1948 Palestine War In
Operation Barak, part of
Plan Dalet, the Zionist offensive in the
civil war phase aiming to capture territory in advance of the establishment of the State of Israel, the
Givati Brigade of the
Haganah attacked,
depopulated, and demolished Arab villages north of Gaza. On 22 December, large IDF forces started
Operation Horev. Its objective was to encircle the
Egyptian Army in the
Gaza Strip and force the Egyptians to end the war. The operation was a decisive Israeli victory, and Israeli raids into the
Nitzana area and the
Sinai Peninsula forced the Egyptian army into the Gaza Strip, where it was surrounded. Israeli forces withdrew from Sinai and Gaza under international pressure and after the British threatened to intervene against Israel. The
Green Line established in the
1949 Armistice Agreements at the end of the war, which delineated the boundaries of the
Gaza Strip, corresponded to the military front of the 1948 War. The
All-Palestine Protectorate (September 1948 – 1959) was established in the territory under the control of the
Kingdom of Egypt and, after the
Egyptian revolution of 1952, the
Republic of Egypt.
Suez Crisis Israel
occupied the Gaza Strip for four months during the
Suez Crisis in 1956. During this occupation, 930–1,200 Palestinians were killed, most notably in the
Khan Younis massacre and
Rafah massacre. In total, about 1% of the population of the Gaza Strip was either killed, wounded, tortured or imprisoned by Israel. In 1957, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip after American pressure.
1967 war In the
1967 war, Israel
occupied Gaza Strip, along with
Sinai,
Golan Heights and the
West Bank. During the war, and shortly after, between 40,000 and 45,000 civilians fled or were expelled from the Gaza Strip. Many Palestinian civilians were killed as they fled. On 11 June, a grenade killed 8 Gaza civilians and a shooting killed another 10. After the 1967 war, several Israeli leaders argued against turning the Armistice Demarcation Lines into permanent borders on the grounds of Israeli security: • Prime Minister
Golda Meir said the pre-1967 borders were so dangerous that it "would be treasonable" for an Israeli leader to accept them (
The New York Times, December 23, 1969). • The Foreign Minister
Abba Eban said the pre-1967 borders have "a memory of
Auschwitz" (, November 5, 1969). • Prime Minister
Menachem Begin described a proposal for a retreat to the pre-1967 borders as "national suicide for Israel."
First Intifada During the
First Intifada, in the Gaza Strip alone, 142 Palestinians were killed, while no Israelis died: 77 were shot dead, and 37 died from tear-gas inhalation. 17 died from beatings at the hand of Israeli police or soldiers.
Israel–Gaza barrier Israel completed the initial
Israel–Gaza barrier in 1996. It has helped reduce infiltration from
Gaza Strip into
Israel. Special permits to enter Israel for medical purposes were also greatly reduced, which has made travel for Palestinians difficult.
Daniel Schueftan, in his 1999 book,
Disengagement: Israel and the Palestinian Entity Yitzhak Rabin was the first to propose the creation of a physical barrier between the Israeli and Palestinian populations in 1992, and by 1994, construction on the first barrier – the
Israel–Gaza barrier – had begun; it is actually a wire fence equipped with sensors. Following an attack on Bet Lid, near the city of
Netanya, Rabin specified the objectives behind the undertaking, stating that:
Second Intifada (IAF)
AH-64 Apache were used as platform for shooting
guided missiles at Palestinian targets and employed at the
targeted killings policy against both militants and political leaders. The
Second Intifada, also known as the
al-Aqsa Intifada, began in September 2000. Many
Palestinians considered the Intifada to be a struggle of
national liberation against Israeli occupation imposed on them following the
1967 War, whereas many
Israelis considered it to be a
terrorist campaign.
