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The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
and southern
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflicts dating back to the 20th century, it follows the wars of 2008–2009,
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
,
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, and
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
. The war has resulted in the deaths of more than one thousand Israelis and tens of thousands of Palestinians, along with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. A growing number of human rights organizations and experts—such as lawyers and academics studying genocide and
international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
—say that a genocide is occurring in Gaza, though this is debated. Meanwhile, the surrounding region has seen heightened instability and fighting. The first day was the deadliest in Israel's history, and the war is the deadliest for Palestinians in the broader conflict. On 7 October 2023,
Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
-led militant groups launched a surprise attack on Israel, in which 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 815 civilians, were killed, and 251 taken hostage with the stated goal of forcing Israel to release Palestinian prisoners. After clearing militants from its territory, Israel launched a bombing campaign and invaded Gaza on 27 October with the stated objectives of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages. Israeli forces launched numerous campaigns during the invasion, including the
Rafah offensive On 6 May 2024, Israel began a military offensive in and around the city of Rafah as part of Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2023–present), its invasion of the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war. In early May, as ceasefire negotiations stal ...
from May 2024, three battles fought around
Khan Yunis Khan Yunis (), also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus, is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, and serves as the capital of the Khan Yunis Governorate. It has been largely destroyed during the Gaza war. Before the 14th century, Khan Y ...
, and the siege of North Gaza from October 2024, and have assassinated Hamas leaders inside and outside of Gaza. A temporary ceasefire in November 2023 broke down, and a second ceasefire in January 2025 ended with a surprise attack by Israel in March 2025. Since the start of the Israeli offensive, over 55,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, over half of them
women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...
and
children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...
, and more than 128,000 Palestinians have been injured. A study in ''
The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...
'' estimated 64,260 deaths due to traumatic injuries by June 2024, while noting a larger potential death toll when "indirect" deaths are included. Israel's tightened blockade of Gaza cut off basic necessities, causing a severe hunger crisis with a high risk of famine persisting . By early 2025, Israel had caused unprecedented destruction in Gaza and made large parts of it uninhabitable, leveling entire cities and destroying hospitals (including
children's hospital A children's hospital (CH) is a hospital that offers its services exclusively to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults from birth up to until age 18, and through age 21 and older in the United States. In certain special cases, the ...
s),
agricultural land Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other organism, forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous ...
, religious and cultural landmarks,
educational facilities An educational institution is a place where people of different ages gain an education, including preschools, childcare, primary-elementary schools, secondary-high schools, and universities. They provide a large variety of learning environments a ...
, and
cemeteries A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many dead people are buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ) implies th ...
. Gazan
journalists A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
, health workers, aid workers and other members of civil society have been detained, tortured and killed. Nearly all of the strip's 2.3million Palestinian population have been forcibly displaced. Over 100,000 Israelis were internally displaced at the height of the conflict. Various experts and human rights organizations have stated that Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes. A case accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza is being reviewed by the
International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...
, while the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
reviewed Review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, company, or other object or idea. An article about or a compilation of reviews may itself be called a review. Not to be confused with Revue: a form of entertainment. Review may also ref ...
and issued arrest warrants for
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
,
Yoav Gallant Yoav Gallant (; born 8 November 1958) is an Israeli politician and former military officer who served as Ministry of Defense (Israel), minister of defense between 2022 and 2024. Gallant was an officer in the Southern Command (Israel), Southern ...
and
Mohammed Deif Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (; 12 August 1965 – 13 July 2024), better known as Mohammed Deif (), was a Palestinian militant who served as the sixth commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He succeeded Salah Shehade following t ...
, though Deif's warrant was withdrawn when he was killed. Torture and sexual violence have been committed by Palestinian militant groups and by Israeli forces. Flashpoints during the war attracting global attention include the Nova festival massacre, the
kidnapping and killing of the Bibas family During the Nir Oz attack, part of the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, 7 October 2023 attacks that began the Gaza war, Palestinian militants kidnapped the Bibas () family from their home at the Nir Oz kibbutz in Southern District (Israel), ...
, the
Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion On 17 October 2023, an explosion took place in a courtyard of al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City during the Gaza war, resulting in a large number of displaced Palestinians seeking shelter there being killed or injured. International media in ...
, the Flour Massacre, the Tel al-Sultan attack, the World Central Kitchen aid convoy attack, and the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab. Israel has received extensive military and diplomatic support from the United States, which has
vetoed A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...
multiple pro-ceasefire resolutions from the
UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
. The war has reverberated regionally, with
Axis of Resistance The Axis of Resistance is an informal coalition of Iranian-supported militant and political organizations across the Middle East. Formed by Iran, it unites actors committed to countering the influence of the United States and Israel in the regio ...
groups across several Arab countries and Iran clashing with the United States and Israel. By late 2024, a year of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah led to an Israeli invasion of Lebanon, as well as the
fall of the Assad regime On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, major offensive by Syrian opposition, opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turk ...
and an ongoing Israeli invasion of Syria. The war continues to have significant regional and international repercussions, with large protests worldwide calling for a ceasefire, as well as a surge of antisemitism and
anti-Palestinianism Anti-Palestinianism or anti-Palestinian racism refers to prejudice, collective hatred, and discrimination directed at the Palestinian people for any variety of reasons. Since the mid-20th century, the phenomenon has largely overlapped with ant ...
.


Names

The Gaza war is referred to by different names. Israel calls it the "iron swords war" (). It has also been referred to as the "Simchat Torah war", as the war started on the Jewish holiday of
Simchat Torah Simchat Torah (; Ashkenazi: ), also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Hebrew Bible ...
, reminiscent of the
Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...
. Palestinian militant groups refer to it as the "battle of al-Aqsa Flood" (), in reference to
Operation al-Aqsa Flood On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinians, Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 ...
. Western media outlets have variably described it as the "Israel–Hamas war" while others use "war on Gaza". Others have used the term "October 7 war". Some have rejected "war" as an adequate framework and call it the "
Gaza genocide According to a United Nations Special Committee, Amnesty International, and other experts, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza against the Palestinian people during its ongoing invasion and bombing of the Gaza Strip as part of the Gaza w ...
", "second
Nakba The Nakba () is the ethnic cleansing; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; of Palestinian Arabs through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their s ...
", or "Nakba 2023".


Background

The
1948 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the Stat ...
saw the establishment of
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
over most of what had been
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...
, with the exception of two separated territories that became known as the
West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
and the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
, which were held by
Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
and
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
respectively. Following the 1967
Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...
, Israel occupied the
Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...
of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The upcoming period witnessed two popular uprisings by
Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...
against the
Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...
; the
First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
and
Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...
s in 1987 and 2000 respectively, with the latter's end seeing Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. Since 2007, the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
has been governed by
Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
, an Islamist militant group, while the West Bank remained under the control of the
Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...
-led
Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...
. After Hamas's takeover, Israel imposed a
blockade of the Gaza Strip The restrictions on movement and goods in Gaza imposed by Israel date to the early 1990s. After Hamas took over in 2007, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a complete blockade on the movement of good ...
, that significantly damaged its economy. The blockade was justified by Israel citing security concerns, but international rights groups have characterized the blockade as a form of
collective punishment Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group or whole community for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member or some members of that group or area, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends a ...
. Due to the
Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip The restrictions on movement and goods in Gaza imposed by Israel date to the early 1990s. After Hamas took over in 2007, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a complete blockade on the movement of good ...
,
UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, pronounced ) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fl ...
reported that 81% of people were living below the poverty level in 2023, with 63% being food insecure and dependent on international assistance. Since 2007, Israel and Hamas, along with other Palestinian militant groups based in Gaza, have engaged in conflict, including in four wars: in 2008–2009,
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
,
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, and
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
. These conflicts killed approximately 6,400 Palestinians and 300 Israelis. In 2018–2019, there were large weekly organized protests near the Gaza-Israel border, which were violently suppressed by Israel, whose forces killed hundreds and injured thousands of Palestinians by sniper fire. Soon after the
2021 Israel–Palestine crisis The 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, sometimes called the Unity Intifada, was a major outbreak of violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict that mainly commenced on 10 May 2021, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. I ...
began, Hamas's military wing, the
Al-Qassam Brigades Al-Qassam Brigades, also known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (EQB; ), are the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist organization Hamas. Led by Mohammed Deif until his death on 13 July 2024, Al-Qassam Brigades are ...
, started planning the 7 October 2023 operation against Israel. According to diplomats, Hamas had repeatedly said in the months leading up to October 2023 that it did not want another military escalation in Gaza as it would worsen the humanitarian crisis that occurred after the 2021 conflict. Hamas officials stated that the attack was a response to the
Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...
,
blockade of the Gaza Strip The restrictions on movement and goods in Gaza imposed by Israel date to the early 1990s. After Hamas took over in 2007, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a complete blockade on the movement of good ...
, desecration of the
Al-Aqsa Mosque The Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Qibli Mosque or Qibli Chapel is the main congregational mosque or Musalla, prayer hall in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City of Jerusalem. In some sources the building is also n ...
,
Israeli settler violence Palestinians are the target of violence by Israeli settlers and their supporters, predominantly in the West Bank. In November 2021, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz discussed the steep rise in the number of incidents between settlers and Pal ...
against Palestinians, restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, and imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians, whom Hamas sought to release by taking Israeli hostages. Numerous commentators have identified the broader context of Israeli occupation as a cause of the war. The
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
wrote that Palestinians are "in despair over a never-ending occupation in the West Bank and suffocating blockade of Gaza". Several human rights organizations, including
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
, B'Tselem and
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
have likened the Israeli occupation to apartheid, although supporters of Israel dispute this characterization. However, an
advisory opinion An advisory opinion of a court or other government authority, such as an election commission, is a decision or opinion of the body but which is non-binding in law and does not have the effect of adjudicating a specific legal case, but which merely ...
by the
International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...
published in July 2024 affirmed the occupation as being illegal and said it violated Article 3 of the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. A third-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discri ...
, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid. The
Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
government has been criticized within Israel for granting work permits to Gazan residents, facilitating the transfer of funds to Hamas and pursuing relative calm. These actions have been criticized as having backfired in light of the attacks on 7 October 2023. US President
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
has said the aim of the 7 October attacks was to disrupt the Saudi–Israel normalization talks.


