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The Gaza war has been fought between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip and Israel since 7 October 2023. It is the 15th war of the Gaza–Israel conflict, and has sparked an ongoing Middle Eastern crisis. The first day was the deadliest in Israel's history and the war is the deadliest for Palestinians in the history of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
| Gaza war | |||||||
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| Part of the Gaza–Israel conflict, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and the Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present) | |||||||
 Gaza Strip under Palestinian control Furthest Israeli advance in Gaza Strip Evacuated areas inside Israel Maximum extent of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel Areas of Gaza subject to Israeli evacuation orders
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 HamasPalestinian allies:
|  Israel | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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| Units involved | |||||||
| See Order of battle | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 20,000–40,000+ |  529,500 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Gaza Strip:
West Bank:
Militants inside Israel:
Lebanon and Syria:
Total killed: 71,844+ | Israel:
Total killed: 1,987+ | ||||||
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On 7 October 2023, Hamas-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. After clearing militants from its territory, Israel launched an intensive 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 from May 2024, three battles fought around Khan Yunis, and the siege of North Gaza from October 2024. Flashpoints during the war attracting global attention include the Nova festival massacre, the kidnapping and killing of the Bibas family, the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, the flour massacre, the Tel al-Sultan attack, and the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab. A temporary ceasefire in November 2023 broke down, and a second ceasefire in January 2025 ended in March, when Israel launched surprise airstrikes across Gaza.
Since the start of the Israeli offensive, over 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been reported as killed, over half of them women and children, and more than 110,000 Palestinians have been injured. Israel has assassinated Hamas leaders inside and outside of Gaza. Their tightened blockade cut off basic necessities, causing a severe hunger crisis with a high risk of famine persisting as of November 2024[update]. By early 2025, Israel had caused unprecedented destruction in Gaza and made large parts of it uninhabitable, leveling entire cities and destroying the healthcare system, agricultural land, religious and cultural landmarks, educational facilities, and cemeteries. Nearly all of the strip's 2.3 million Palestinian population have been forcibly displaced. Over 100,000 Israelis were internally displaced as of February 2024. Torture and sexual violence were committed by Palestinian militant groups and Israeli forces.
Various experts and human rights organizations have stated that Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes, and that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. A case accusing Israel of committing genocide is being reviewed by the International Court of Justice, while the International Criminal Court reviewed and issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif, though Deif's warrant was withdrawn when he was killed. Israel received extensive military and diplomatic support from the United States, which has vetoed multiple pro-ceasefire resolutions from the UN Security Council. The war has reverberated regionally, with Axis of Resistance 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 a brief Israeli invasion of Lebanon, as well as the fall of the Assad regime 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.
Names
The Gaza war is referred to by different names. Israel calls it the "iron swords war" (Hebrew: מלחמת חרבות ברזל). It has also been referred to as the "Simchat Torah war", as the war started on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, reminiscent of the Yom Kippur War. Palestinian militant groups refer to it as the "battle of al-Aqsa Flood" (Arabic: معركة طوفان الأقصى), in reference to Operation al-Aqsa Flood. Western media outlets have variably described it as the "Israel–Hamas war" or the "Israel–Gaza war",[failed verification] while others use "war on Gaza". Others have used the term "October 7 war". Some have rejected "war" as an appropriate framework and call it the "Gaza genocide", "second Nakba", or "Nakba 2023".
Background
The 1948 Palestine war saw the establishment of Israel over most of what had been Mandatory Palestine, with the exception of two separated territories that became known as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which were held by Jordan and Egypt respectively. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The upcoming period witnessed two popular uprisings by Palestinians against the Israeli occupation; the First and Second Intifadas in 1987 and 2000 respectively, with the latter's end seeing Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.
Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been governed by Hamas, an Islamist militant group, while the West Bank remained under the control of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. After Hamas's takeover, Israel imposed a blockade of the Gaza Strip, 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. Due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, UNRWA 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, 2014, and 2021. 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 began, Hamas's military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, 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, blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israeli settler violence 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 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, B'Tselem and Human Rights Watch have likened the Israeli occupation to apartheid, although supporters of Israel dispute this characterization. However, an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice 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, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid. The Netanyahu 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 has said the aim of the 7 October attacks was to disrupt the Saudi–Israel normalization talks.
Confrontations
7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel
- Approximate situation on 7–8 October
- A blood-stained floor in the aftermath of the Nahal Oz attack
- Aftermath of Hamas rocket hit on the maternity ward of Barzilai Medical Center
- Satellite view of widespread fires in Israeli areas surrounding the Gaza Strip
- Footage of Israeli soldiers securing the area after the Nova music festival massacre
In the morning of 7 October 2023, during the Jewish holidays of Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret on Shabbat, Hamas announced the start of what it called "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood", 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 and Erez, and created openings in the border fence in five other places.
Militants massacred civilians in several kibbutzim, where they took hostages and set fire to homes. In one 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 attack was described as "an intelligence failure for the ages" and a "failure of imagination" 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 noted that "the assault dwarf[ed] all 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." Hamas stated that its attack was a response to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, rising Israeli settler violence and recent escalations at Al-Aqsa. According to both Hamas officials and external observers, the attack was a calculated effort to create a "permanent" state of war and revive interest in the Palestinian cause.