Palestinian tactics ranged from carrying out mass protests and
general strikes, as in the
First Intifada, to mounting
suicide bombing attacks and firing
Qassam rockets into southeastern Israeli residential areas. Israeli tactics ranged from conducting mass arrests and locking up Palestinians in
administrative detention to setting up checkpoints and building the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier and
West Bank barrier to carrying out
assassinations targeting militants and leaders of Palestinian organizations. After the
2006 Palestinian legislative election, Israel negotiated with
Mahmoud Abbas and the
PLO, but simultaneously targeted and bombed Hamas activists and militants and arrested Hamas's elected legislative council politicians. The death toll, both military and civilian, over the entire period in question (2000–2007) is estimated to be over 4,300 Palestinians and over 1,000 Israelis; 64 foreign citizens were also killed (54 by Palestinians, and 10 by Israeli security forces).
Israel's unilateral disengagement Israel implemented its
Disengagement Plan in August–September 2005, withdrawing its civilian and military presence from the Gaza Strip, and retaining control over the Gaza airspace, maritime access and borders even with Egypt according to the 2005 agreement with the Palestinian authority. Qassam rockets were fired regularly prior to the Israeli disengagement and the frequency of Qassam attacks increased after the Disengagement from Gaza. Palestinian militants have targeted a number of military bases and civilian towns in Southern Israel. Since 2001, Palestinian militants have launched thousands of rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing, injuring and traumatizing Israeli civilians. In July 2006, Israel briefly re-occupied parts of northern Gaza Strip and used the occupied areas as bases for raids into
Jabalya and
Beit Lahya. Hamas responded by launching rockets.
Ascendancy of Hamas When the Islamic party Hamas won the January 2006 Palestinian legislative election, gaining a majority of seats in the
Palestinian Legislative Council, the conflict between Israel and Gaza intensified. Israel sealed its border with the Gaza Strip, largely preventing the free flow of people and many imports and exports. Palestinians shot Qassam rockets at Israeli settlements located near the Gaza borders, and staged cross-border raids aimed at killing or capturing Israeli soldiers. In one such raid, on 25 June 2006, Palestinians captured Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit, leading to massive retaliation by the Israeli army which included air strikes against Hamas targets. In June 2007, internal fighting broke out between Hamas and Fatah, and Hamas fully consolidated its power by staging an armed
coup d'état and taking control of the Gaza Strip. Following the internecine fighting that occurred between 7 and 15 June 2007, also known as the
Battle of Gaza in which 118 Palestinians were killed and over 550 were wounded, the entire Gaza Strip came under full control of a Hamas government. As a response to the Hamas takeover, Israel sharply restricted the flow of people and goods into and out of Gaza. About 70% of Gaza's workforce became unemployed or without pay, and about 80% of its residents lived in poverty. Since Hamas' takeover, Palestinian armed groups in Gaza and Israel continued to clash. Palestinian armed groups fired rockets into Israel, killing Israeli civilians, including children, and wounding others, as well as causing damage to infrastructure; and Israel launched attacks and shelled Gaza with artillery, killing Palestinian combatants as well as civilians, including children, and causing devastating damage to infrastructure. According to
Human Rights Watch, the Palestinian deliberate attacks against civilians violated international humanitarian law. Because Hamas exercised power inside Gaza, it was responsible for stopping unlawful attacks even when carried out by other groups.