War in Israel and Gaza


7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel

In the morning of 7 October 2023, during the Jewish holidays of
Simchat Torah Simchat Torah (; Ashkenazi: ), also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Hebrew Bible ...
and
Shemini Atzeret Shemini Atzeret (—"Eighth ayof Assembly") is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday. It is celebrated on the 22nd day of the Hebrew calendar, Hebrew month of Tishrei, usually coinciding with late September or early October. It directly follows ...
on
Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...
, Hamas announced the start of what it called "
Operation Al-Aqsa Flood On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinians, Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 ...
", firing between 3,000 and 5,000 rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel within a span of 20 minutes, killing at least five people. In the evening, Hamas launched another barrage of 150 rockets towards Israel. Simultaneously, around 3,000 Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from Gaza using trucks, motorcycles, bulldozers, speedboats, and paragliders. They took over checkpoints at
Kerem Shalom Kerem Shalom (, "Vineyard of Peace") is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located on the Tripoint, triple Gaza Strip-Israel-Egypt border, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The ki ...
and
Erez Erez (, ) is a kibbutz in southwestern Israel. Located just north of the Gaza Strip, it is the namesake of the nearby Erez Crossing. The kibbutz was founded in 1949 and moved to its current location in 1950. In 2019, it had a population of 5 ...
, and created openings in the border fence in five other places. Militants massacred civilians in several
kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
im, where they took hostages and set fire to homes. In a massacre at an outdoor music festival near Re'im, at least 325 people were killed, with more injured or taken hostage. In total, 251 people, mostly civilians, were taken hostage, including children, elderly people, and soldiers. Hamas militants also reportedly engaged in mutilation, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence. The 7 October attacks were described as "an intelligence failure for the ages" and a "
failure of imagination Failure of imagination is a phrase applied to an undesirable yet seemingly predictable circumstance—predictable particularly in hindsight—that occurs unanticipated. It is distinguishable from a " black swan event", which by definition defies ...
" on the part of the Israeli government. A BBC report commented on Hamas's "extraordinary levels of operational security". It later emerged that abnormal Hamas movements had been detected the previous day by Israeli intelligence, but the military's alert level was not raised and political leaders were not informed. A briefing in ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
'' noted that "the assault dwarf dall other mass murders of Israeli civilians", and that "the last time before October 7th that this many Jews were murdered on a single day was during
the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
." According to both Hamas officials and external observers, the attack was a calculated effort to create a "permanent" state of war and revive the Palestinian cause.


Initial Israeli counter-operation (October 2023)

The IDF began Israel's counter-attack several hours after the Hamas-led invasion. The first helicopters sent to support the military arrived at the Gaza Strip an hour after fighting began. They encountered difficulties in determining which places were occupied, and distinguishing between civilians, IDF soldiers, and Palestinian militants on the ground. A June 2024 UN report and a July 2024 ''Haaretz'' investigation revealed that the IDF ordered the
Hannibal Directive The Hannibal Directive (), also translated as Hannibal Procedure or Hannibal Protocol, is the name of a controversial procedure used by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces. According to one ver ...
to be used, killing an unknown number of Israeli civilians and soldiers. The attack was a complete surprise to the Israelis. In a televised broadcast,
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
,
Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel (, Hebrew abbreviations, Hebrew abbreviation: ; , ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief executive of the Israel, State of Israel. Israel is a parliamentary republic with a President of Isra ...
, announced that the country was at war. He threatened to "turn all the places where Hamas is organized and hiding into cities of ruins", called Gaza "the city of evil", and urged its residents to leave. Overnight, Israel's Security Cabinet voted to act to bring about the "destruction of the military and governmental capabilities of
Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
and
Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...
". The
Israel Electric Corporation Israel Electric Corporation (IEC; ) is the largest supplier of electrical power in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The IEC builds, maintains, and operates power generation stations, sub-stations, as well as transmission and distribution ...
, which supplies 80% of the Gaza Strip's electricity, cut off power to the area. This reduced Gaza's power supply from 120 MW to 20 MW, provided by power plants paid for by the Palestinian Authority. The IDF declared a "state of readiness for war", mobilized tens of thousands of army
reservist A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person ca ...
s, and declared a state of emergency for areas within of Gaza. The
Yamam Yamam (), also known as National Counter-Terrorism Unit, is Israel's national counter-terrorism unit, one of four special units of the Israel Border Police. The Yamam is capable of both hostage-rescue operations and offensive take-over raids ag ...
counterterrorism unit was deployed, along with four new divisions, augmenting 31 existing battalions. Reservists were reported deployed in Gaza, in the West Bank, and along borders with Lebanon and Syria. Residents near Gaza were asked to stay inside, while civilians in southern and central Israel were "required to stay next to shelters". The southern region of Israel was closed to civilian movement, and roads were closed around Gaza and Tel Aviv. While
Ben Gurion Airport Ben Gurion International Airport , commonly known by the Hebrew language, Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on outskirts north of the city of Lod and directly south of the city of Or Yehuda, i ...
and
Ramon Airport Ramon Airport () , named after Ilan and Assaf Ramon and unofficially also known as Eilat-Ramon Airport, is an international airport located in the Timna Valley in southern Israel. Ramon Airport is the second busiest in Israel (after Ben Gurion ...
remained operational, multiple airlines cancelled flights to and from Israel. On 9 or 10 October, Hamas offered to release all civilian hostages held in Gaza if Israel would call off its planned invasion of the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli government rejected the offer.


Blockade, bombardment, and evacuation of northern Gaza

Following the surprise attack, the
Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...
conducted airstrikes that they said targeted Hamas targets, employing its
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
''Habsora'' ("The Gospel") software. These airstrikes were killing, on average, 350 persons per day during the first 20 days, totaling over 7,000 deaths during that time. Israel also rescued two hostages before declaring a state of war for the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. On 9 October, Defense Minister Gallant announced a "complete siege" of the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity and blocking the entry of food and fuel. This order drew criticism from Human Rights Watch (HRW) who described it as "abhorrent" and as a "call to commit a war crime". Gallant backed down under pressure from US President
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
, and a deal was struck ten days later to allow aid into Gaza. The first such aid convoy entered Gaza on 21 October, while fuel did not arrive until November. On 13 October, the IDF ordered all civilians in
Gaza City Gaza City, also called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Port of Gaza, Palestine's only port. With a population of ...
to evacuate to areas south of the Wadi Gaza within 24 hours. The Hamas Authority for Refugee Affairs responded by telling residents in northern Gaza to defy those orders. The Israeli order was widely condemned as "outrageous" and "impossible", and calls were made for it to be reversed. As a part of the order, the IDF outlined a six-hour window on 13 October for refugees to flee south along specified routes. An explosion along one of the safe routes killed 70 Palestinians. Israel and Hamas blamed each other for the attack. The IDF said Hamas set up roadblocks to keep Gaza residents from evacuating. Israeli officials, foreign governments and intergovernmental organizations condemned Hamas's alleged use of hospitals and civilians as human shields, which has been contested by Amnesty International and by Hamas themselves. On 17 October, Israel bombed areas of southern Gaza. Late in the evening, an explosion occurred in the parking lot of the
Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital (), usually called the Baptist Hospital for short (), is a hospital in the Gaza Strip. Its headquarters are located in the Zeitoun, Gaza, Zeitoun neighborhood in the south of Gaza City, Palestine, and it is managed ...
in the center of Gaza City, killing hundreds. The ongoing conflict prevented independent on-site analysis. Palestinian statements that it was an Israeli airstrike were denied by the IDF, which stated that the explosion resulted from a failed rocket launch by
Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...
, who denied any involvement.


Initial invasion to first truce (October–November 2023)

On 27 October, after building up an invasion force of over 100,000 soldiers, the IDF launched a large-scale ground incursion into parts of northern Gaza. Israeli airstrikes targeted the area around al-Quds hospital, where around 14,000 civilians were believed to be sheltering. The following day, the IDF struck Jabalia refugee camp, killing 50 and wounding 150 Palestinians. Israel said the attack killed a senior Hamas commander, whose presence Hamas denied, and dozens of militants. The attack resulted in several ambassador recalls. On 31 October, Israel bombed a six-story apartment building in central Gaza, killing at least 106 civilians including 54 children in what Human Rights Watch called an "apparent war crime". On 1 November, the first group of evacuees left Gaza for Egypt. Five hundred evacuees, comprising critically wounded and foreign nationals, were evacuated over several days. On 18 November, Israel struck a marked
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), known in some English-speaking settings as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zo ...
convoy, killing two aid workers. On 22 November, Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire agreement, providing for a four-day pause in hostilities to allow for the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza. The deal also provided for the release of approximately 150 Palestinian women and children incarcerated by Israel.


First ceasefire (November 2023)

Following the introduction of a Qatari-brokered
truce A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...
on 24 November 2023, active fighting in the Gaza Strip ceased. Hamas exchanged some hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Israel arrested almost as many Palestinians as it released during the truce. Prisoner exchanges continued until 28 November, when both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the truce. On 30 November, in a "last-minute agreement", Hamas released eight hostages in exchange for the release of 30 imprisoned Palestinians and a one-day truce extension. The truce expired on 1 December, as Israel and Hamas blamed each other for failing to agree on an extension.


Resumption of hostilities (December 2023 – January 2024)

Israel adopted a grid system to order precise evacuations within Gaza. It was criticized as inaccessible, due to the lack of electricity and internet connectivity in Gaza, and confusing. Some evacuation instructions were vague or contradictory, and Israel sometimes struck areas it had told people to evacuate to. Law experts called these warnings ineffective. Amnesty International found no evidence of Hamas targets at the sites of some strikes, and requested that they be investigated as possible war crimes. On 6 December,
Refaat Alareer Refaat Alareer (; 23 September 1979 – 6 December 2023) was a Palestinian writer, poet, professor, and activist from the Gaza Strip. Alareer was born in Gaza City in 1979 during the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, which he said had nega ...
, a prominent professor and writer in Gaza, was killed by an Israeli airstrike. His poem "
If I Must Die ''If I Must Die'' is a poem by Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer. Written in 2011, the poem became famous following the death of its author, and has been recognized as a testament to the resilience, resistance, and humanity of the Palestinia ...
" was widely circulated after his death. By December, IDF troops had reached the centers of
Khan Yunis Khan Yunis (), also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus, is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, and serves as the capital of the Khan Yunis Governorate. It has been largely destroyed during the Gaza war. Before the 14th century, Khan Y ...
,
Jabalia Jabalia, also spelled Jabalya (), is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, located north of Gaza City, in the North Gaza Governorate of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Jabalia had a population of 172, ...
, and
Shuja'iyya Shuja'iyya (), also ''Shejaiya'', ''Shijaiyeh'', ''Shujayya'', ''Shuja'ia'', ''Shuja'iya'', is the southern quarter of Old City of Gaza, and the only quarter of the Old City located outside the historical city walls. It is one of the largest neig ...
. Intensified bombing pushed Palestinian civilians south to Rafah. Between 7 and 10 December, Israel detained more than 150 men; according to Israel, they surrendered ''en masse'', but this account was disputed by several publications. On 15 December, the IDF killed three Israeli hostages in a friendly fire incident, after mistakenly identifying them as enemies. The same day,
Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
condemned the killing of two women sheltering at a convent as "terrorism." On 1 January 2024, Israel withdrew from neighborhoods in North Gaza. On 15 January, Israeli Defense Minister
Yoav Gallant Yoav Gallant (; born 8 November 1958) is an Israeli politician and former military officer who served as Ministry of Defense (Israel), minister of defense between 2022 and 2024. Gallant was an officer in the Southern Command (Israel), Southern ...
said the most intense fighting in the north of the Gaza Strip had ended, and a new phase of low-intensity fighting was about to begin. By 18 January, the IDF, who had previously stated that Hamas control over North Gaza was "dismantled", reported that Hamas had significantly rebuilt its fighting strength in North Gaza. On 22 January, 24 IDF soldiers died in the deadliest day for the IDF since the invasion began. Of these, 21 died when Palestinian militants fired an RPG at a tank, causing adjacent buildings to collapse. On 29 January, Israeli forces killed Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl, and six of her family members when the car they were driving was struck by Israeli tank and machine gun fire; two rescue workers who attempted to retrieve Rajab were also killed. The
Red Crescent The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human ...
released the audio from Rajab's phone call with rescue workers, causing international outrage over her death.


