That is, until natural gas fields were discovered off the coast of Isreal and the Gaza Strip in 2000. The Palestinian fields are rather small - only 35 billion cubic meters - compared to about 200 BCMs off the Isreali coast. The issue has not been about the amount, but that Israel believes all such resources belong to them. On top of that, Isreal is determined to prevent either the Palestine government or the radical Hamas group in control of Gaza from receiving any revenue, both for general purposes or for possible purchase of weaponry for attacking Israel.
The diplomatic balance was skewed further when Shell/British Gas pulled out in 2018, leaving exploration of Palestine's natural gas fields contracted solely to Gazprom, the large Russian natural gas company.
After the 11-day Isreal-Hamas clash in May 2021, Israel tightened economic and geographic blockades against Palestine, causing great hardship. The military wing of Hamas, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, began to plan an attack on Isreal; Israel intelligence learned of the plan in 2022 but did nothing - best guess: Israel chose to let Hamas attack, which would then justify obliteration of Gaza, essentially the genocide taking place since October 7th.
This whole hazarai is about control of oil revenue.
And of course, the entire history of the area is explained by the observation that "There are no adults in Middle East politics."
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