2006–2007 Large-scale
conventional warfare beyond the peripheries of the Gaza Strip began when Palestinian militants abducted
Corporal Gilad Shalit, and Israel responded by launching Operation "Summer Rains" on 28 June 2006. The operation became the first major mobilization within the Gaza Strip since
Israel unilaterally disengaged from the region between August and September 2005. The
Gaza beach blast was an event on 9 June 2006 in which eight Palestinians were killedincluding nearly the entire family of seven-year-old Huda Ghaliyaand at least thirty others were injured in an explosion on a beach near the municipality of
Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip. The incident received considerable attention from news media worldwide, with blame for the explosion hotly disputed in the following weeks. Israel maintains that it mobilized thousands of troops in order to suppress Qassam rocket fire against its civilian population and to secure the release of Gilad Shalit. It is estimated that between 7,000 and 9,000 Israeli artillery shells were fired into Gaza between September 2005 and June 2006, killing 80 Palestinians in 6 months. On the Palestinian side, over 1,300 Qassam rockets have been fired into Israel from September 2000 to 21 December 2006. Israeli forces also continued to search for tunnels, used by militants to smuggle weapons, as well as monitor operations at checkpoints (with some assistance from the
European Union at Rafah) for security reasons, specifically possible weapons transfers and uninhibited return of exiled extremist leaders and terrorists. As of 18 October 2006, Israel has discovered 20 tunnels used for illegal arms smuggling under the border of the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Israel had said it would withdraw from the Strip and end the operation as soon as Shalit was released. The Palestinians had said that they were willing to return Shalit in exchange for the release of some of the Palestinians held in Israeli jails. The Palestinians and others have also said the assault was aimed at toppling the democratically elected
Hamas-led government and at destabilizing the
Palestinian National Authority, citing the targeting of civilian infrastructure such as a
power station and the captures of government and
parliament members. Some 300 Palestinians had been targeted by the IDF in the Gaza Strip since the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit. In July 2006, first reports emerged about mystery injuries after Israeli attacks. Previously unseen injuries included severely damaged internal organs, severe internal burning and deep internal wounds often resulting in amputations or death. Bodies arrived severely fragmented, melted and disfigured. There were speculations about a new experimental weapon, particularly
Dense inert metal explosives (DIMEs). Attempting to curb Qassam rocket attacks fired at Southern Israel by Palestinian militants from the northern Gaza Strip, Israel launched
Operation "Autumn Clouds" on 1 November 2006. On 8 November 2006, a day after Israel's withdrawal following
Operation "Autumn Clouds", Israel Defense Forces shells missed their target—possibly due to a "technical malfunction"—and hit a row of houses in the Gaza Strip town of
Beit Hanoun, killing 19 Palestinians and wounding more than 40. Israeli Defense Forces launched an investigation into the
Beit Hanoun November 2006 incident (and later apologized for the incident), and the then Israeli President
Ehud Olmert offered humanitarian assistance to those affected. The
2006 Franco–Italian–Spanish Middle East Peace Plan was proposed after Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in
Operation "Autumn Clouds" by
Spanish Premier José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero during talks with
French president Jacques Chirac. Italy's prime minister
Romano Prodi gave his full support to the plan. On 26 November, a
ceasefire was signed by Palestinian organisations and Israel, and Israel withdrew its troops while the Palestinian Authority forces deployed to stop Qassam rocket launchings. Following the truce over 60 Qassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel, and 1 Palestinian (armed with guns and grenades) was killed by the IDF. On 19 December, the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad began taking open responsibility for the Qassam rocket firing, because they said Israel killed two of their members in
Jenin. A series of battles between
Palestinian militants in
Hamas-governed Gaza and the
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that began in mid-May 2007, with the inter-Palestinian violence flaring in the meantime. Palestinians fired more than 220
Qassam rocket attacks on Israel (
Sderot and the western
Negev) in more than a week. The Israeli Air Force fired missiles and bombs at the launching sites. The fighting came amid serious
Palestinian factional violence and reports of growing level of humanitarian crisis in the region. Hamas said they will continue to retaliate against Israeli strikes.
2007–2022 In September 2007, Israel declared Gaza "hostile territory." Historian
Jean-Pierre Filiu finds this assertion "absurd", given that up to this point Israel had already fought 9 wars against Gaza. Israel's decision to cut fuel supplies to Gaza were widely condemned (including by the
European Union) as "collective punishment." Israel has also arrested Hamas officials in the West Bank, including two cabinet members. Such arrests have been strongly condemned by international organizations and politicians. By January 2008, according to a United Nations study, the economic effects of Israel's blockade on Gaza reached a critical threshold. Finally, on 17 January 2008, Israel sealed the border completely following a rise in rocket attacks. The
breach of the Gaza-Egypt border began on 23 January 2008, after gunmen in the Gaza Strip set off an explosion near the
Rafah Border Crossing, destroying part of the former Israeli Gaza Strip barrier. The
United Nations estimates that as many as half the 1.5 million population of the Gaza Strip crossed the border into
Egypt seeking food and supplies.