Build-up to the Rafah offensive (February–April 2024)

Between February and May 2024, preparations to invade Rafah became a dominant theme in Israeli officials' public rhetoric. On 12 February, Israel started a bombing campaign on Rafah. Food supplies increasingly became an issue. On 5 February, Israeli gunboats shelled a clearly marked UNRWA convoy, forcing UNRWA to suspend its operations for almost three weeks, affecting 200,000 people. On 29 February, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City, killing 100 and wounding 750. Some of the victims were run over by trucks as panic spread. Survivors described it as an intentional
ambush An ambush is a surprise attack carried out by people lying in wait in a concealed position. The concealed position itself or the concealed person(s) may also be called an "". Ambushes as a basic military tactics, fighting tactic of soldi ...
by Israeli forces. On 1 March, the United States announced it would begin an operation to airdrop food aid into Gaza. Some experts called the initiative performative, saying it would not alleviate the food situation. During his
State of the Union Address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of most calendar years on the current condit ...
, Biden announced that a temporary port on Gaza's coast would be constructed to enable aid delivery.
Al-Shifa Hospital Al-Shifa Hospital ( ''Mustašfā aš-Šifāʾ'' ) was the largest medical complex and central hospital in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, located in the neighborhood of northern Rimal in Gaza City. The hospital was first established by the govern ...
, previously besieged in November 2023, was raided again between 18 March and 1 April. Israeli forces killed Faiq al-Mabhouh, who they said was head of the operations directorate of Hamas's internal security service. Hamas said al-Mabhouh was in charge of civil law enforcement and had been coordinating aid deliveries to north Gaza. The IDF said it killed 200 people in the hospital fighting, including senior Hamas leaders; this account was disputed. Survivors denied that militants had organised on the hospital grounds. Israeli forces were accused of reducing the hospital to a "blown out, fire-blackened" state, and of massacring 400 Palestinians. A 25 March UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for
Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
was ignored by the IDF. On 1 April, seven international aid workers from
World Central Kitchen World Central Kitchen (WCK) is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization that Food security, provides food relief. It was founded in 2010 by Spanish American chef and restaurateur José Andrés following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, earthq ...
(WCK) were killed in an Israeli airstrike south of
Deir al-Balah Deir al-Balah or Deir al Balah () is a city in the center of the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the administrative capital of the Deir al-Balah Governorate. It is located over south of Gaza City. The city had a population of 75,132 in 2017. The ci ...
. WCK, who said their vehicles were clearly marked and their location known to Israel, subsequently withdrew from operating in Gaza alongside ANERA and
Project HOPE Project Hope (希望工程; ''Xiwang gongcheng'') is a Chinese public service project organized by the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) and the Communist Youth League (CYL) Central Committee. Started in 1989, it aims to bring schools i ...
. On 4 April, Israel opened the Erez Crossing for the first time since 7 October after US pressure. By 6 March, Israel had completed a new east–west road in Gaza. It was intended to mobilize troops and supplies, to connect and defend IDF positions on al-Rashid and Salah al-Din streets, and prevent people in the south of Gaza from returning to the north. On 7 April, Israel withdrew from the south Gaza Strip, with only one brigade remaining in the
Netzarim Corridor The Netzarim Corridor is an area in the Gaza Strip that has served as an Israeli zone of military occupation during the Gaza war.
in the north. Palestinians displaced from that city began to return from the south of the Gaza Strip. Israel planned to initiate its ground offensive in Rafah around mid-April, but postponed to consider its response to the Iranian strikes on Israel. On 25 April, Israel intensified strikes on Rafah ahead of its threatened invasion.


Beginning of the Rafah offensive (May–July 2024)

On 6 May, the IDF ordered 100,000 civilians in eastern Rafah to evacuate to Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis. Later that day, Hamas announced that it had accepted the terms of a ceasefire brokered by Egypt and Qatar. The deal included a 6-week ceasefire and exchange of prisoners. However, Israel rejected this deal. Israel said that it found the terms unacceptable, but that it would continue to negotiate while the military operation on Rafah was ongoing to "exert military pressure on Hamas". On 31 May, the United States announced a ceasefire framework for ending the war. The same day, the IDF entered the outskirts of Rafah, seizing control of the Gaza side of the
Rafah Crossing The Rafah Border Crossing () or Rafah Crossing Point is the sole crossing point between Egypt and Palestine's Gaza Strip. The Rafah crossing was opened by Israel after the 1979 peace treaty and remained under Israeli control until 2005, when ...
to Egypt the following day. On 11 May, the IDF ordered more residents to evacuate eastern and central Rafah. By 15 May, an estimated 600,000 had fled Rafah and another 100,000 from the north, according to the United Nations. On 24 May, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
said only 906 aid truckloads had reached Gaza since Israel's Rafah operation began. Israel bombed the Tel al-Sultan displacement camp in Rafah on 26 May, killing at least 45 people, allegedly including two senior Hamas officials. This provoked a skirmish between Egyptian and Israeli soldiers at the Gaza border in which one Egyptian soldier was killed. Less than 48 hours afterwards, another evacuation zone, the Al-Mawasi refugee camp, was bombed, killing at least 21 people. The IDF denied involvement in the attack. On 6 June, Israel bombed a school in the
Nuseirat refugee camp Nuseirat Camp () is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the middle of the Gaza Strip, five kilometers north-east of Deir al-Balah. The refugee camp is in the Deir al-Balah Governorate, Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of ...
, killing dozens. Two days later, Israel conducted an attack on Nuseirat refugee camp which resulted in the rescue of four hostages and the deaths of 274 Palestinians. On 27 June, Israeli forces re-invaded the al-Shuja'iyya neighborhood. According to
Middle East Monitor The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation and lobbying group that emerged in mid 2009. MEMO is largely focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict but writes about other issues in the Middle East, as wel ...
and
ReliefWeb ReliefWeb (RW) is a humanitarian information portal founded in 1996. , it hosts more than one million humanitarian situation reports, press releases, evaluations, guidelines, assessments, maps and infographics. The portal is an independent sourc ...
, between 4 July and 10 August, Israel attacked 21 schools in Gaza, killing 274 people.


Rafah, Khan Yunis, and general bombardment (July–September 2024)

On 22 July, the IDF began a brief second invasion of Khan Yunis. Israel ordered the evacuation of the eastern part of Khan Yunis; 73 people were killed during the first day of the attack. Footage from an Israeli drone surfaced showing the destruction of the Grand Mosque in Khan Yunis. A third, month-long battle ended on 30 August when the IDF withdrew its 98th battalion from Khan Yunis and Deir el-Balah, stating it had killed over 250 Palestinian militants. On 13 July, at least 90 people were killed and 300 were injured in an Israeli strike on Al-Mawasi and 22 people were killed in an Israeli strike targeting people gathered to pray in the
Al-Shati refugee camp Al-Shati (), also known as Shati or Beach camp, is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the northern Gaza Strip along the Mediterranean Sea coastline in the Gaza Governorate, and more specifically Gaza City. Al-Shati was established in 1948 fo ...
. On 10 August, at least 80 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Al-Tabaeen school. The IDF claimed to have killed 200 militants and discovered dozens of weapons in Tel al-Sultan in one week. On 10 September, Israeli missile strikes on a tent encampment in Al-Mawasi killed 19 to 40 people. An IAF
UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift military utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted a design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) ...
helicopter crashed in
Rafah Rafah ( ) is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Rafah Governorate. It is located south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. Due to the Gaza war, about 1.4 million people from Gaza C ...
while trying to evacuate a critically injured
combat engineer A combat engineer (also called pioneer or sapper) is a type of soldier who performs military engineering tasks in support of land forces combat operations. Combat engineers perform a variety of military engineering, Tunnel warfare, tunnel and l ...
, killing two Israeli soldiers and injuring seven others. An Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp on 11 September killed at least 18 people.


Continued operations throughout Gaza (October–December 2024)

In October, Israeli airstrikes on Shuhada al-Aqsa mosque in
Deir el-Balah Deir al-Balah or Deir al Balah () is a city in the center of the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the administrative capital of the Deir al-Balah Governorate. It is located over south of Gaza City. The city had a population of 75,132 in 2017. The ci ...
and a school in central Gaza killed at least 26 Palestinians and injured over 93. An Israeli strike on Rufaida school, which was serving as a shelter for displaced people in Deir el-Balah, killed at least 28 people and injured 54 others.
Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...
condemned the killing of four engineers working with one of its partners by an Israeli airstrike, despite prior coordination of their activities with Israeli authorities. On 8 October, the IDF began to encircle Jabalia camp, killing several Palestinian militants and civilians in air strikes and street battles. On 10 October, the IDF issued evacuation orders for three hospitals in northern Gaza. The IDF's air and ground operations in Jabalia continued for the rest of October. During that month and November, strikes on Jabalia killed hundreds of people. On 10 December, the IDF said that it killed 10 Hamas operatives who were involved in the killing of three Israeli soldiers one day prior. On 30 December, the IDF said that it killed dozens of militants in Jabalia. The IDF has been accused of blocking aid delivery to the Gaza Strip by allowing looting gangs to target aid convoys. On 16 November 98 out of 109 food trucks carrying UN aid from Kerem Shalom crossing were looted in Israeli-controlled areas of the Gaza strip. The Abu Shabab clan, a rival of Hamas, was widely blamed for the attacks. On 1 December, the UN suspended its aid shipments to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, blaming Israel for failing to "ensure safe conditions for delivering relief supplies." On 12 December, two Israeli strikes on an aid convoy in southern Gaza killed 13 people and wounded at least 30 people, several of them seriously. On 30 November, a strike on a World Central Kitchen vehicle transporting supplies killed three aid workers. An Israeli airstrike on a group of Palestinians waiting for food from an aid convoy in Khan Yunis killed at least 12 and injured several others. On 9 December, an Israeli strike hit people who lined up for buying flour in
Rafah Rafah ( ) is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Rafah Governorate. It is located south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. Due to the Gaza war, about 1.4 million people from Gaza C ...
, killing 10 people. On 16 October, IDF ground forces killed Yahya Sinwar in a shootout in Tal as-Sultan. The conscript soldiers who participated in the shootout were initially unaware of Sinwar's presence, and he was identified the following day by his dental records. There were no hostages in Sinwar's vicinity at the time of his death, and no civilian casualties were reported. Biden urged Israel to end the war after Sinwar's death.