Initial Israeli counter-operation (October 2023)
- Approximate situation on 9 October
- A Palestinian refugee carries his injured grandchildren from the Israeli bombing of Nuseirat refugee camp
- Building in the Gaza Strip being destroyed by Israeli missiles
- Damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 2023
- An injured child in the Gaza Strip in the Oct 2023 Israeli airstrikes.
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 to be used, killing many Israeli civilians and soldiers. An ABC News (Australia) investigation reported that at least 13 civilians were killed in a 'Hannibal' incident in Beeri. At 6:40 p.m., anticipating that militants would flee back to Gaza, the Israeli army launched artillery strikes targeting the border fence area. The IDF said it was not aware of any civilians being hurt in these bombardments, but eyewitness accounts and testimony contradicted the IDF's official review, which exonerated itself.
The attack was a complete surprise to the Israelis. In a televised broadcast, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, 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 and Palestinian Islamic Jihad". The Israel Electric Corporation, 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 reservists, and declared a state of emergency for areas within 80 kilometers (50 mi) of Gaza. The Yamam 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 and Ramon Airport 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
- Destruction caused by Israeli bombing of Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza Strip
- A man carries the body of a Palestinian child killed during the shelling of 17 October 2023
- A newborn baby was killed as a result of the Israeli airstrike
- Wounded Palestinians receive treatment on the floor at the overcrowded emergency ward of Al-Shifa Hospital
- Video Interviews conducted with several survivors of Oct 2023 Israeli airstrikes.
Following the surprise attack, the Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes that they said targeted Hamas targets, employing its artificial intelligence Habsora ("The Gospel") software. These airstrikes were killing, on average, 350 persons per day during the first twenty 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, 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 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 use of hospitals and civilians as human shields, which it denied doing.
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 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, 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.
| External videos | |
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 Gazan child speaks of having to carry a decapitated body after Israeli strike on Jabalia (via The Irish Times) |
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 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.
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, a prominent professor and writer in Gaza, was killed by an Israeli airstrike. His poem "If I Must Die" was widely circulated after his death.
In December, the IDF reported its troops had reached the centers of Khan Yunis, Jabalia, and Shuja'iyya. 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 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 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 an Israeli tank and machine gun fire; two rescue workers who attempted to retrieve Rajab were also killed. The Red Crescent 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 became an increasing issue. On 5 February, Israeli gunboats shelled a clearly marked UNRWA convoy, forcing UNRWA to suspend its operations for almost 3 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 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, Biden announced that a temporary port on Gaza's coast would be constructed to enable aid delivery.
Al-Shifa Hospital, 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 was ignored by the IDF. On 1 April, seven international aid workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli airstrike south of Deir al-Balah. 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. 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 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 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 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, 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 and ReliefWeb, 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 killed over 250 Palestinian militants.
- Children (44%)
- Women (26%)
- Men (30%)
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. 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 in its operation in Rafah. On 10 September, Israeli missile strikes on a tent encampment in Al-Mawasi killed 19 to 40 people. An IAF UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Rafah while trying to evacuate a critically injured combat engineer, 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 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 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. 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, including 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 receiving food from an aid convoy in Khan Yunis killed at least 12 Palestinians and injured several others. On 9 December, an Israeli strike hit people who lined up for buying flour in Rafah, 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 and Beit Hanoun 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 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 said that over 50 children were killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia 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 said that 50 people including hospital staff were killed.
Israeli resumption of hostilities (March 2025–present)
On 18 March, Israel launched attacks across Gaza, killing over 400 and ending the ceasefire. 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, whose position is akin to the Prime Minister of Gaza, Salah al-Bardawil and Ismail Barhoum (members of the political bureau), Mahmoud Abu Watfa (undersecretary of the Interior Ministry of the Gaza Strip) and Bahjat Abu Sultan (chief of internal security). Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza was also killed in the airstrikes. The Popular Resistance Committees 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. Two days later, the IDF destroyed a 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 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 25 March, amid the Israeli operation, hundreds to thousands of Palestinians in Gaza rose up in protest against Hamas, demanding an end to the war and an end to Hamas's rule over the Gaza Strip. The protests were caused by war-weariness and dissatisfaction with Hamas, specifically their alleged misuse of humanitarian aid intended for Gazans, suppression of the freedom of speech and of the press, and abuse of Palestinian civilians.
Truces
First ceasefire (November 2023)
Following the introduction of a Qatari-brokered truce on 24 November 2023, active fighting in the Gaza Strip ceased. Hamas exchanged some hostages for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Israel arrested almost as many Palestinians as it released during the truce. This occurred 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.
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 since the 7 October attack 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 releasing 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, demanding 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, sixteen 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 and Passover 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 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 U.S. 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. On 18 March, Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Gaza as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that Israel has "returned to fighting in Gaza".
Post-war plans
After the announcement of a second ceasefire in January 2025, Donald Trump 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. In a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, 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 categorically rejected, stating "They don't want to come to Jordan and we don't want them to come to Jordan."
These statements were met with condemnation from world leaders; however, in Israel, far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir 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 said the transfer will be forced rather than voluntary.
In February the leader of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, 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.
Arab governments have rejected Trump's transfer plan, instead backing an Egyptian proposal. The Arab League, 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 demand that Hamas disarm, step down and fresh elections to a reformed Palestinian Authority be held. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune 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. Hamas also reiterated that the group's arms were non-negotiable and rejected the plan. In turn, on 5 March, Trump has rejected the Arab 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," and that the Trump administration will go ahead with seizing the territory "to bring peace and prosperity to the region".
