The Middle Eastern crisis is a series of interrelated wars, conflicts, and heightened instability in the Middle East that began in 2023 after the October 7 attacks on Israel, which followed a period of rising tensions and increased violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; the attacks killed about 1,200 people in Israel and saw about 250 more taken hostage. Israel responded by declaring war and embarking on a bombing campaign, and later invasion, of the Gaza Strip as a part of the war in Gaza that killed over 55,000 Palestinians.