Operation "Hot Winter" On 27 February 2008, Palestinian militants fired more than 40 Qassam rockets into southern Israel and the Israeli army fired three missiles at the Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza destroying the building. On 28 February 2008, Israeli aircraft bombed a police station near the
Gaza City home of Hamas leader
Ismail Haniyeh, killing several children. The Israeli military says its air and ground operations against militants firing rockets from northern Gaza have hit at least 23 armed Palestinians, while Palestinian sources have reported higher death tolls and say many civilians have also been killed. Israel began its air and ground operations on 29 February. The IDF's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 100 Palestinians in less than a week. Palestinians fired 150 rockets at Israel which killed three Israelis. The Palestinian president,
Mahmoud Abbas, has accused Israel of "international terrorism", saying its assault on Gaza constitutes "more than a holocaust." On 3 March Abbas suspended all contact with Israel over its assault on Gaza as the Israeli government sent warplanes to hit more targets early on Monday and vowed to continue its offensive. The
European Union condemned what it called "disproportionate use of force" by the Israeli military in Gaza after 54 Palestinians were killed in the highest casualty toll for a single day since fighting erupted in 2000. United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon also issued a condemnation of what he termed Israel's "excessive and disproportionate" response, and called on Israel "to cease such attacks", while denouncing the ongoing rocket attacks on
Sderot and
Ashkelon. In the Muslim world, demonstrators took to the streets to protest the IDF attacks.
Iran's
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslims to rise up and their leaders to hit Israel "in the face with their nations' anger." In
Lebanon, hundreds of
Hezbollah supporters gathered at the Fatima Gate at the border between Lebanon and Israel, shouting "
Death to Israel" and waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags. In
Egypt, thousands of students held protests at universities across the country calling on Arab leaders to stop Israeli aggression and support the Palestinians. Some protesters burned Israeli and American flags. On 29 February 2008, the Israeli military launched
Operation "Hot Winter" (also called Operation "Warm Winter") in response to
Qassam rockets fired from the Strip by Hamas. The Israeli army killed 112 Palestinians, and Palestinian militants killed three Israelis. More than 150 Palestinians and seven Israelis have been injured. There was widespread international alarm at the scale of the operation, with the
US state department encouraging Israel to exercise caution to avoid the loss of innocent life, and the
European Union and the
United Nations criticising Israel's "disproportionate use of force". The European Union also demanded an immediate end to Palestinian militant rocket attacks on Israel and urged Israel to halt activities that endanger civilians, saying they were "in violation of
international law."
