Israel’s war in Gaza is at the center of a simmering regional crisis that has threatened to boil over in recent days, which have seen strikes across the Middle East — some direct reverberations of Israel’s effort to root out Hamas, following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7.
As strikes cascade, experts warn that a simple miscalculation could quickly spiral out of control.
“They’re playing a very dangerous game — it’s chicken, basically,” Joost Hiltermann, a Middle East expert at the International Crisis Group, said this month of the various governments and militant groups increasingly enmeshed in regional tensions. “Any miscalculation, any miscommunication, any accidental strike could trigger a major escalation.”
Some suggest that a regional conflict is already underway. Last month, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told a parliamentary committee that the country was defending itself in a “multi-arena” war that went beyond Gaza and the West Bank.
“I say here in the most explicit way: Anyone who acts against us is a potential target. There is no immunity for anyone,” he said.
Here’s how crises in the Middle East expanded after Oct. 7.
