[tomder55]

Before the 21st century natural gas was not a factor in Israel. Then the government decided to promote it's use because it is cleaner . They began a program of domestic exploration. That resulted intially in small off shore discoveries that was good enough to create a domestic market. Over time they discovered larger and larger fields . Israel became an exporter.

Leviathan Natural Gas Field (newmedenergy.com)

Their initial exports went to Egypt . But as greater deposits were discovered they began to plan for the export of their product to Europe. Europe had been held by the short hairs dependent almost exclusively on Russian piped energy.

September Bibi met with Cyprus about a plan to pump Israeli natural gas to Cyprus . There it would be liquified and pumped to Europe.
PM: Decision on route for exporting natural gas to Europe expected in '3-6 months' | The Times of Israel

There are other competing alternative routes but the end game is to get the gas to the European market.

Then Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza and gas production was halted .

Before the Hamas attacks, Israel was seen as a tangible part of the mix for replacing the 155 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas exported to Europe from Russia in 2021, which represented a third of the bloc’s consumption.

Israel’s fossil fuel boon becomes less clear-cut | Reuters

The good news is that there is too much $$$$ in natural gas to keep operations down for long. I always try to find the economic reasons for geopolitical events. Who does the war benefit ?
I think I've found it. This war got a stamp of approval from Iran and behind the scenes Russia.
Why Did Russia Invite Hamas Leaders to Moscow? - Israel Today