2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire The
2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire was an
Egyptian-brokered six-month
Tahdia (an Arabic term for a lull) "for the Gaza area", which went into effect between Hamas and Israel on 19 June 2008. Hamas' obligation was to stop the rocket attacks on Israel. During the initial 5-months of the ceasefire, and after a shaky start during the initial week, compared to 1,199 rockets and 1,072 mortar shells in 2008 up to 19 June, a reduction of 98%. Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister acknowledged that "there were no Hamas rockets during the ceasefire before November the 4th". Israel's obligation was to cease attacks on Gaza and once the ceasefire held, to gradually begin to ease its punishing blockade of Gaza. The increase in supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel did improve, but the increase was only to an average of about 20 percent of normal levels, compared to the Hamas compliance in reducing rocket fire by 98%. preventing UNRWA from replenishing its stores. Israel told U.S. officials in 2008 it would keep Gaza's economy "on the brink of collapse". On 4 November 2008 Israel broke the ceasefire with an attack on Gaza. The Israeli military claimed the target of the raid was a tunnel that they said Hamas was planning to use to capture Israeli soldiers positioned on the border fence 250m away. Hamas officials differed, however, claiming that the tunnel was being dug for defensive purposes, not to capture IDF personnel, according to Dr Robert Pastor (of the Carter Institute), and an IDF official confirmed that fact to him. Hamas replied to the Israeli attack with a barrage of rocket fire. With this incursion into Gaza territory and its non-compliance with the easing of the embargo, Israel had failed to comply with two aspects of the June 2008 ceasefire. On 21 December, Hamas said it was ready to stop the attacks and renew the truce if Israel stopped its "aggression" in Gaza and opened up its border crossings. On 27 and 28 December, Israel implemented
Operation Cast Lead against Hamas. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said "We warned Hamas repeatedly that rejecting the truce would push Israel to aggression against Gaza."
First Gaza War (2008–2009) The Gaza War started when Israel launched a large military campaign in the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008, codenamed Operation "Cast Lead" (), with the stated aim of stopping Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel and arms smuggling into Gaza. The conflict has also been called the Gaza massacre in the
Arab world (). A
fragile six-month truce between Hamas and Israel expired on 19 December 2008. The Israeli operation began with an
intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip, targeting Hamas bases, police training camps, police headquarters and offices.
Civilian infrastructure, including
mosques, houses, medical facilities and schools, were also attacked, as Israel stated that many of them were used by combatants, and as storage spaces for weapons and rockets. Hamas intensified its rocket and mortar attacks against targets in Israel throughout the conflict, hitting previously untargeted cities such as
Beersheba and
Ashdod. On 3 January 2009, the Israeli ground invasion began. During the war Hamas would execute many Palestinians and Fatah members during a period of
political violence. Human rights groups and aid organisations have accused Hamas and Israel of
war crimes. An estimated 1,166–1,417 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the conflict. The conflict came to an end on 18 January after first Israel and then Hamas announced unilateral ceasefires. On 21 January, Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. On 2 March, it was reported that international donors had pledged $4.5 billion in aid for the Palestinians, mainly for rebuilding Gaza after Israel's offensive. This war was considered to be the largest, most devastating and deadliest military operation in Gaza since the
Six-day war in 1967 and until the 2014
Gaza war.
March 2010 events On 26 March 2010, two Israeli soldiers and two Hamas militants were killed during clashes on the Gaza Strip's southern border. Two other soldiers were wounded during the fighting which broke out east of the town of Khan Younis. They are the first Israeli soldiers to have been killed in hostile fire in or around Gaza since Israel's major offensive there in January 2009, according to the BBC.
2011 cross-border attack On 18 August 2011, a series of cross-border attacks was carried out in southern
Israel near the
Egyptian border, by a squad of militants. The militants first opened fire at civilian bus. Several minutes later, a bomb was detonated next to an Israeli army patrol along Israel's border with Egypt. In a third attack, an
anti-tank missile hit a private vehicle, killing four civilians.
Operation "Returning Echo" During the second week of March 2012, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) initiated Operation "Returning Echo". It was the worst outbreak of violence covered by the media in the region since the 2008–09
Operation "Cast Lead" (the Gaza War).
2012 Gaza War 's tour of attack tunnel. from the Gaza Strip, 2001–2021. Attacks by Israel and Gazans grew intense late in October 2012. An Israeli air strike killed
Ahmed Jabari, chief of the
Hamas military wing in Gaza. During the operation, four Israeli civilians and one soldier were killed by Palestinian rocket fire, according to
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 158 Palestinians had been killed, of which: 102 were civilians, 55 militants and one was policeman. 30 children and 13 women were among the killed, while the
Israel Defense Forces presented statistics showing that out of 177 Palestinians killed, 120 were militants. Most of the fighting was by bombs, aerial attacks, artillery, and rockets; the rockets being primarily used by the Palestinians and air strikes primarily by the Israelis. Attacked locations include
Beersheva,
Tel Aviv,
Ashdod,
Ofakim,
Gaza, the rest of the Gaza Strip, the
Shaar Hanegev, and
Eshkol Regional Council. The United States,
United Kingdom,
Canada, Germany and other Western countries expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself, and/or condemned the Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.