In March 2025, the United States and Israel claimed to have contacted officials from Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland 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.
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.
Spillover
- Rising smoke after the Israel strike on Hezbollah headquarters
- A damaged building in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel
- Two United States carrier strike groups in the Mediterranean Sea.
The war's spillover has resulted in a major escalation of existing tensions between Israel and Iran, with groups in the Axis of Resistance launching attacks on American military bases, and the Yemeni Houthi movement attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea and incurring a US-led military operation. 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 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, where he had traveled to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian, 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 a brief Israeli invasion of Lebanon, before it was paused after a ceasefire. The crisis has also seen the fall of the Assad regime and an ongoing Israeli invasion of 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 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, 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 in the Balata Camp. On 28 August, Israel launched the largest military operation into the northern West Bank in more than 20 years. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz 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 demanded a halt to the operations, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell 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 in Tulkarm Camp killed at least 20 people. On 13 November, Israeli far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said that with Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 United States presidential election, Israel was "a step away" from "sovereignty in Judea and Samaria." Later comments by Mike Huckabee, 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 in West Bank. On 29 January, the IDF said that it conducted a drone strike targeting a group of militants in Tammun, killing at least 10 people.
Attacks in Israel
On 30 November, two Palestinian gunmen killed three and wounded eleven Israeli civilians at a bus stop on the Givat Shaul 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, 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 in Aqraba. 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 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 held a hearing and the IDF began transferring 1,200 of the prisoners to Ofer Prison. 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 and other members of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party condemned the arrests. Supporters of the arrested soldiers including Ben Gvir, Amihai Eliyahu, 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. 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 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 launched a surprise attack on the Gaza Strip, ending the 2025 Gaza war ceasefire. 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".
Casualties
| Event | Total | Civilians | Children | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | % | Total | % | ||
| October 7 attacks | 1,195 | 815 | 68.2% | 36 | 3.2% |
| Israeli invasion of Gaza | 48,405 | ~80% | 33.1% | ||
| Israeli attacks in the West Bank | 555 | 102 | 18.37% | ||
As of 4 March 2025[update], over 50,000 people – 48,405 Palestinian and 1,706 Israeli – have been reported killed in the Gaza war according to the official figures of the Gaza Health Ministry, as well as 166 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, a number that includes 179 employees of UNRWA. Scholars have estimated 80% of Palestinians killed are civilians. A study by OHCHR, that verified fatalities from three independent sources, found that 70% of the Palestinian killed in residential buildings or similar housing were women and children.
The majority of casualties have been in the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) total casualty count is the number of deaths directly caused by the war. The demographic breakdown is a subset of those individually identified. On 17 September 2024, the GHM published the names, gender and birth date of 34,344 individual Palestinians whose identities were confirmed and continues to attempt to identify all casualties. The GHM count does not include those who have died from "preventable disease, malnutrition and other consequences of the war". An analysis by the Gaza Health Projections Working Group predicted thousands of excess deaths from disease and birth complications.
In January 2025, a peer-reviewed analysis of deaths in the Gaza war between October 2023 and 30 June 2024 was published in The Lancet. The paper estimated 64,260 deaths from traumatic injury during this period, and likely exceeding 70,000 by October 2024, with 59.1% of them being women, children and the elderly. It concluded that the GHM underestimated trauma-related deaths by 41% in its report, and also noted that its findings "underestimate the full impact of the military operation in Gaza, as they do not account for non-trauma-related deaths resulting from health service disruption, food insecurity, and inadequate water and sanitation."
A survey by PCPSR reported showed over 60% of Gazans have lost family members since the war began. Thousands of more dead bodies are thought to be under the rubble of destroyed buildings. The number of injured is greater than 100,000; Gaza has the most amputated children per capita in the world.
The 7 October attacks on Israel killed 1,195 people, including 815 civilians. A further 806 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem). Casualties have also occurred in other parts of Israel, as well as in southern Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran.
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 is experiencing a humanitarian crisis 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 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.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported over 4,000 children killed in the war's first month. UN Secretary-General António Guterres 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 funding, with a Lancet study stating that the death toll in Gaza, including future deaths indirectly caused by the war, may exceed 186,000.
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, Hamburg, and London combined during World War II, and included apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, religious sites, factories, shopping centres, and municipal infrastructure. As of January 2024, researchers at Oregon State University and the City University of New York 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, Aleppo in the Battle of Aleppo, and Mosul and Raqqa in the War against the Islamic State. 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. 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, which it describes as "the mass destruction of dwellings to make [a] territory uninhabitable". The term urbicide 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 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 (OHCHR) called for an independent court to review potential war crimes committed by both sides.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed 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 announced his intention to seek arrest warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif 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 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 presented a detailed report to the United Nations Human Rights Council 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 the 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.
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 published a report concluding that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip; and on 19 December 2024, Human Rights Watch 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, 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, with United States, Egypt and Qatar serving as negotiation mediators between Israel and Hamas. The United Nations Security Council passed resolution 2728 in March 2024, demanding an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of hostages for the month of Ramadan. The United Nations Security Council passed resolution 2735 in June 2024, demanding acceptance of the three-phase ceasefire proposal.
Following talks mediated by China, 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.
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, $60 million 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 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel has multiple aspects, including a military response leading to the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. In October, the Knesset approved a war cabinet in Israel, adding National Unity ministers and altering the government; Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz froze non-war legislation, establishing a war cabinet with military authority.
