of conflicts.

On Oct 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. This resulted in Israel declaring war on Hamas and launching aerial bombardment with ground operations. Since then, Hamas and Israel have continued to battle back and forth, pausing to exchange hostages. Hamas is a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization. Israel is a Middle Eastern country regarded mainly as Jews.

According to Ms. Pamela Konde, the All stars History teacher, because of the war, civilians are getting majorly affected. People are losing jobs, struggling to live, and are getting emotionally affected. She said this a very controversial topic and has to be dealt with in a gentle way. 

“This problem may not get solved, but learning and understanding what really happened can help,” she said.

She thinks people should learn from each other instead of discriminating against each other.  

Ms. Konde also emphasizes the importance of understanding the conflict. Some people are saying and posting things that can be really harmful to others without realizing that it was hurtful. Some people might be more biased based on social media, news, friends, or family from different backgrounds. 

“I would love for people to learn about it,” said Ms. Konde.

This being a subject that has been discussed before, Ms. Konde had also taught about this in the past because of how important it is. Some people are more conscious about what they say and are shy to speak out. She hopes that people could just understand what is happening and share it with others to help more people understand.

Ray Gross, 12, of Trailblazers team shares his point of view on the war and how he is affected by it. He has a Jewish background. Her great grandparents survived the Holocaust and her cousin is currently trapped in Israel.

“I’m super stressed about it,” he said. “We’ve dealt with enough.”

Although he had never been to Israel before, he knows that the Jews were attacked several times before already. He thinks war is not the way to approach this conflict. Instead, he believes that they should have met up and solved the conflict verbally. 

“Jews have dealt with a lot of conflict already, why are we always targeted?” Sophi says.

On the other hand, Amir Abdelhamid, 12, of the Majestics team thinks that people have not been able to see the Palestinians’ side. He had lost some important people to him in this war. 

“This is very inhumane,” Amir says.

Like Amir says, the humanitarian crisis is getting worse. Both Israel and Hamas have destroyed civilian homes leaving many families homeless. Crsreports.congress.gov says that an estimated 1.9 million Gazans are displaced out of a total of 2.1 million Gazans. This has created a huge humanitarian crisis.

 “I’m always thinking about Palestine,” said Amir.

Amir sees the Palestinians’ point of view. He recognizes that many regular citizens of Palestine have been majorly affected by this war whether they wanted to or not. He understands that Hamas is a terrorist group but can also differentiate a normal Palestinian and a terrorist. 

Annie Wang, 13, of Discovery team, a Model United Nations member, shares her view of the dispute. 

“Israel has the right to fight back, maybe they were scared,” she says. 

Annie believes that since Hamas started attacking Israel first, Israel is obliged and has a valid reason to fight back. On the other hand, she also thinks that fighting isn’t the best way to settle this conflict. She believes it should have been settled diplomatically and peacefully before anything else. This way, the civilians may be able to evacuate before any destruction hits.

“The civilians should have been evacuated before the war,” said Annie.

Because of all the bombing throughout both Israel and Hamas, many hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, and others were being bombed. According to Crsreports.congress.gov, on Jan, 10, 2024, there had been more than 1,200 Israelis deaths and about 23,000 Palestinian deaths. There are hundreds more that are being held hostage by both Israel and Hamas. Those dead or held hostage include children, elders, adults, even a 9-month-old baby.

Ms. Konde emphasizes the true importance of understanding the conflict. It is a very sensitive and controversial topic consisting of many different perspectives and debatable arguments. Ms. Konde knows that being aware and understanding what you are saying is critical. Something you say might hurt someone and cause them to do rash things. Expressing your opinions is important but doing it in a concise way is vital. She believes this can positively impact this topic if you just say the right things in the right way. 

As Ms. Konde says, “I’m hoping we can get back together.”