A NEW PAGE IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT M. Y. Borodina Graduate student A. A. ERMAKOV Graduate student I. V. RYZHOV Doctor of Historical Sciences Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod Keywords: State of Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Islamic Jihad A characteristic feature of the Middle East conflict is that each "peaceful breakthrough" is usually followed by a new round of armed confrontation1. The Israeli operation Unbreakable Rock, which began on the night of July 7-8, 2014, opened a new page in the conflict between the Jewish State and Palestinian extremists. Since the full implementation of the so-called unilateral disengagement plan in the middle of the last decade, Israel has conducted a series of operations against the military units of the Gaza Strip, but the summer war of 2014 was the most violent. It is appropriate to recall that the beginning of the twenty-first century was marked by the so-called second intifada, during which the armed conflict between the Jewish State and Palestinian groups reached a new level. Defensive structures on the Israeli border with the Palestinian enclave have reduced the operational and tactical capabilities of militants operating in the Gaza Strip. The use of the "security fence" allowed the Israelis to more successfully prevent the operations of Palestinian militants on their territory. 2 In the current situation, they resorted to the use of rocket weapons, which made it possible to move the war far into the depths of Israeli territory. After that, rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip became an ongoing "headache" for Tel Aviv. The Israeli leadership's response to the attacks of Palestinian militants was a series of military operations, accompanied by artillery and air strikes,as well as targeted elimination of militants. 3 The success of the targeted operations was due to a high degree of coordination between the Israel General Security Service (Shin Bet) and the IDF Air Force. 4 In the per ... Read more