Settler expansions and officials' remarks heightened unrest, leading to protests in 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. Public opinion poll conducted in December 2023 by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 87% of Jewish Israelis supported the war in Gaza.
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.
International
This section needs to be updated. (May 2024) |
Significant geopolitical divisions emerged during the war. Much of the Western world provided strong diplomatic and military support to Israel, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany, however several European nations have been less supportive of Israel's actions, most notably Spain, Norway, and Ireland 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. 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 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 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 and much of the Global South denounced the actions of Israel and its allies, criticizing the "moral authority of the West" and alleging that it holds double standards surrounding human rights. The double standards, in their view, is condemning an illegal occupation in Ukraine while standing firmly behind Israel that has occupied Palestinian lands. Bolivia has cut all ties with Israel as a result of the conflict, while Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors to the country.
The United States, United Kingdom, and Germany have supplied Israel with substantial military and medical aid.
The Israeli government's response prompted international protests, arrests, and harassment.
Evacuations of foreign nationals
Brazil announced a rescue operation of nationals using an air force transport aircraft. Poland 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 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 and Alexander Palmer, the attack showcased the decline of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the rise of Hamas as a power center in Palestinian politics. 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, noting that past wars had toppled the governments of several of his predecessors such as that of Golda Meir following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Menachem Begin following the 1982 Lebanon War, and Ehud Olmert following the 2006 Lebanon War. Citing the Israeli intelligence failure, which some observers attributed to the incumbent government focusing more on internal dissent, the judicial reform, 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 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 estimates that by 2025, the war will have cost the country US$67 billion, notwithstanding a $14.5 billion US aid package, part of the $22.76 billion the U.S. 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 $600 million 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.
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 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, which lasted two decades". Reporters Without Borders filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court under section 8.2.b of the Rome Statute, accusing Israel of committing war crimes against 8 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 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
- Gaza genocide
- Misinformation in the Gaza war
- Outline of the Gaza war
- List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
- List of wars involving Israel
- List of wars involving the State of Palestine
- Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2023
- Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2024
Notes
- See List of military aid to Israel during the Gaza war and American involvement
- Fired by Netanyahu as defense minister on 5 November 2024
- The combined forces of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad add up to 37,000. Estimates for Hamas alone are highly variable, from 20,000 to over 40,000.
- Including 169,500 active personnel and 360,000 reservists
- A larger estimate of 70,000+ exists for total direct deaths.
- As of March 2025. Per the Gaza Health Ministry the number recorded killed is 50,669. The number of killed identified is 50,021.
Israeli estimates of 36,000+ Palestinians killed, including nearly 20,000 militants, are widely criticised as inaccurate, and no evidence has been presented for the claims of militants having been killed.
US intelligence estimate: 10,000–15,000 militants (as of January 2025)
- In addition to direct deaths, armed conflicts result in indirect deaths "attributable to the conflict". Mortality due to indirect deaths could be due to a variety of causes, such as infectious diseases.
-
- Indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths in recent conflicts.
- Estimated 51,000 natural deaths, natural death rate has gone up from 3.5/1000 to 22/1000 (late June 2024)
- At least 68 deaths confirmed due to starvation and malnutrition only and deaths were also confirmed due to dehydration, but the true figure is likely to be far higher.
- Per the Palestinian Health Authority
- Based in Israel proper (1967 borders)
- Per Hezbollah, Hamas, PIJ and Lebanese Health Ministry. 1,356+ killed since 23 September 2024.
- Per Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
- Total is derived from taking the current number of killed in Gaza, the current number of killed in West Bank, the current number of militants killed inside Israel, the current number of killed in Lebanon and the current number of killed in Syria.
- Including:
- 810–815 on October 7 (including foreign or dual national citizens and including "up to" 14 Israeli civilians killed by the Israeli military as part of the Hannibal Directive)
- 82 dead hostages (including 34 dead hostages that remain in Gaza) hostages in Gaza thought dead
- 46 on the Lebanese border
- 3 in Alexandria, Egypt
- 23 in the West Bank and Israel by 6 January 2025 (per OCHA oPt and The Times of Israel), not including 1 mistakenly killed by Israeli forces in Jerusalem and 4 killed by militants (2 near Ofra, 1 in Tel Aviv, 1 near al-Khader, 1 in Haifa, 1 near Pardes Hanna-Karkur), and 1 near Yokneam Illit bringing the total to 31 conflict-related deaths for the period
- 2 in Gaza Strip
- 8 in Tel Aviv
- 3 in Allenby Bridge
- 1 in Hadera
- 1 in Afula by heart attack in Iranian missile attack
- 1 in Herzliya
- 1 in Rishon LeZion by heart attack in a Houthi missile attack
- 1 in the West Bank from Israeli fire
- Including:
- 913 (845 confirmed by names) Israel Defence Force soldiers
- 69 Israel Police officers
- 10 Shin Bet personnel
- As of 31 December 2024. Including 5,569 soldiers (as of 2 January 2025).
- Also referred to as the "Israel–Gaza war", "Israel–Hamas war", "war on Gaza", the "war of iron swords" (Hebrew: מלחמת חרבות ברזל), the "battle of al-Aqsa Flood" (Arabic: معركة طوفان الأقصى), "October 7 war", and others. For more information, see Names.
- Including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
- 50,021 Palestinians of which have been fully identified as of 24 March 2025.
- Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to have backed changing the name of the war to 'Genesis,' evoking the biblical Book of Genesis. A group of Israeli politicians supported the name change because of what they see as "its universality and association with a new reality, separating between darkness and light, good and evil, barbarism and civilization." The plan has also been presented to National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz and Israel's .
- Sources:
- From 2024-01-01 to 2025-01-31.
- Including:
- 915 civilians killed
- 828 on October 7 (including 258 foreign or dual national citizens and 14+ hostages in Gaza)
- 33 additional hostages in Gaza thought dead
- 27 on the Lebanese border
- 3 in Alexandria, Egypt
- 14 in the West Bank and Israel by 11 August 2024 (per OCHA oPt) not including 1 mistakenly killed by Israeli forces in Jerusalem and 3 killed by militants (2 near Ofra and 1 near Kedumim), bringing the total to 18 conflict-related deaths for the period
- 1 in Rafah, Gaza Strip
- 1 in Tel Aviv
- 3 in Allenby Bridge
- 791 security forces killed
- 715 soldiers
- 66 Israel Police officers
- 10 Shin Bet personnel
- 915 civilians killed
- Casualty by nationality
152–158 Palestinian
2–4 Israeli
6–9 Lebanese
0–1 Syrian - Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan responded directly to Guterres, stating, "Shame on [Guterres]... More than 30 minors – among them a 9-month-old baby as well as toddlers and children who witnessed their parents being murdered in cold blood – are being held against their will in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is the problem in Gaza, not Israel's actions to eliminate this terrorist organization."
- By December 2023, the percentage of buildings damaged or destroyed in Gaza exceeded Dresden and Cologne during World War II and approached the level of destruction seen in Hamburg.
- In northern Gaza, including Gaza City, the number of buildings damaged or destroyed is as high as 80 percent.
- In October 2024, The New York Times estimated 168,000 buildings in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed.
- A conservative estimate for U.S. funding for Israel's military operations and related U.S. operations in the area sets the figure for the fiscal year between 7 October and 30 September at $22.76 billion.
References
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as many as 37,000 Palestinians as suspected militants
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The "Lavender" system is designed to identify individuals suspected of being part of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), even targeting those with lower ranks for potential aerial bombardments. In the initial stages of the conflict, the military heavily relied on Lavender, leading to the system labeling up to 37,000 Palestinians as militants, along with their residences, for potential airstrikes.
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Netanyahu said last week that Israel has killed 14,000 Hamas militants; the IDF put its estimate at 13,000 last month. The numbers are not possible to independently verify — and no evidence has been offered to support them — but even the high-end figure would amount to less than half of Hamas's estimated fighting force before the war.
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The ratio of people killed in war to those dying indirectly because of a conflict is explored in the chapter on indirect deaths (INDIRECT CONFLICT DEATHS). Studies show that between three and 15 times as many people die indirectly for every person who dies violently.
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In recent conflicts, such indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths. Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza. Using the 2022 Gaza Strip population estimate of 2,375,259, this would translate to 7.9% of the total population in the Gaza Strip.
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The hospital's director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, has been giving us regular updates on the situation there. Here are his latest comments to Al Jazeera: An elderly man has died of starvation in the northern Gaza Strip.
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Simultaneously with its onslaught on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army intensified operations in the West Bank, resulting in 592 deaths and approximately 5,400 injuries, according to official Palestinian data.
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In parallel with Israel's war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has expanded its raids in the West Bank, while settlers have escalated their attacks there as well, resulting in 847 Palestinians killed, 6,700 wounded, and 14,300 arrested since, according to official Palestinian data.
- הבקשה של פיקוד הדרום בלילה שלפני הטבח - והסירוב | פרסום ראשון
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Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed 4,047 people and wounded 16,638 others, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said in a televised address.
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The newest figures bring the overall death toll since Israel on September 23 launched an intense air campaign in Lebanon to 1,356.
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ISF had likely applied the Hannibal Directive, resulting in the killing of up to 14 Israeli civilians.
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The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation has reported that the rehabilitation department of Israel's Defence Ministry receives about 1,000 new people each month who have been "wounded from the war". Since October 7, 2023, more than 13,500 Israelis have been injured and admitted for treatment at the rehabilitation department, the broadcaster reported in a post on social media. Of those wounded, 51 percent are under the age of 30 years and 43 percent of the total are dealing with "psychological reactions", the broadcaster said.
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According to figures released by the army, at least 891 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 5,569 others wounded since the outbreak of the war on Gaza.
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In this context we should not overlook the latest turning point in the history of Palestine – the attack by Hamas on 7th October 2023 on Israeli settlements adjacent to Gaza and the subsequent genocidal war that the state of Israel has carried out in the Gaza strip
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By analysing the patterns of violence and Israeli policies in its onslaught on Gaza, the present report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating that Israel has committed genocide has been met
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This report focuses on the Israeli authorities' policies and actions in Gaza as part of the military offensive they launched in the wake of the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023 while situating them within the broader context of Israel's unlawful occupation, and system of apartheid against Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. It assesses allegations of violations and crimes under international law by Israel in Gaza within the framework of genocide under international law, concluding that there is sufficient evidence to believe that Israel's conduct in Gaza following 7 October 2023 amounts to genocide.
