Short answers, pulled from the story.
The earliest known archaeological artifact to mention the word Israel is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt, dated to the late-13th century BCE. This artifact provides the first external confirmation of a people called Israel.
The State of Israel was officially established on the 14th of May 1948 by David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency. The name Israel was suggested by Ben-Gurion and passed by a vote of 6 to 3 when the country was established.
The name Israel refers to the patriarch Jacob who was given the name after he successfully wrestled with the Angel of the Lord. The name derives from the Hebrew meaning El (God) persists/rules and has persisted for over three millennia.
By the end of World War II, 31% of the population of Palestine was Jewish. The population of the area was predominantly Arab and Muslim, with Jews accounting for about 11% and Arab Christians about 9.5% of the population.
Modern history of Israel includes the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Six-Day War in 1967, the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and the Gaza War starting on the 7th of October 2023. These conflicts involved wars with Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and various Palestinian groups.