Siege of northern Gaza

On 13 October, senior IDF officials told ''Haaretz'' that the government was not seeking to revive hostage talks and that political leadership was pushing for the annexation of parts of the Gaza Strip. In the later weeks of October, Israel's siege of North Gaza intensified and daily aid shipments dropped significantly. Eyewitnesses reported the shelling of hospitals, razing of shelters, and abductions of men and boys by the Israeli military, leading to speculation that Israel had decided to implement a plan by a group of retired generals to turn the northern Strip into a closed military zone and declare all who refuse to leave as combatants. On 5 November, Israeli Brigadier General Itzik Cohen told reporters that "there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return" and that no food aid had entered northern Gaza because there were "no more civilians left". The IDF continued its encirclement of Jabalia by sending tanks to
Beit Lahia Beit Lahia or Beit Lahiya () is a city in the Gaza Strip, north of Jabalia, in the North Gaza Governorate of the State of Palestine. It sits next to Beit Hanoun and close to the border with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Burea ...
and
Beit Hanoun Beit Hanoun or Beit Hanun () is a Palestinian city on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 52,237 in 2017. As a result of the ongoing Gaza war, Beit Hanou ...
and issuing evacuation orders to residents. On 24 October, an IDF attack destroyed at least 10 residential buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp. According to an assessment by Gaza Civil Defense, 150 people were killed or injured. On 25 October, the WHO said it had lost contact with Kamal Adwan hospital, and UN human rights chief
Volker Türk Volker Türk (born 27 August 1965) is an Austrian lawyer and United Nations official. He has been the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights since October 2022. Career Early years In 1991, Türk became a UN Junior Professional Officer and ha ...
called recent developments in North Gaza the "darkest moment" in the war so far. Food aid to Gaza reached a new low in October at an average of 30 trucks per day, or less than 6% of the daily pre-war average. Residents of northern Gaza said in November that no aid had reached their cities since 5 October. The UN warned that the situation had become "apocalyptic" and that "The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence". On 2 November,
UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...
said that over 50 children were killed in Israeli strikes in
Jabalia Jabalia, also spelled Jabalya (), is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, located north of Gaza City, in the North Gaza Governorate of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Jabalia had a population of 172, ...
in the past two days. On 12 November, aid in Gaza fell to its lowest level in 11 months despite a US ultimatum that it be restored. On 24 November, Israel issued a new wave of evacuation orders, triggering another round of displacements in Jabalia. UNRWA said that Israel had rejected nine attempts to deliver aid to north Gaza in the month of November and obstructed an additional 82 attempts; they added that the survival conditions were diminishing for the 60,000 to 70,000 civilians remaining in north Gaza. Mahmoud Almadhoun, a chef who founded the Gaza Soup Kitchen, was targeted and killed by an Israeli quadcopter near Kamal Adwan hospital. On 5 December, Israeli Army Radio announced that 18,000 Palestinians were evacuated from Beit Lahia and that soldiers killed approximately 20 militants during fighting on the previous day. On 13 December, Israeli tank fire killed Dr. Sayeed Joudeh, the last orthopedic surgeon in northern Gaza. On 26 December, an Israeli air strike hit a building in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital, killing about 50 people, including five staff. Over the next days, the World Health Organization announced that the hospital had been put out of service by Israeli attacks and the hospital's director, Hussam Abu Safiya, had been abducted: the IDF forced patients to evacuate to an already-destroyed hospital by cutting off their oxygen. The IDF claimed to have killed 19 militants during its raid;
Gaza Health Ministry The Gaza Health Ministry (GHM), officially the Palestinian Ministry of Health – Gaza, is responsible for managing healthcare and medical services in the Gaza Strip. The health ministry's casualty reports have received significant attention d ...
said that 50 people including hospital staff were killed.


Second ceasefire (January–March 2025)

On 15 January 2025, an agreement was announced between Israel and Hamas, through the mediation of Qatar, in which Hamas agreed to release a number of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for Hamas militants and other Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons. The two parties also agreed to a ceasefire for the second time during the war; it went into effect on the morning of 19 January 2025. On 27 January, tens of thousands of Palestinians began a mass return to northern Gaza after Israel opened a corridor for civilian movement following a 48-hour delay. Hamas claimed that Israel had violated the terms of the ceasefire, and announced the suspension of the release of Israeli hostages on 10 February. After Netanyahu and Trump threatened to restart fighting in Gaza, Hamas relented on 13 February, allowing the release of hostages to begin again two days later. On 22 February, Hamas released six Israeli hostages; however, Israel refused to release the 600 Palestinian prisoners, with Netanyahu objecting to the "use of hostages for propaganda" and saying that Israel would release the prisoners once the next hostage release was guaranteed without the ceremonies. On 25 February, Israel and Hamas reached a deal to exchange the bodies of Israeli hostages who were agreed to be handed over during the first phase for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, without public ceremony. On 1 March, the day the first phase of the ceasefire was scheduled to end, Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal to extend it to release more hostages, calling for the implementation of the second phase. Negotiations for implementing the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, intended to see the release of all remaining living hostages, the withdrawal of the Israeli military from Gaza and a permanent end to the war, were supposed to have begun in February, 16 days after the initial ceasefire began, but never happened. Netanyahu's office said that Israel endorsed a US plan to extend the Gaza truce for the
Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
and
Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...
periods. Under this plan, half of the living and dead hostages would be released on the first day of the extended truce and the remaining hostages would be released at the end of the period if a permanent truce was reached. It claimed that the initial deal allowed Israel to resume war at any moment after 1 March if negotiations were deemed ineffective. Following Hamas's refusal to accept the US proposal, Netanyahu ceased the entry of aid to Gaza the next day. The humanitarian aid blockade was condemned by mediators, namely Egypt, as a violation of the ceasefire, which stipulated that phase one would automatically be extended as long as phase two negotiations were in progress. On 9 March, Israeli Energy Minister
Eli Cohen Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen (‎; ‎; 26 December 1924 – 18 May 1965) was an Egyptian-born Israeli spy. He is best known for his espionage work in Syria between 1961 and 1965, where he developed close relationships with the Syrian poli ...
ordered a halt to supply of Israeli electricity to Gaza. On 14 March, Hamas said that it agreed to a proposal from mediators to release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander and the bodies of four dual-national hostages. The US and Israel rejected the offer, which did not conform to their joint proposal calling for the release of five living hostages on the first day of an extended ceasefire.


Israeli attacks resume (March–April 2025)

On 18 March, Israel launched a
surprise attack Military deception (MILDEC) is an attempt by a military unit to gain an advantage during warfare by misleading adversary decision makers into taking action or inaction that creates favorable conditions for the deceiving force. This is usually ...
which included airstrikes across Gaza, killing over 400 (per Gaza officials) and ending the ceasefire. Israeli Defense Minister
Israel Katz Israel Katz (; born 21 September 1955) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud currently serving as Ministry of Defense (Israel), Minister of Defense and a member of the Security Cabinet of Israel. Katz has been recognized ...
then declared that Israel has "returned to fighting in Gaza". Israel stated the attack was due to the refusal of Hamas to extend the first phase of the ceasefire by releasing more hostages, and was also in response to Hamas's rearming and reorganizing over the course of the two months of ceasefire. Hamas said that it had adhered to the ceasefire agreement, implementing it precisely, and that Israel had resumed aggression and war. Internationally, the strikes were seen to stymie hopes for a lasting ceasefire. Observers have noted that Israel chose to launch the attack on the day Netanyahu would testify in his corruption trial, forcing the legal proceedings to be postponed. Multiple senior members of Gaza's government and the Hamas political bureau were killed during this round of fighting, including
Issam al-Da'alis Issam al-Da'alis (, 30 October 1966 – 18 March 2025), also spelled Daalis or Dalis, was a Palestinian politician who served as the head of the Government Administrative Committee of the Gaza Strip, a position comparable to that of prime mini ...
, whose position is akin to the Prime Minister of Gaza, Salah al-Bardawil and Ismail Barhoum (members of the political bureau),
Mahmoud Abu Watfa Mahmoud Abu Watfa headed the interior ministry in the Hamas government within the Gaza Strip, overseeing police and internal security. After the temporary Israel-Hamas ceasefire from January-March 2025 he was seen patrolling Gaza City with poli ...
(undersecretary of the Interior Ministry of the Gaza Strip) and Bahjat Abu Sultan (chief of internal security).
Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...
spokesman
Abu Hamza Abu Hamza () meaning father of ''Hamza (name), Hamza'', is a given name and a common alias used by several people, it may refer to: Given name * Abu Hamza al-Mukhtar, 8th century Ibadi Kharijite rebel * Abu Hamza Rabia (died 2005), al-Qaeda leader ...
was also killed in the airstrikes. The
Popular Resistance Committees The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC; , ''Lijān al-Muqāwama al-Shaʿbiyya'') is a coalition of a number of armed Palestinian groups opposed to what they regard as the conciliatory approach of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Isra ...
announced the death of Muhammad al-Batran, commander of its artillery unit and a member of its Central Military Brigade Council. On 19 March, the IDF said that it had launched "targeted ground activities" in the Gaza Strip to create a "partial buffer" in the territory, partially recapturing the center of the
Netzarim Corridor The Netzarim Corridor is an area in the Gaza Strip that has served as an Israeli zone of military occupation during the Gaza war.
. The IDF also bombed the UN Office for Project Services building in Deir al Balah, killing a UN staffer and six other international workers. Two days later, the IDF destroyed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital via controlled demolition. On 23 March, IDF troops fired on several humanitarian vehicles, including five ambulances, a fire truck, and a United Nations vehicle, in Al-Hashashin area in southern Rafah, killing 15 Palestinian medics. It was not until 30 March that their bodies were discovered in a mass grave. On 25 March, amid the Israeli operation, hundreds to thousands of Palestinians in Gaza rose up in protest against Hamas and the continued war, calling for an end to the war and an end to Hamas's rule over the Gaza Strip. The protests were caused by
war-weariness War-weariness is the public or political disapproval for the continuation of a prolonged conflict or war. The causes normally involve the intensity of casualties—financial, civilian, and military. It also occurs when a belligerent has the abili ...
and dissatisfaction with Hamas, specifically their alleged misuse of humanitarian aid intended for Gazans, suppression of the
freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...
and of the press, and abuse of Palestinian civilians. On 27 March, an Israeli airstrike on a tent in Jabalia killed Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua. The same day, a World Central Kitchen volunteer was killed in an Israeli strike on a WCK supported community kitchen as meals were being served. On 9 April, Israeli warplanes bombed a multi-story residential building in Shuja'iyya, killing over 35 Palestinians and wounding at least another 70. On 12 April, the IDF announced that it had encircled Rafah, and planned to seize portions of it while ordering large-scale evacuations of its population. On 13 April, two Israeli missiles hit Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, forcing patients to evacuate and destroying its emergency department. On 15 April, Yahya Fathi Abd al-Qader Abu Shaar, the head of Hamas' weapons smuggling network, was killed by the Israeli army in the area of Khan Younis. On 22 April, an attack on a residential building in Khan Younis started a fire that killed at least 11 Palestinians. On 23 April, Israel bombed a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced families, killing at least 10.


Renewed Israeli offensive (May 2025–present)

On 3 May, Israel announced its plans to expand the Gaza offensive and mobilized thousands of reservists. On 7 May, World Central Kitchen said it was forced to stop food distribution in Gaza because it ran out of supplies. On 8 May, two Israeli airstrikes on the last restaurant in Gaza City and a simultaneous strike on a crowded nearby market killed at least 33 people. At least 143 people were killed in Gaza on 15 May, making it the deadliest day of the war since the end of the ceasefire in March. On 13 May 2025, Israeli airstrikes struck the compound of the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis and the surrounding area, killing at least 28 people and injuring at least 40 others. Israel claimed to have killed
Mohammed Sinwar Mohammed Ibrahim Hassan al-Sinwar (; 16 September 1975 – 13 May 2025) was a Palestinian politician and militant who became the third Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, following the killing of his brother, Yahya Sinwar in October 2024. He also ...
and Muhammad Shabana in the strike, although this was denied by Hamas. On 16 May, Israel announced the launch of Operation Gideon's Chariots, a military offensive aimed at taking control of the entire Gaza Strip. The move was widely condemned by several of Israel's allies, a number of whom threatened sanctions. On 25 May, an Israeli airstrike on the Fahmi al-Jawjawi school in Daraj, Gaza City, killed at least 36 people—including 18 children and six women—and injured over 55. In late May a new militia in Gaza,
Popular Forces The Popular Forces, also known as Anti-Terror Service, is a Palestinians, Palestinian Criticism of Hamas, anti-Hamas armed group active in the Gaza Strip and led by Yasser Abu Shabab. The Popular Forces are Israel, Israeli-backed and allegedly I ...
, began operating under the authority of the Abu Shabab clan in opposition to Hamas.
Avigdor Lieberman Avigdor Lieberman (, ; born 5 June 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli politician who served as Ministry of Finance (Israel), Minister of Finance between 2021 and 2022, having previously served twice as Deputy Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to ...
accused Netanyahu and the Israeli government of funding and arming this militia. On 27 May, the US-backed
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is an American organization, based in Delaware, established in February 2025 to distribute humanitarian aid during the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis. Formerly led by executive director Jake Wood until ...
began operations in Tel al-Sultan to deliver humanitarian aid. As thousands of starving Palestinians overwhelmed the distribution center, Israeli forces fired into the crowd, killing ten and injuring at least 62 Palestinians.


