Q&A: The history behind Israel's Gaza offensive

What's life like in Gaza?
Difficult. Conditions for regular Gazans, many of whom live in refugee camps, have deteriorated dramatically in recent years, with 80 percent living on less than $2.30 per day, according to the United Nations. Two-thirds of all Palestinians do not have access to a sewage system.

The population of Gaza is subject to Israeli closures and checkpoints, which often make it impossible to travel to or work in Israel and the West Bank.

Gaza lives under a tight blockade, which often makes it impossible for food, water, medical supplies and other essentials to reach the population.

The Israeli military has severely limited journalists’ access to Gaza following its invasion but reports indicate the situation is growing grimmer each day.

What's Hamas?
The organization grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987 and maintains that it will never agree to a permanent cease-fire while Israel occupies what it views as Palestinian land. Its stated aim is the destruction of the state of Israel.

Hamas includes political and military arms, but distinctions between the two are often difficult to discern. Khaled Mashaal, who has lived in Damascus since the 1990s, is considered the group’s leader.

The United States, the European Union and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization. It has links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and members carry out suicide bombings and periodically hit southern Israel with rockets. However, the organization has also stepped into the void left by the often ineffectual and corrupt Palestinian Authority to offer basic services, including schools and health clinics, thereby gaining the trust of many Palestinians.

Parliamentary elections swept Hamas into power in January 2006. Hamas and the secular Palestinian party Fatah created a unity government, but pitched battles between opposing supporters led to the dissolution of the coalition in 2007. Tensions between the two groups, which briefly erupted into a virtual civil war, have cooled slightly but remain.

How has Israel reacted to Hamas?
Israel has long taken a hard line against the Islamist group. It has launched an effective assassination campaign against Hamas' leadership, killing among others its quadriplegic founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004. In 2007, Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier, prompting a major Israeli incursion into Gaza during which it arrests most Hamas cabinet members.

Since the current fighting began on Dec. 27, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has frequently said that no peace can be expected while Hamas remains in control of Gaza.

What is the world doing about the fighting?
The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution on Jan. 8 that demands a cessation of hostilities but both sides have so far ignored it. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States “fully supports” the resolution, but abstained from voting on it while mediation continued.

Egypt and France have taken the lead in trying to reach a truce.

More broadly, top figures in the Bush administration and in Congress have mostly supported Israel’s actions. The fighting is seen as a key test for the Obama administration, but the president-elect has so far been reluctant to comment specifically on the events.

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