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The only normative definition we have, codified at the United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948, accurately describes the current situation in Palestine ... describes exactly what is happening in Gaza today
- Dumper, Michael; Badran, Amneh (2024). "Introduction". In Dumper, Michael; Badran, Amneh (eds.). Routledge Handbook on Palestine (1st ed.). Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003031994. ISBN 9781003031994.
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- "Germany, a Loyal Israel Ally, Begins to Shift Tone as Gaza Toll Mounts". The New York Times. 29 March 2024.
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This article is about the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and Israel For the broader conflict see Gaza Israel conflict and Israeli Palestinian conflict For the previous wars see Gaza War disambiguation The Gaza war q has been fought between Israel and Hamas led Palestinian militant groups r in the Gaza Strip and Israel since 7 October 2023 It is the 15th war of the Gaza Israel conflict 81 and has sparked an ongoing Middle Eastern crisis The first day was the deadliest in Israel s history and the war is the deadliest for Palestinians in the history of the broader Israeli Palestinian conflict 82 Gaza warPart of the Gaza Israel conflict the Israeli Palestinian conflict and the Middle Eastern crisis 2023 present Gaza Strip under Palestinian control Furthest Israeli advance in Gaza Strip Evacuated areas inside Israel Maximum extent of the 2023 Hamas led attack on Israel Areas of Gaza subject to Israeli evacuation orders detailed maptimeline Date7 October 2023 present 1 year 5 months 4 weeks and 2 days LocationGaza Strip and IsraelStatusOngoingBelligerents Hamas Palestinian allies Palestinian Islamic Jihad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Palestinian Mujahideen Movement Israel a Commanders and leadersKhalil al Hayya Yahya Sinwar Ismail Haniyeh X Mohammed Deif XBenjamin Netanyahu Israel Katz Yoav Gallant b Units involvedSee Order of battleStrength20 000 40 000 c 529 500 d Casualties and lossesGaza Strip 64 669 e reported killed including 14 000 missing and presumed dead f Indirect deaths g likely multiple times higher h 115 063 wounded 11 16 300 detained 35 West Bank i 952 killed 12 36 37 38 7 370 wounded 12 37 14 300 detained 39 Militants inside Israel j 1 609 killed 40 200 captured 41 Lebanon and Syria Lebanon 4 047 killed k 16 638 injured 42 Syria 567 killed l Total killed 71 844 m Israel 995 civilians killed n 992 security forces killed o 13 500 Israelis wounded p 251 captured or abducted 50 Total killed 1 987 This box viewtalkedit On 7 October 2023 Hamas 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 83 84 After clearing militants from its territory Israel launched an intensive bombing campaign 85 86 and invaded Gaza on 27 October with the stated objectives of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages 87 88 Israeli forces launched numerous campaigns during the invasion including the Rafah offensive from May 2024 three battles fought around Khan Yunis and the siege of North Gaza from October 2024 Flashpoints during the war attracting global attention include the Nova festival massacre the kidnapping and killing of the Bibas family the Al Ahli Arab Hospital explosion the flour massacre the Tel al Sultan attack and the killing of five year old Hind Rajab A temporary ceasefire in November 2023 broke down and a second ceasefire in January 2025 ended in March when Israel launched surprise airstrikes across Gaza 89 90 91 Since the start of the Israeli offensive over 50 000 Palestinians in Gaza have been reported as killed s over half of them women and children and more than 110 000 Palestinians have been injured 16 18 11 Israel has assassinated Hamas leaders inside and outside of Gaza Their tightened blockade cut off basic necessities causing a severe hunger crisis with a high risk of famine persisting as of November 2024 update 92 93 By early 2025 Israel had caused unprecedented destruction in Gaza and made large parts of it uninhabitable 94 leveling entire cities 95 and destroying the healthcare system agricultural land 96 religious and cultural landmarks 97 educational facilities 98 99 and cemeteries 100 Nearly all of the strip s 2 3 million Palestinian population have been forcibly displaced 101 102 Over 100 000 Israelis were internally displaced as of February 2024 103 Torture and sexual violence were committed by Palestinian militant groups and Israeli forces 104 Various experts and human rights organizations have stated that Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes and that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza 105 A case accusing Israel of committing genocide is being reviewed by the International Court of Justice while the International Criminal Court reviewed and issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif though Deif s warrant was withdrawn when he was killed 106 Israel received extensive military and diplomatic support from the United States which has vetoed multiple pro ceasefire resolutions from the UN Security Council 107 The war has reverberated regionally with Axis of Resistance 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 a brief Israeli invasion of Lebanon as well as the fall of the Assad regime 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 Contents 1 Names 2 Background 3 Confrontations 3 1 7 October Hamas led attack on Israel 3 2 Initial Israeli counter operation October 2023 3 2 1 Blockade bombardment and evacuation of northern Gaza 3 3 Initial invasion to first truce October November 2023 3 4 Resumption of hostilities December 2023 January 2024 3 5 Build up to the Rafah offensive February April 2024 3 6 Beginning of the Rafah offensive May July 2024 3 7 Rafah Khan Yunis and general bombardment July September 2024 3 8 Continued operations throughout Gaza October December 2024 3 8 1 Siege of northern Gaza 3 9 Israeli resumption of hostilities March 2025 present 4 Truces 4 1 First ceasefire November 2023 4 2 Second ceasefire January March 2025 5 Post war plans 6 Spillover 6 1 West Bank and Israel 6 1 1 Attacks in Israel 6 1 2 Israeli prisons and detention camps 6 2 American involvement 7 Casualties 8 Humanitarian crisis 9 Scale of destruction 10 War crimes 11 Diplomatic impact 12 Reactions 12 1 Israel 12 2 Palestinian territories 12 3 International 12 4 Evacuations of foreign nationals 13 Impacts 13 1 Regional impact 13 2 Economic impact 14 Media coverage 15 See also 16 Notes 17 References 18 External linksNamesThe