Post-war plans


Israeli leaders' plans

In February 2025, the leader of the Israeli opposition,
Yair Lapid Yair Lapid ( ; born 5 November 1963) is an Israeli politician of the centrist Yesh Atid party and a former journalist who has been the Leader of the Opposition (Israel), Leader of the Opposition since January 2023, having previously served in t ...
, proposed that Gaza be returned to Egypt for up to 15 years in exchange for the cancellation of its external debt. Egypt rejected the proposal stating it undermined the Palestinian cause. On 2 April, Israel Katz announced the Israeli government's intention to "seize large areas" of Gaza as large air and ground operations resumed following the end of the March ceasefire. On 17 April, Katz said that Israeli forces would remain in areas of Gaza, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely. On 5 May, the Israeli cabinet approved plans to capture the entire Gaza Strip and occupy it for an unspecified amount of time. Far-right Minister of Finance
Bezalel Smotrich Bezalel Yoel Smotrich (; born 27 February 1980) is an Israeli far-right politician and lawyer who has served as the Minister of Finance since 2022. The leader of the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism, he previously served as a Kn ...
said that Gaza would be "entirely destroyed" in Israel's new offensive and that the population would be expelled to other countries.


Trump Gaza proposal

After the announcement of a second ceasefire in January 2025,
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
announced his intention to displace the Palestinian population of Gaza, reiterating his position that they should be resettled in neighboring Arab countries three more times that month. Ahead of a 4 February meeting with Netanyahu, Trump specified his intention to permanently displace Gaza's Palestinian inhabitants, which would be in violation of international law. He proposed a US takeover of Gaza that evening during a press conference with Netanyahu. Trump insisted that neighboring countries would pay for Gaza's reconstruction and that "world people" would live there. He did not rule out deploying US troops if necessary. On 5 and 6 February, Trump aides and Trump himself walked back some of his comments, including his willingness to deploy US soldiers. On 10 February, Trump said that Palestinians who leave Gaza would have no
right of return The right of return is a principle in international law which guarantees everyone's right of return to, or re-entry to, their country of citizenship. The right of return is part of the broader human rights concept of freedom of movement and is al ...
. In a meeting with King
Abdullah II of Jordan Abdullah II (Abdullah bin Hussein; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of the Hashemites, who have been the reigning royal family of Jordan since 1921, and is traditionally reg ...
, Trump said that the US would take rather than buy Gaza because "It's a war torn area. It's Gaza. There is nothing to buy." Trump had proposed Jordan take in the displaced Palestinians from Gaza, which Jordanian foreign minister
Ayman Safadi Ayman Safadi (Arabic: أيمن الصفدي ''ʾAyman Aṣ-ṣafadī''; born 15 January 1962) is a Jordanian politician who is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Safadi is a member of the Jordanian Druze community. Biograph ...
categorically rejected, stating "They don't want to come to Jordan and we don't want them to come to Jordan." Trump's statements were met with condemnation from world leaders; however, in Israel,
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
national security minister
Itamar Ben-Gvir Itamar Ben-Gvir ( ; born 6 May 1976) is an Israeli far-right politician and lawyer who is serving as the Minister of National Security since 2025. He is the leader of Otzma Yehudit ('Jewish Power'), a Kahanist and anti-Arab party that won ...
praised Trump, saying that Palestinian "migration" was the only solution to the war. Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir characterized the planned displacement of Gazans as a "voluntary migration", but communications minister
Shlomo Karhi Shlomo Karhi (; born 6 April 1982) is an Israeli politician and academic. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Likud and serving as the Minister of Communications in the thirty-seventh government. Karhi first joined the Knesset in the 2 ...
said the transfer will be forced rather than voluntary. Trump has rejected the Arab League plan claiming that "The current proposal does not address the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and
unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...
," and that the Trump administration will go ahead with seizing the territory "to bring peace and prosperity to the region". In May 2025, US special envoy
Steve Witkoff Steven Charles Witkoff (born March 15, 1957) is an American real estate investor and lawyer who has served as the Ambassadors of the United States#Special envoys, representatives, and coordinators, United States Special Envoy to the Middle East ...
proposed a ceasefire in Gaza. This proposal reportedly included a 60-day truce, freeing of 28 hostages, release of over 1000 Palestinian prisoners and supply of humanitarian aid. Israel accepted the proposal. Hamas requested amendments to the plan and reiterated calls for the complete withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza.


Arab League proposal

Arab governments rejected Trump's transfer plan, instead backing an Egyptian proposal. The
Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...
, meeting on 4 March in Cairo, devised a $53bn plan detailing the reconstruction of Gaza while keeping its population in place. The proposal also included the requirement that Hamas disarm, step down and fresh elections to a reformed Palestinian Authority be held. Algerian President
Abdelmadjid Tebboune Abdelmadjid Tebboune (; born 17 November 1945) is an Algerian politician currently serving as the president of Algeria since December 2019 and as minister of defence. Tebboune took over the power from former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and f ...
boycotted the league meeting claiming that it was "monopolized by a limited and narrow group of Arab countries" namely the
Arab states of the Persian Gulf The Arab states of the Persian Gulf, also known as the Gulf Arab states (), refers to a group of Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi ...
. Hamas also reiterated that the group's arms were non-negotiable and rejected the plan.


Others

In March 2025, the United States and Israel claimed to have contacted officials from
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
,
Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
,
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
,
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
,
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
,
Puntland Puntland is an autonomous state that considers itself to be part of Somalia, despite not accepting the legitimacy of Somalia's current governing administration. It was formed in 1998, and was a federal member state of Somalia from its fou ...
, and
Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...
to discuss the resettlement of Gaza residents in their territories. Egypt, Jordan, and Sudan, rejected the proposal while Somalia and Somaliland denied that they had been contacted. In May 2025, reports emerged that the Trump administration was working on a plan to permanently relocate 1 million Gazans to
Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
, while offering the release of around $30 billion in funds frozen by the US since the toppling of the regime of
Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...
in exchange for Libyan authorities agreeing to the deal. On 9 April, French president
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
said that France could recognise a Palestinian state by June, adding that he wanted to be part of a collective dynamic where those who defend Palestine also recognise Israel in turn.


Spillover

The war's spillover has resulted in a major escalation of existing tensions between Israel and Iran, with groups in the
Axis of Resistance The Axis of Resistance is an informal coalition of Iranian-supported militant and political organizations across the Middle East. Formed by Iran, it unites actors committed to countering the influence of the United States and Israel in the regio ...
launching attacks on American military bases, and the Yemeni
Houthi movement The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Zaydism, Zaydi Shia Islamism, Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadersh ...
attacking commercial vessels in the
Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...
and incurring a US-led
military operation A military operation (op) is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operati ...
. Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the Houthi movement in Yemen launched limited attacks against Israel shortly after the start of the war. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have also traded attacks with the US and IDF. Israel has bombed targets in and around
Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
throughout the war, with an attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus on 1 April 2024 leading to a series of retaliatory airstrikes on Israel in response. On 31 July, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in
Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
, where he had traveled to attend the inauguration of President
Masoud Pezeshkian Masoud Pezeshkian (, ; born 29 September 1954) is an Iranian politician and physician who has been serving as the ninth president of Iran since 28 July 2024. Pezeshkian served as governor of Piranshahr and Naghadeh counties and was elected to ...
, and on 1 October, Iran fired approximately 200 missiles at Israel. By the end of 2024, a year-long exchange of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into an Israeli invasion of Lebanon, before it was paused after a
ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...
. Under the November 2024 agreement, Israeli forces were to withdraw from Lebanon by January 2025, but Israel refused and the deadline was extended to February 2025, where Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanese villages but kept Israeli forces maintaining five military outposts on highlands in Southern Lebanon, against Lebanon's wishes. The crisis has also seen the
fall Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemispher ...
of the
Assad regime Ba'athist Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), was the Syrian state between 1963 and 2024 under the one-party rule of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. From 1971 until its collapse in 2024, it was rule ...
and an ongoing Israeli invasion of Syria. Israeli defense minister Israel Katz in April 2025 declared that Israeli forces would indefinitely remain in "security zones" that they "cleared and seized" in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.


