Need clarity on the Israel-Hamas war? Here's where to start.

Each week, a different Vox editor curates their favorite work that Vox has published across text, audio, and video. This week’s email is brought to you by Vox's managing editors, Nisha Chittal and Natalie Jennings.

There are a few things we really strive for at Vox, and one of them is bringing clarity to our audience in moments of chaos. In the early hours last Saturday morning in Israel, we entered into one of the most chaotic — and shocking and devastating — news moments we’ve ever covered. 

Our approach in these chaotic news moments is always the same: By thinking about how we can best serve our audience. What questions do they have? What do they need from us? How can we give them the context they need, but deliver it with the nuance such a complicated story requires? We also ask our audience directly what they are curious about, and bring those questions to our editors and reporters to help shape our coverage. 

This story is bigger, more complicated, and more emotional than most, but our journalists stayed true to that approach. The resulting coverage gave clarity in the form of explainers on how Israel and Palestine got here, analysis to help process this moment, and reporting and expertise to understand its high stakes and where things might go from here. If you, too, could use little clarity, here’s what we recommend. 

—Nisha Chittal and Natalie Jennings, managing editors, Vox

7 big questions about the Israel-Hamas war, answered

If you’re feeling behind, or overwhelmed at the pace of developments, this explainer from Ellen Ioanes, Jonathan Guyer, and Zack Beauchamp is the first thing you should read to catch up.

🎧 Israel, Hamas, and how we got here

Our daily news podcast Today, Explained breaks down the background of how we got here, why this war is so different than anything that came before it, and how this war was years in the making, with Vox reporter Zack Beauchamp and Haaretz reporter Allison Kaplan Sommer. 

Hamas, the militant group that attacked Israel, explained

Reporters Li Zhou and Nicole Narea wrote a thorough explainer on the background, history, and evolution of Hamas — how they came to power, what they want, and where they fit in with Palestine’s other groups, such as the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization. 

What a “complete siege” of Gaza will mean for Palestinians

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a “complete siege” of Gaza, promising “no electricity, no food, no fuel” — and border crossings remain closed, so residents can’t leave and foreign aid can’t get in, while power has been out since Wednesday and overwhelmed hospitals will soon run out of generator power. Jonathan Guyer explains what this means for the 2 million civilians in Gaza who have nowhere to go — a massive humanitarian crisis that’s about to get worse. 

How to avoid – and avoid spreading – misinformation

When chaos reigns, so does bad information online. Reporter A.W. Ohlheiser has covered misinformation through dozens of major news events, and knows its patterns. They write that users flock to social media in a crisis “because the mainstream news doesn’t feel fast or immediate enough, or because the crisis has put them or someone close to them in harm’s way … Misinformation and manipulation often spread for the same reasons, slipping into the feeds of those who believe it can’t hurt to share a startling video or gruesome photograph or call for aid, even if they’re not sure of the reliability of the source.” Being a smart consumer can help you avoid unintentionally making the situation worse. A.W. describes what to watch out for on this and other stories, and even shares a smart method for sifting through online posts in an unfolding story.

How to think morally about the Israel-Hamas war

In an extremely difficult moment like this, it’s easy to get swept up in arguments over who’s to blame. Zack again sought to give some clarity, addressing here the cheering for Hamas from some of the left — as well as the cheering for Israel to “flatten” Gaza from some of the Israeli far right. Instead of picking sides, he offered this guidance for readers: “Criticize Israel when it slaughters Palestinians, and criticize Palestinians when they slaughter Israelis. Note the asymmetries — both Israel’s vastly superior power and Hamas’s much greater disregard for rules about targeting civilians — but do not allow those differences to obscure the most basic moral truth: that human suffering is, in and of itself, wrong.” 

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