Gaza war is referred to by different names Israel calls it the iron swords war Hebrew מלחמת חרבות ברזל 108 t It has also been referred to as the Simchat Torah war as the war started on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah reminiscent of the Yom Kippur War 111 Palestinian militant groups refer to it as the battle of al Aqsa Flood Arabic معركة طوفان الأقصى in reference to Operation al Aqsa Flood 112 113 Western media outlets have variably described it as the Israel Hamas war 114 or the Israel Gaza war 115 failed verification while others use war on Gaza 116 Others have used the term October 7 war 117 118 Some have rejected war as an appropriate framework and call it the Gaza genocide 119 94 second Nakba 120 or Nakba 2023 121 122 BackgroundMain article Background to the Gaza war nbsp Israeli and Palestinian deaths preceding the 2023 Hamas led attack on Israel of which most were civilians 52 123 The 1948 Palestine war saw the establishment of Israel over most of what had been Mandatory Palestine with the exception of two separated territories that became known as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip which were held by Jordan and Egypt respectively Following the 1967 Six Day War Israel occupied the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip 124 The upcoming period witnessed two popular uprisings by Palestinians against the Israeli occupation the First and Second Intifadas in 1987 and 2000 respectively 125 with the latter s end seeing Israel s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 126 127 Since 2007 the Gaza Strip has been governed by Hamas an Islamist militant group while the West Bank remained under the control of the Fatah led Palestinian Authority After Hamas s takeover Israel imposed a blockade of the Gaza Strip 128 129 that significantly damaged its economy 130 The blockade was justified by Israel citing security concerns 131 but international rights groups have characterized the blockade as a form of collective punishment 132 133 134 Due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip UNRWA reported that 81 of people were living below the poverty level in 2023 with 63 being food insecure and dependent on international assistance 123 135 Since 2007 Israel and Hamas along with other Palestinian militant groups based in Gaza have engaged in conflict 131 129 136 including in four wars in 2008 2009 2012 2014 and 2021 137 138 These conflicts killed approximately 6 400 Palestinians and 300 Israelis 139 52 123 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 140 141 Soon after the 2021 Israel Palestine crisis began Hamas s military wing the Al Qassam Brigades started planning the 7 October 2023 operation against Israel 142 143 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 134 Hamas officials stated that the attack was a response to the Israeli occupation blockade of the Gaza Strip Israeli settler violence against Palestinians restrictions on the movement of Palestinians and imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians whom Hamas sought to release by taking Israeli hostages 144 145 146 Numerous commentators have identified the broader context of Israeli occupation as a cause of the war 147 148 149 The Associated Press wrote that Palestinians are in despair over a never ending occupation in the West Bank and suffocating blockade of Gaza 150 Several human rights organizations including Amnesty International 151 B Tselem 152 and Human Rights Watch 153 have likened the Israeli occupation to apartheid although supporters of Israel dispute this characterization 154 155 However an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice 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 which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid 156 The Netanyahu 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 157 158 159 US President Joe Biden has said the aim of the 7 October attacks was to disrupt the Saudi Israel normalization talks 160 ConfrontationsFor a chronological guide see Timeline of the Gaza war For a more comprehensive list see List of military engagements during the Gaza war 7 October Hamas led attack on Israel Main article 7 October Hamas led attack on Israel See also List of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel in 2023 nbsp nbsp source source source source source source nbsp nbsp nbsp Clockwise from top Approximate situation on 7 8 October A blood stained floor in the aftermath of the Nahal Oz attack Aftermath of Hamas rocket hit on the maternity ward of Barzilai Medical Center Satellite view of widespread fires in Israeli areas surrounding the Gaza Strip Footage of Israeli soldiers securing the area after the Nova music festival massacre In the morning of 7 October 2023 161 during the Jewish holidays of Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret on Shabbat 162 Hamas announced the start of what it called Operation Al Aqsa Flood 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 163 164 165 In the evening Hamas launched another barrage of 150 rockets towards Israel 164 Simultaneously around 3 000 Hamas militants 41 infiltrated Israel from Gaza using trucks motorcycles bulldozers speedboats and paragliders 150 161 166 They took over checkpoints at Kerem Shalom and Erez and created openings in the border fence in five other places 167 Militants massacred civilians in several kibbutzim 168 169 where they took hostages 170 and set fire to homes 171 In one massacre at an outdoor music festival near Re im at least 325 people were killed with more injured or taken hostage 172 173 In total 251 people mostly civilians were taken hostage including 174 175 children elderly people and soldiers 176 Hamas militants also reportedly engaged in mutilation torture and sexual and gender based violence 177 178 179 The 7 October attack was described as an intelligence failure for the ages 180 and a failure of imagination on the part of the Israeli government 181 A BBC report commented on Hamas s extraordinary levels of operational security 182 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 183 A briefing in The Economist noted that the assault dwarf ed all 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 169 Hamas stated that its attack was a response to the blockade of the Gaza Strip the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements rising Israeli settler violence and recent escalations at Al Aqsa 144 145 146 According to both Hamas officials and external observers the attack was a calculated effort to create a permanent state of war and revive interest in the Palestinian cause 184 185 Initial Israeli