West Bank and Israel

Amnesty International released a report on 5 February 2024 stating that Israel is carrying out unlawful killings in the West Bank and displaying "a chilling disregard for Palestinian lives" and that Israeli forces are carrying out numerous illegal acts of violence that constitute clear violations of international law. Before the war, 2023 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 20 years. Violence in the West Bank has increased since the war began with more than 607 Palestinians and over 25 Israelis killed. At the same time,
Israeli settler violence Palestinians are the target of violence by Israeli settlers and their supporters, predominantly in the West Bank. In November 2021, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz discussed the steep rise in the number of incidents between settlers and Pal ...
further increased to around 1,270 attacks, against 856 for all of 2022. About 1,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by settlers since 7 October and almost half of the clashes have included "Israeli forces accompanying or actively supporting Israeli settlers while carrying out the attacks" according to a U.N. report. According to the West Bank Protection Consortium, since the 7 October attacks six Palestinian communities have been abandoned due to the violence. On 19 October, more than 60 Hamas members were arrested and 12 people were killed in overnight Israeli raids across the West Bank. Those arrested included the movement's spokesperson in the West Bank, Hassan Yousef. In July, Israeli authorities approved the seizure of 12.7 square kilometers of land in the occupied West Bank. According to
Peace Now Peace Now ( ''Shalom Achshav'', ) is an Israeli liberal advocacy organization with the aim of promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Early activism In an official document from 1982 Peace Now advocated for an und ...
, this was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords." Israeli authorities also approved plans for almost 5,300 new houses in occupied West Bank. By July 2024, Israeli land seizures exceeded the combined total of the previous 20 years. The following month, the Israeli government approved new settlements in the occupied West Bank, and it was reported that Israeli settlers had taken advantage of the ongoing war to expand settlement activity supported by a far-right Israeli government, including land seizure and large scale settlement plans. On 7 August, Wafa reported that Israeli forces destroyed the regional headquarters of
Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...
in the
Balata Camp Balata Camp () is a Palestinian refugee camp established in the northern West Bank in 1950, adjacent to Balata village on the outskirts of the city of Nablus. Balata Camp had a population of 14,635 in 2017. History In 1950, the UN gave the refug ...
. On 28 August, Israel launched the largest military operation into the northern West Bank in more than 20 years. Israeli Foreign Minister
Israel Katz Israel Katz (; born 21 September 1955) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud currently serving as Ministry of Defense (Israel), Minister of Defense and a member of the Security Cabinet of Israel. Katz has been recognized ...
said that the operation was a "full-fledged war". Israeli forces carried out simultaneous operations in Jenin, Tubas, Nablus, Ramallah and Tulkarem. In Jenin, Israeli forces destroyed the city's infrastructure and carried out mass arrests of men and boys. Civilians were trapped in their homes and denied access to food, water and medicine. Members of the press were denied access to the city and the army blocked access to hospitals and ambulances. A day later, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for a halt to the operations, and EU foreign policy chief
Josep Borrell Josep Borrell Fontelles (; born 24 April 1947) is a Spanish politician who served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2019 to 2024. A member of the Spani ...
said the operations "must not constitute the premises of a war extension from Gaza, including full-scale destruction." On 3 September, Israeli media reported that the IDF had classified the West Bank as a "combat zone" and now viewed it as the second most important front in the war. Yoav Gallant said that Israel was " mowing the lawn" with its West Bank operations, but that it would eventually need to "pull out the roots". On 6 September, Turkish-American protestor Ayşenur Eygi was killed by an Israeli sniper at a demonstration near Nablus. On 3 October, an Israeli
airstrike An airstrike, air strike, or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...
in
Tulkarm Camp Tulkarm Camp () is a Palestinian refugee camp north of the West Bank in the city of Tulkarm, established in 1950 on 0.18 km2 by the UNRWA. It is the second largest refugee camp in the West Bank, as well as one of the most densely populated. ...
killed at least 20 people. On 13 November,
Israeli far-right Far-right politics in Israel encompasses ideologies such as ultranationalism, Jewish supremacy, Jewish fascism, Jewish fundamentalism, anti-Arabism, and ideological movements such as neo-Zionism and Kahanism. In the 2020s, the term "far-rig ...
finance minister
Bezalel Smotrich Bezalel Yoel Smotrich (; born 27 February 1980) is an Israeli far-right politician and lawyer who has served as the Minister of Finance since 2022. The leader of the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism, he previously served as a Kn ...
said that with
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
's victory in the
2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...
, Israel was "a step away" from "sovereignty in Judea and Samaria." Later comments by
Mike Huckabee Michael Dale Huckabee (, born August 24, 1955) is an American diplomat, political commentator, Baptist minister, and politician serving as the 29th United States Ambassador to Israel, United States ambassador to Israel since 2025. A member of ...
, chosen by Trump as the next ambassador to Israel, corroborated the possibility of an Israeli annexation of the West Bank. On 21 January 2025, the IDF said it launched a major
raid RAID (; redundant array of inexpensive disks or redundant array of independent disks) is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical Computer data storage, data storage components into one or more logical units for th ...
in West Bank. On 29 January, the IDF said that it conducted a drone strike targeting a group of militants in
Tammun Tammun () is a Palestinian town in the Tubas Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 13 kilometers northeast of Nablus and five kilometers south of Tubas in the northeastern West Bank. Tammun had a population of approximately 10,795 inhabi ...
, killing at least 10 people.


Attacks in Israel

On 30 November, two Palestinian gunmen killed three and wounded 11 Israeli civilians at a bus stop on the
Givat Shaul Givat Shaul (, lit. (''Saul's Hill''); ) is a neighborhood in West Jerusalem. The neighborhood is located at the western entrance to the city, east of the neighborhood of Har Nof and north of Kiryat Moshe. Givat Shaul stands 820 meters above sea ...
Interchange in Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility. On 16 February 2024, a Palestinian gunman shot and killed two Israeli civilians and injured four others in
Kiryat Malakhi Kiryat Malakhi () also spelled Kiryat Malahi, Kiryat Malachi, or Qiryat Mal'akhi, is a city in the Southern District of Israel, northeast of Ashkelon. In it had a population of . Its jurisdiction is 4,632 dunams (~4.6 km2). History Q ...
, Israel. The shooter was killed by an off-duty IDF reservist at the scene. On 12 April, a 14-year-old Israeli shepherd went missing near Ramallah and was found dead a day later. On 15 April, two Palestinians were killed by
Israeli settlers Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...
in
Aqraba Akraba (variants: Aqrab, Aqraba, Agrab or Aqrabiyah) may refer to: Egypt * Al-Aqrab Prison, a prison in Cairo, Egypt Iraq * Tell Agrab, an ancient settlement in Iraq in Diyala Governorate Palestine * Aqraba, Nablus, a Palestinian town in the Na ...
. On 13 May, at the Tarqumiya checkpoint, a convoy of trucks carrying food supplies to Gaza was attacked by Israeli settlers, who damaged the trucks and threw supplies on the ground.


Israeli prisons and detention camps

Israel has increased its
administrative detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...
of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, as well as Palestinian citizens of Israel, since the start of the war. Administrative detention was already at a 20-year high before October 2023. More than 11,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, not counting detainees taken from Gaza during the war. At least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli detention since 7 October. They are held without charge or trial, which violates international law. In December 2023, a military base at Sde Teiman in the Negev Desert was converted to a detention camp by the IDF. Whistleblowers and detainees reported beatings and torture of Palestinian detainees at the camp, as well as amputations of limbs due to injuries sustained from handcuffing, medical neglect, arbitrary punishment and sexual abuse. Prisoners have been coerced to make confessions that they are members of Hamas. After conditions in the camp came to light in May 2024, the
Supreme Court of Israel The Supreme Court of Israel (, Hebrew acronym Bagatz; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court consists of 15 jud ...
held a hearing and the IDF began transferring 1,200 of the prisoners to
Ofer Prison Ofer Prison (, ''Kele Ofer''), formerly officially known as Incarceration Facility 385 (), is an Israeli incarceration facility in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It is one of three prison facilities along with Megiddo and Ktzi'ot, the latt ...
. Detainees have reported severe instances of violence during transfers between prisons. Several Palestinian healthcare workers have been abducted from Gaza hospitals during sieges by Israeli forces. On 5 December, Israeli forces abducted the adult men present at Al-Awda hospital and took them to Sde Teiman camp. Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh was detained and later died in Israeli custody. In March, Israeli forces abducted Khaled Alser, lead author of the first Lancet paper on trauma among Gazan ER patients and doctors, from Nasser Hospital. As of 31 August, he remains in detention and his whereabouts are unknown. Al-Araby TV correspondent Mohammed Arab was abducted from the Gaza strip in March 2024 and transferred to Ofer prison in July. After reports of his treatment were leaked to al-Araby, he was beaten, threatened and tortured. According to Arab's testimony, prison guards used dogs and fire extinguishers to enact sexual violence on other prisoners. In July 2024, military police raided Sde Teiman to arrest ten soldiers "suspected of the serious sexual abuse" of a Palestinian detainee. Israeli national security minister
Itamar Ben-Gvir Itamar Ben-Gvir ( ; born 6 May 1976) is an Israeli far-right politician and lawyer who is serving as the Minister of National Security since 2025. He is the leader of Otzma Yehudit ('Jewish Power'), a Kahanist and anti-Arab party that won ...
and other members of the
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
Otzma Yehudit Otzma Yehudit () is a Far-right politics in Israel, far-right, ultranationalist, Kahanism, Kahanist, and Anti-Arab racism, anti-Arab List of political parties in Israel, political party in Israel. It is the ideological descendant of the outlawe ...
party condemned the arrests. Supporters of the arrested soldiers including Ben Gvir,
Amihai Eliyahu Amihai Ben-Eliyahu (; born 24 April 1979), commonly known as Amihai Eliyahu (), is an Israeli far-right politician and activist who has served as Minister of Heritage since 2025. Eliyahu currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Otzma Ye ...
, Zvi Sukkot, and Nissim Vaturi stormed Sde Teiman that night in protest. Hours later, protestors broke into Beit Lid where the soldiers were being held. On 7 October 2024, American journalist Jeremy Loffredo and three other international and Israeli journalists were detained at a checkpoint in the West Bank on suspicion of "assisting an enemy in war" for their reporting on the
October 2024 Iranian strikes against Israel On 1 October 2024, Iran launched about 200 ballistic missiles at targets in Israel, in at least two waves, then the largest attack during the ongoing 2024 Iran–Israel conflict, Iran–Israel conflict. Iran's codename for the attack was Ope ...
. The journalists' cameras and phones were confiscated. Loffredo was released after four days in detention, and barred from leaving the country until 20 October. As of February 2025, at least 160 healthcare workers from Gaza were believed to be held in detention by Israel, with another 24 missing after being taken from hospitals in Gaza. Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia, who was detained for 7 months and released without charges, detailed many of the abuses he faced and said that "no day passes without torture" in Israeli prisons.


American involvement

The extent of American support for Israel has led the war to be labelled as 'the first US-Israeli joint war'. Alongside substantial military, financial, and diplomatic support, the US also intervened in the war directly. 100 American soldiers were deployed in combat to man a
THAAD Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in th ...
anti-air battery. In addition, America piloted drones over Gaza in order to provide intelligence to Israel. This intelligence was aimed at locating Palestinian militant leaders in Gaza and the location of hostages; this also included information on Sinwar's location. On 18 March 2025,
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
launched a surprise attack on the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
, ending the
2025 Gaza war ceasefire A List of Arab–Israeli prisoner exchanges, hostages-and-prisoners exchange and armistice between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip took effect from 19 January to 18 March 2025, during the Gaza war. It includ ...
. These attacks killed more than 400 Palestinians, including 263 women and children. Israel's government spokesman David Mencer revealed that operation was "fully coordinated with Washington" and thanked the Trump administration "for their unyielding support for Israel". On 6 April, a second THAAD system was deployed to Israel by the US.


Casualties

According to the Israeli Ministry of Defense's Rehabilitation Division, about 1,000 soldiers are wounded every month. On 14 August 2024, the ministry predicted that it would have to account for 100,000 disabled IDF veterans by 2030 due to the war.