Iran,
Egypt,
Turkey,
North Korea and several other Arab and Muslim countries condemned the Israeli operation.
2014 Gaza War In 2014, fighting intensified between Israel and Hamas, leading to another full-scale Gaza War, this one far deadlier than the previous in 2008–2009. The IDF launched
Operation Protective Edge on 8 July 2014, in response to Hamas rocket attacks, which were launched following an earlier Israeli air strike against Gaza and on 17 July 2014, Israel troops entered the Gaza Strip.
UN OCHA says 2,205 Palestinians (including at least 1,483 civilians) and 71 Israelis (including 66 soldiers) and one foreign national in Israel were killed in the conflict. The war came to an end after 50 days of conflict when a ceasefire was agreed upon on 26 August 2014.
2018 Border Protest During the
2018 Land Day protests, 168 Palestinians have been killed and thousands were injured during clashes with Israeli troops at the Gaza-Israel border.
Clashes in November 2018 Violence flared up again on 11 November 2018 when seven Palestinian militants were killed during a botched raid by the Israel Defense Forces in the southeastern Gaza Strip. One IDF officer was killed and another was injured. Over a dozen rockets were subsequently fired from Gaza, three of which were shot down. After a series of intense fire exchanges, ceasefire was agreed upon on 13 November 2018.
March 2019 On 25 March, seven people were injured in Israel after a rocket attack destroyed a home in
Mishmeret. The
Israel Defense Forces confirmed that
Hamas was responsible for the attack. The
Israeli Air Force sent jets to strike multiple targets in the
Gaza Strip, including the office of senior
Hamas official
Ismail Haniyeh, and Hamas' military intelligence headquarters in
Gaza City.
May 2019 On 3 May, two Israeli soldiers were injured by a
Palestinian Islamic Jihad sniper from in the Gaza Strip during the
weekly protests at the Gaza–Israel border. In response, the Israeli Air Force carried out an airstrike, killing four Palestinians. In addition, two other Palestinians were killed and 60 wounded, 36 of them by Israeli gunfire. Following this, Gazan militants
launched hundreds of rockets at Israel. In response, the Israeli Air Force
struck numerous targets within the Gaza Strip. In addition, Israel increased its troop presence near the Gaza–Israel border.
November 2019 The 2019 Gaza–Israel clashes code-named by Israel as Operation Black Belt, took place in November 2019, between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) following the targeted killing of senior PIJ commander Baha Abu al-Ata in Gaza, and the attempted killing of senior PIJ commander Akram al-Ajouri in Damascus, Syria by the IDF. PIJ responded with rocket fire into Israel, including long-range rockets fired towards Tel Aviv, leading to several civilians being wounded. In response to the rocket fire, Israel carried out airstrikes and artillery shelling in the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding several militants as well as civilians. A ceasefire went into effect after 48 hours of clashes, though it was breached by some Palestinian militants.
April 2021 On 15 April, Israeli military conducted military strikes targets in Gaza after a rocket was fired at southern Israel. Targets included an armaments production facility, a tunnel for smuggling weaponry and a Hamas military post.
May 2021 Hamas demanded Israel remove its forces from
Al-Aqsa Mosque by 10 May at 6 p.m. Minutes after the deadline passed, Hamas fired more than 150 rockets into Israel from Gaza. In response, Israel launched air strikes in the Gaza strip on the same day.
August 2022 On 5 August 2022, Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza after a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant had been arrested in the West Bank 4 days earlier, due to fears of retaliation. ==2023–present==