Humanitarian crisis

The
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
is experiencing a
humanitarian crisis A humanitarian crisis (or sometimes humanitarian disaster) is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or large group of people. It may be an internal or exter ...
as a result of the war, including a hunger crisis, in which famine-like conditions occurred in some areas of the strip and a high risk of
famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...
persists as of October 2024, as well as a healthcare collapse. At the start of the war, Israel tightened its blockade on the strip, resulting in significant shortages of fuel, food, medication, water, and essential medical supplies. This siege resulted in a 90% drop in electricity availability, impacting hospital power supplies, sewage plants, and shutting down the desalination plants that provide drinking water. In July 2024, available water worked out to 4.74 litres per person per day, just under a third of the recommended minimum in emergencies. Doctors warned of disease outbreaks spreading due to overcrowded hospitals. A polio epidemic was the target of mostly-successful vaccination campaigns. Heavy bombardment by Israeli airstrikes caused catastrophic damage to Gaza's infrastructure, further deepening the crisis. Direct attacks on telecommunications infrastructure by Israel, electricity blockades, and fuel shortages caused the near-total collapse of Gaza's largest cell network providers. Lack of internet access has obstructed Gazan citizens from communicating with loved ones, learning of IDF operations, and identifying both the areas most exposed to bombing and possible escape routes. The blackouts impeded emergency services, making it harder to locate and access the time-critical injured, and have impeded humanitarian aid agencies and journalists. By December 2023, 200,000 Gazans (approximately 10% of the population) had received internet access through an eSIM provided by
Connecting Humanity Connecting Humanity (also known as eSims for Gaza) is an activist collective which provides internet access to people in Gaza Strip, Gaza using donated eSIMs, allowing them to connect to networks outside of Gaza. It is run by Mirna El Helbawi, a ...
.The
Gaza Health Ministry The Gaza Health Ministry (GHM), officially the Palestinian Ministry of Health – Gaza, is responsible for managing healthcare and medical services in the Gaza Strip. The health ministry's casualty reports have received significant attention d ...
reported over 4,000 children killed in the war's first month. UN Secretary-General
António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...
stated that Gaza had "become a graveyard for children." Indirect Palestinian deaths are expected to be much higher due to the intensity of the conflict, destruction of healthcare infrastructure, lack of food, water, shelter, and safe places for civilians to flee to, and reduction in
UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, pronounced ) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fl ...
funding, with a '' Lancet'' study stating that the death toll in Gaza, including future deaths indirectly caused by the war, may exceed 186,000. In mid-April 2025, 12 CEOs of humanitarian organizations signed a statement that aid systems were in danger of collapsing. On 16 May, Donald Trump acknowledged starvation in Gaza and promoted a US-Israeli humanitarian aid plan where food would be distributed through a system of hubs run by private contractors and protected by Israeli soldiers. The US-backed
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is an American organization, based in Delaware, established in February 2025 to distribute humanitarian aid during the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis. Formerly led by executive director Jake Wood until ...
was set up to carry out this plan and announced it would be ready to begin operations by the end of May. International aid agencies have rejected US-Israeli aid plans, saying that they weaponize humanitarian aid, violate principles of neutrality, will exacerbate mass displacement and would not be able to meet the scale of aid that is required. On 25 May, the UN's
World Food Programme The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...
Executive Director
Cindy McCain Cindy Lou McCain (; born May 20, 1954) is an American diplomat, businesswoman, and humanitarian who is the executive director of the World Food Programme. McCain previously served as List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Nation ...
said only about 100 trucks a day were getting through, whereas prior to the blockade it had been upwards of 600 trucks a day.


Scale of destruction

The scale and pace of destruction and damage of buildings in the Gaza Strip ranks among the most severe in modern history, surpassing the bombing of
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
,
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
, and
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
combined during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and included apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, religious sites, factories, shopping centres, and municipal infrastructure. As of January 2024, researchers at
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...
and the
City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...
estimated that 50–62% of buildings in the Gaza Strip had been damaged or destroyed. The damage to buildings in northern Gaza reportedly exceeds that in Bakhmut and Mariupol in the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, Aleppo in the Battle of Aleppo, and Mosul and Raqqa in the
War against the Islamic State Many states began to intervene against the Islamic State, in both the Syrian civil war and the War in Iraq (2013–2017), in response to its rapid territorial gains from its Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014), 2014 Northern Iraq offensives, u ...
. The 29,000 munitions Israel had dropped on Gaza in three months exceeded the amount (3,678) dropped by the US between 2004 and 2010 after its
invasion of Iraq An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives ...
. According to satellite analyses, 68% of roads, 70% of greenhouses, and nearly 70% of tree crops have been damaged or destroyed. After a year, the UN estimates that a total of 42m tonnes of rubble clutter the Strip, to clear and rebuild which might take 80 years and cost over $80bn. ''The Guardian'' reported that the scale of destruction has led international legal experts to raise the concept of
domicide Domicide (from Latin ''domus'', meaning home or abode, and ''caedo'', meaning deliberate killing, though used here metaphorically) is the deliberate destruction of housing by humans in pursuit of specified goals. It includes the widespread destruc ...
, which it describes as "the mass destruction of dwellings to make territory uninhabitable". The term
urbicide Urbicide is a term which describes the deliberate wrecking or "killing" of a city, by direct or indirect means. It literally translates as "city-killing" (Latin ''urbs'' "city" + Latin ''occido'' "to kill"). The term was initially used by urban p ...
has also been used to refer to the destruction of Gazan cities and their institutions. In October 2024, after monitoring and analyzing Israel's war conduct in Gaza for more than a year,
Forensic Architecture Forensic Architecture is a multidisciplinary research group based at Goldsmiths, University of London that uses architectural techniques and technologies to investigate cases of state violence and violations of human rights around the world. The ...
published a cartographic map platform detailing Israel's campaign in Gaza titled "A Cartography of Genocide", accompanied by an 827-page text report that concludes that "Israel's military campaign in Gaza is organised, systematic, and intended to destroy conditions of life and life-sustaining infrastructure".


War crimes

A UN Commission to the Israel–Palestine conflict stated that there is "clear evidence that war crimes may have been committed in the latest explosion of violence in Israel and Gaza, and all those who have violated international law and targeted civilians must be held accountable." On 27 October, a spokesperson for the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univers ...
(OHCHR) called for an independent court to review potential war crimes committed by both sides. The
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
(ICC) said that its mandate to investigate alleged war crimes committed since June 2014 in the State of Palestine extends to the current conflict. On 20 May, ICC Prosecutor
Karim Khan Mohammad Karim Khan Zand (; ) was the founder of the Zand dynasty, ruling all of Iran (Persia) except for Khorasan from 1751 to 1779. He also ruled over some of the Caucasian lands and occupied Basra for some years. While Karim was ruler, Ir ...
announced his intention to seek arrest warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar,
Mohammed Deif Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (; 12 August 1965 – 13 July 2024), better known as Mohammed Deif (), was a Palestinian militant who served as the sixth commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He succeeded Salah Shehade following t ...
and Ismail Haniyeh, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and
crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...
during the war. On 21 November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Deif for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC canceled Deif's arrest warrant after confirming his death. On 7 June 2024, both Israel and Hamas were added to the ''list of shame'', an annex attached to an annual report submitted by the UN Secretary-General documenting rights violations against children in armed conflict. While past reports accused Israel of grave rights violations against children, the country was never included in the annex. On 19 June 2024, the UN
Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Following the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted on 27 May 2021 to set up a United Nations fact-finding mission to investigate possible war crimes and other abuses committed in Israel and the Occupied P ...
presented a detailed report to the
United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a United Nations Regional Gro ...
covering the war from 7 October to 31 December 2023, affirming that both Hamas and Israel committed war crimes and that Israel's actions also constituted crimes against humanity. In a second report, the Commission found that Israel had carried out a policy of destroying Gaza's healthcare system. The June report found that the military wing of Hamas and six other Palestinian armed groups were responsible for the war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilians, murder or willful killing, torture, inhuman or cruel treatment, destroying or seizing property, outrages upon personal dignity, and taking hostages, including children. In relation to IDF operations and attacks in Gaza, the commission concluded that Israeli authorities are responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or willful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity. It also found that Israel committed numerous crimes against humanity, including carrying out the extermination of Palestinians and gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys. The commission said that they had submitted 7,000 pieces of evidence to the ICC related to crimes committed by Israel and Hamas, as part of the
International Criminal Court investigation in Palestine The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court ( ICC), Fatou Bensouda, on 20 December 2019 announced an investigation into war crimes allegedly committed in Palestine by members of the Israeli military and Hamas and other Palestinian ar ...
. In another report published in October 2024, the commission accused Israel of "committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities" as well as accusing the IDF of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, targeting medical vehicles, and restricting patients from leaving Gaza. The report also addressed the detention of Palestinians in Israeli military camps and facilities, finding that thousands of child and adult detainees, many arbitrarily detained, faced widespread abuse, including physical and psychological violence, rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, and conditions amounting to torture, highlighting that deaths resulting from such abuse or neglect constituted war crimes and violations of the right to life. Israel refused to cooperate with the investigation, contending that it had an "anti-Israel" bias. On 5 December 2024,
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
published a report concluding that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip; and on 19 December 2024,
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
published a 179-page report concluding that Israel is responsible for the crime of genocide by intentionally depriving Palestinians in Gaza of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation needed for basic human survival. On 13 March 2025, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory released a report stating that Israel's attacks on women's healthcare facilities in Gaza amounted to genocidal acts, destroying "in part the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza as a group". Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the report as "false and absurd", and accused UN Human Rights Council of being anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.


Diplomatic impact

The war sparked a
diplomatic crisis Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents, especially historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, pr ...
, with countries around the world reacting strongly to the conflict, that affected the momentum of regional relations. At least nine countries withdrew their ambassadors or cut diplomatic ties with Israel. The war has also resulted in a renewed focus on a two-state solution to the broader conflict. Global public opinion of Israel dropped during the war; a Morning Consult poll published in January 2024 indicated that the United States was the only remaining wealthy country in which Israel had net positive approval. Negotiations have focused on the possibility of a
ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...
, with
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
and
Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
serving as negotiation mediators between Israel and Hamas. The
United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
passed resolution 2728 in March 2024, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of hostages for the month of
Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
. The United Nations Security Council passed resolution 2735 in June 2024, calling for acceptance of the three-phase ceasefire proposal. Following talks mediated by
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, on 23 July 2024, Palestinian groups including Hamas and Fatah reached an agreement to end their divisions and form a unity government for Gaza, which they announced in the
Beijing Declaration The Beijing Declaration was a resolution adopted by the UN at the end of the Fourth World Conference on Women on 15 September 1995. The resolution adopted to promulgate a set of principles concerning the equality of men and women. Text Declar ...
. At the UNGA, Saudi Arabia announced a global alliance to push for a two-state solution. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said almost 90 countries were at the launch of ''The Global Alliance for the Implementation of a Palestinian State and a Two-State Solution.'' On 29 September, Saudi Arabia said they would send aid to the Palestinian Authority, $60million in six installments according to a senior PA official. The aid is seen as means of keeping the PA solvent and maintaining the push for a two-state solution, notwithstanding Israeli financial restrictions.


Reactions


Israel

The Israeli government's response to the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel has multiple aspects, including a military response leading to the
Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is a major part of the Gaza war. Starting on 7 October 2023, immediately after the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Hamas-led attack on Israel, Israel began bombing of the Gaza Strip, bombing the Ga ...
. In October, the
Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...
approved a war cabinet in Israel, adding National Unity ministers and altering the government;
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
and
Benny Gantz Benjamin Gantz ( ; born 9 June 1959) is an Israeli politician and retired army general. He served as a Minister without portfolio#Israel, minister without portfolio from 2023 to 2024, as the Ministry of Defense (Israel), minister of defense bet ...
froze non-war legislation, establishing a war cabinet with military authority. Settler expansions and officials' remarks heightened unrest, leading to protests within Israel. The Knesset's law criminalizing "terrorist materials" consumption drew criticism. In an interview to the Wall Street Journal on 25 December, Netanyahu said that Israel's objectives were to "destroy Hamas, demilitarize Gaza and deradicalize the whole of Palestinian society". There was broad support in Israeli society for military operations in Gaza. A public opinion poll conducted in December 2023 by the
Israel Democracy Institute The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI; ), established in 1991, is an independent research center that defines itself as being dedicated to strengthening the foundations of Israeli democracy. It is based in Jerusalem. History The Israel Democracy ...
found that 87% of Jewish Israelis supported the war in Gaza. In another Israel Democracy Institute survey of 510 Israeli citizens in early February 2024, 68% of respondents supported preventing all international aid from entering Gaza. A poll commissioned by
Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...
and conducted in March 2025 among a representative sample of 1,005 Israeli Jews found that 82% supported the forced expulsion of Gaza residents. Additionally, 47% responded affirmatively to the question: "When conquering an enemy city, should the IDF act like the Israelites led by Joshua when they conquered Jericho, that is, kill all its inhabitants?"


Occupied Palestinian territories

Initially, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas asserted the Palestinian people's right to self-defense against the "terror of settlers and occupation troops" and condemned the orders by Israel for residents to evacuate north Gaza, labeling it a "second Nakba". Later, Abbas rejected the killing of civilians on both sides, and said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization was the sole representative of the Palestinian people. A December 2023 poll by the
Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) () is a non-profit Palestinian research organisation and think tank based in Ramallah established for "advancing scholarship and knowledge on immediate issues of concern to Palestini ...
found that 72% of respondents (52% of Gazans and 85% of West Bank residents) approved of the October 7 attacks. A 2024 follow-up poll found that two-thirds of respondents continued to approve of the attacks.Stern, Itay
"A pollster sheds light on Palestinian attitudes toward the U.S., Israel and Hamas."
''
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
''. July 26, 2024.
About 90% of respondents did not believe that Hamas committed atrocities (killing women and children, sexual violence) during the October 7 attacks, seeing this as enemy propaganda. Half of respondents in Gaza expected Hamas to win the war, while a quarter expected Israel to win.


International

Significant geopolitical divisions emerged during the war. Israel's traditional
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
allies provided diplomatic backing and weaponry to Israel; including the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, and
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. However several European nations have been less supportive of Israel's actions, most notably
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
, and
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
who formally recognised the State of Palestine in a coordinated move in June 2024. Spain and Ireland have also supported
South Africa's genocide case against Israel The ''Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel)'' is an ongoing case that was brought before the International Court of Justice on 29 December 2023 by Sou ...
. This has led to retaliatory action by Israel, who recalled its ambassadors to all three countries and later announced that it would be closing its embassy in Dublin. Hugh Lovatt of the
European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decis ...
says that during the Cold War, Israel sided with the West against the Arab countries supported by the Soviets, and Western leaders generally see Israel "as a fellow member of the
liberal democratic Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal democracy are: ...
club" and that this partially "explains the continued strong Western support for Israel – which has now largely become reflexive". At least 44 nations denounced Hamas and explicitly condemned its conduct on 7 October as terrorism, including a joint statement by the US, UK, France, Italy, and Germany. In contrast, the
Islamic world The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...
and much of the
Global South Global North and Global South are terms that denote a method of grouping countries based on their defining characteristics with regard to socioeconomics and politics. According to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Global South broadly com ...
denounced the actions of Israel and its allies, criticizing the "moral authority of the West" and alleging that it holds
double standard A double standard is the application of different sets of principles for situations that are, in principle, the same. It is often used to describe treatment whereby one group is given more latitude than another. A double standard arises when two ...
s surrounding
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
. The double standards, in their view, is condemning Russia's invasion and occupation of Ukrainian land while standing firmly behind Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.
Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
has cut all ties with Israel as a result of the conflict, while
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
and
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
recalled their ambassadors to the country. The United States and Germany have supplied Israel with substantial military and medical aid. The United Kingdom issues licenses for British companies to sell weapons to Israel, supplying less than 1% of Israel's military imports. In September 2024, the UK suspended some military exports to Israel because there was a "clear risk" they might be used to violate international law. The Israeli government's response prompted international
protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...
, arrests, and
harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and ...
.


Evacuations of foreign nationals

Brazil announced a rescue operation of nationals using an air force transport aircraft.
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
announced that it would deploy two C-130 transport planes to evacuate 200 Polish nationals. Hungary evacuated 215 of its nationals from Israel using two aircraft on 9 October, while Romania evacuated 245 of its citizens, including two pilgrimage groups, on two
TAROM TAROM (; legally ''Compania Națională de Transporturi Aeriene Române TAROM S.A.'') is the flag carrier and oldest currently operating airline of Romania, based in Otopeni near Bucharest. Its headquarters and its main hub are at Henri Coand� ...
planes and two private aircraft on the same day. Australia also announced repatriation flights. 300 Nigerian pilgrims in Israel fled to Jordan before being airlifted home. On 12 October, the United Kingdom arranged flights for its citizens in Israel; the first plane departed Ben Gurion Airport that day. The government had said before that it would not be evacuating its nationals due to available commercial flights. However, most commercial flights were suspended. Nepal arranged a flight to evacuate at least 254 of its citizens who were studying in Israel. India launched Operation Ajay to evacuate its citizens from Israel. Ukraine facilitated the evacuation of ~450 of its citizens from Israel as of 18 October, with additional evacuation flights planned for the near future.


Impacts


Regional impact

According to
Daniel Byman Daniel L. Byman (born 1967) is an American political scientist. His research focuses on terrorism, Counterterrorism and the Middle East. Byman is currently a professor in Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service and director of Geor ...
and Alexander Palmer, the attack showcased the decline of the
Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...
(PLO) and the rise of Hamas as a power center in
Palestinian politics Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
. They predicted the PLO's further decline if the ''status quo'' held. Laith Alajlouni wrote that the immediate effect of the Hamas offensive was to unite Hamas and PLO. Amit Segal, chief political commentator for Israel's Channel 12, said that the conflict would test Benjamin Netanyahu's survival as
prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
, noting that past wars had toppled the governments of several of his predecessors such as that of
Golda Meir Golda Meir (; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was the prime minister of Israel, serving from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and only female head of government. Born into a Jewish family in Kyiv, Kiev, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) ...
following the 1973 Yom Kippur War,
Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...
following the
1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...
, and
Ehud Olmert Ehud Olmert (; , ; born 30 September 1945) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009. The son of a former Herut politician, Olmert was first elected to the Knesset for Likud in 1973, at th ...
following the
2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...
. Citing the Israeli intelligence failure, which some observers attributed to the incumbent government focusing more on internal dissent, the
judicial reform Judicial reform is the complete or partial political reform of a country's judiciary. Judicial reform can be connected to a law reform, constitutional amendment, prison reform, police reform or part of wider reform of the country's political system ...
, and efforts to deepen Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, some commentators criticized Netanyahu for putting aside the PLO and propping up Hamas, and described him as a liability. In an analysis by ''The Times of Israel'', the newspaper wrote, "Hamas has violently shifted the world's eyes back to the Palestinians and dealt a severe blow to the momentum for securing a landmark US-brokered deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia." Andreas Kluth wrote in his
Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...
column that Hamas "torched Biden's deal to remake the Middle East", arguing that the deal that was being discussed between Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the US would have left Palestinians in the cold, so the group decided to "blow the whole thing up". He added that viewed from Gaza, things were only going to get worse, considering that Netanyahu's coalition partners opposed a two-state solution. He suggested they would prefer to annex the entirety of the West Bank, even at the expense of turning Israel into an apartheid state.


Economic impact

The
Bank of Israel The Bank of Israel (, ) is the central bank of Israel. The bank's headquarters is located in Kiryat HaMemshala in Jerusalem with a branch office in Tel Aviv. The current governor is Amir Yaron. The primary objective of the Bank of Israel is to ...
estimates that by 2025, the war will have cost the country
US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
67billion, notwithstanding a $14.5billion US aid package, part of the $22.76billion the US has so far allocated for military assistance. As early as 9 November 2023, the Bank of Israel reported that the drop in labor supply caused by the war was costing the Israeli economy $600million a week, or 6% of weekly GDP. The bank also stated that the estimate did not include damage caused by the absence of Palestinian and foreign workers. In the final quarter of 2023, the Israeli economy shrank by 5.2% quarter-to-quarter due to labour shortages in construction and from the mobilization of 300,000 reservists. While Israel did still see economic growth of 2%, this was down from 6.5% growth in the year before the war. Consumer spending declined by 27%, imports declined by 42% and exports declined by 18%. Israel's high-tech factories reported in December that recent bureaucratic obstacles with electronic imports from China had led to higher import costs and delayed delivery times. Israeli officials also reported that China had refused to send workers to their country during the war against the backdrop of a worker shortage in Israel's construction and farming sectors. China's actions were described as a '' de facto''
sanction A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym. Examples of sanctions include: Government and law * Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts * Economic sanctions, typically a ba ...
. The 3,500-member Water Transport Workers Federation of India said it would refuse to operate shipments carrying weapons to Israel. The declaration came a few months after one Indian company halted production of Israeli police uniforms due to the war in Gaza. About 9,855 Thai workers in the agricultural sector, 4,331 workers in the construction sector and 2,997 in the nursing sector left Israel following the 7 October attack. In addition, the prevention of 85,000 Palestinian workers from entering Israel created a shortage of about 100,000 foreign and Palestinian workers. It has been calculated that the carbon cost in terms of climate impact of rebuilding Gaza would exceed the annual greenhouse emissions of 135 countries.


Media coverage

In reporting on the conflict, foreign media have limited access to Gaza and only in the presence of Israeli soldiers. '' Vox'' reported that the news organizations "have to submit all materials and footage to the IDF for review before publication". The conflict has also seen large numbers of journalists wounded or killed in action. On 14 December, CBS reported on a statement from the
International Federation of Journalists The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is the largest global union federation of journalists' trade unions in the world. It represents more than 600,000 media workers from 187 organisations in 146 countries. The IFJ is an associate ...
that "the number of journalists killed in the past two months in the war in Gaza has surpassed the amount killed in the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, which lasted two decades".
Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...
filed a complaint with the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
under section 8.2.b of the
Rome Statute The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)''Results of the R ...
, accusing Israel of committing war crimes against eight journalists. It also lodged a complaint against Hamas under section 8.2.a of the Rome Statute for the killing of a reporter covering the 7 October attack. The
Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...
accused Israel of targeting journalists reporting from Gaza and their families, saying that in at least two cases, "journalists reported receiving threats from Israeli officials and Israel Defense Forces officers before their family members were killed".


See also

* Misinformation in the Gaza war * Outline of the Gaza war *
List of modern conflicts in the Middle East This is a list of modern conflicts ensuing in the geographic and political region known as the Middle East. The "Middle East" is traditionally defined as the Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia), Levant, and Egypt and neighboring areas of Arabia, An ...
*
List of wars involving Israel This is a list of wars and other major military engagements involving Israel. Since its Israeli Declaration of Independence, declaration of independence in May 1948, the Israel, State of Israel has fought various wars with its neighbouring Arab ...
* List of wars involving the State of Palestine * Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2023 *
Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2024 A timeline is a list of events displayed in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any suitable scale representing ti ...
*
List of companies involved in the Gaza war The following list documents corporations involved in supplying weapons, technology, and logistical support to Israel during the Gaza war. These companies provide a range of products and services—from advanced fighter jets, drones, and bombs to ...


Notes


References


External links

*
Israel–Hamas war
at
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*
Hostilities in Gaza and Israel, Humanitarian Situation Updates
',
OCHA The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...
. *
Monthly Bulletin (Action by UN System and IGOs Relevant to Question of Palestine)
',
UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, pronounced ) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fl ...

Swords of Iron
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (; ) is one of the most important ministries in the Israeli government. The ministry's role is to implement Israel's foreign policy, and promote economic, cultural, and scientific relations with other co ...
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