counter operation October 2023 For a chronological guide see Timeline of the Gaza war 7 October 2023 27 October 2023 See also Israeli government response to the 7 October Hamas led attack on Israel and Hannibal Directive nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp source source source source source source source Clockwise from top Approximate situation on 9 October A Palestinian refugee carries his injured grandchildren from the Israeli bombing of Nuseirat refugee camp Building in the Gaza Strip being destroyed by Israeli missiles Damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El Remal aera in Gaza City on October 2023 An injured child in the Gaza Strip in the Oct 2023 Israeli airstrikes The IDF began Israel s counter attack several hours after the Hamas led invasion 186 The first helicopters sent to support the military arrived at the Gaza Strip an hour after fighting began 172 They encountered difficulties in determining which places were occupied and distinguishing between civilians IDF soldiers and Palestinian militants on the ground 172 A June 2024 UN report 187 188 and a July 2024 Haaretz investigation revealed that the IDF ordered the Hannibal Directive to be used killing many Israeli civilians and soldiers 189 190 An ABC News Australia investigation reported that at least 13 civilians were killed in a Hannibal incident in Beeri At 6 40 p m anticipating that militants would flee back to Gaza the Israeli army launched artillery strikes targeting the border fence area The IDF said it was not aware of any civilians being hurt in these bombardments 189 but eyewitness accounts and testimony contradicted the IDF s official review which exonerated itself 189 191 The attack was a complete surprise to the Israelis 192 In a televised broadcast Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister of Israel announced that the country was at war 166 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 193 144 Overnight Israel s Security Cabinet voted to act to bring about the destruction of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad 194 The Israel Electric Corporation which supplies 80 of the Gaza Strip s electricity cut off power to the area 195 This reduced Gaza s power supply from 120 MW to 20 MW provided by power plants paid for by the Palestinian Authority 196 The IDF declared a state of readiness for war 164 mobilized tens of thousands of army reservists 161 195 and declared a state of emergency for areas within 80 kilometers 50 mi of Gaza 197 The Yamam counterterrorism unit was deployed 198 along with four new divisions augmenting 31 existing battalions 150 Reservists were reported deployed in Gaza in the West Bank and along borders with Lebanon and Syria 199 Residents near Gaza were asked to stay inside while civilians in southern and central Israel were required to stay next to shelters 195 The southern region of Israel was closed to civilian movement 198 and roads were closed around Gaza 150 and Tel Aviv 195 While Ben Gurion Airport and Ramon Airport remained operational multiple airlines cancelled flights to and from Israel 200 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 201 Blockade bombardment and evacuation of northern Gaza Main articles 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip and Evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip See also Attacks on Palestinians evacuating Gaza City and al Ahli Arab Hospital explosion nbsp source source source source source source nbsp nbsp nbsp Clockwise from top Destruction caused by Israeli bombing of Jabalia refugee camp Gaza Strip A man carries the body of a Palestinian child killed during the shelling of 17 October 2023 A newborn baby was killed as a result of the Israeli airstrike Wounded Palestinians receive treatment on the floor at the overcrowded emergency ward of Al Shifa Hospital Video Interviews conducted with several survivors of Oct 2023 Israeli airstrikes Following the surprise attack the Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes that they said targeted Hamas targets 164 197 202 employing its artificial intelligence Habsora The Gospel software 203 204 These airstrikes were killing on average 350 persons per day during the first twenty days totaling over 7 000 deaths during that time 205 Israel also rescued two hostages before declaring a state of war for the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War 206 207 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 208 This order drew criticism from Human Rights Watch HRW who described it as abhorrent and as a call to commit a war crime 209 210 Gallant backed down under pressure from US President Joe Biden and a deal was struck ten days later to allow aid into Gaza 211 The first such aid convoy entered Gaza on 21 October 212 while fuel did not arrive until November 213 On 13 October the IDF ordered all civilians in Gaza City to evacuate to areas south of the Wadi Gaza 214 within 24 hours The Hamas Authority for Refugee Affairs responded by telling residents in northern Gaza to defy those orders 215 The Israeli order was widely condemned as outrageous and impossible and calls were made for it to be reversed 216 As a part of the order the IDF outlined a six hour window on 13 October for refugees to flee south along specified routes 217 An explosion along one of the safe routes killed 70 Palestinians Israel and Hamas blamed each other for the attack 218 The IDF said Hamas set up roadblocks to keep Gaza residents from evacuating 219 Israeli officials foreign governments and intergovernmental organizations condemned Hamas s use of hospitals and civilians as human shields which it denied doing 220 221 On 17 October Israel bombed areas of southern Gaza 222 Late in the evening an explosion occurred in the parking lot of the Al Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in the center of Gaza City killing hundreds The ongoing conflict prevented independent on site analysis 223 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 224 who denied any involvement 225 226 Initial invasion to first truce October November 2023 For a chronological guide see Timeline of the Gaza war 28 October 23 November 2023 and Timeline of the Gaza war 24 November 2023 11 January 2024 Main article Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip nbsp nbsp nbsp Israeli military during ground operations 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 227 228 Israeli airstrikes targeted the area around al Quds hospital 229 where around 14 000 civilians were believed to be sheltering 229 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 230 231 232 The attack resulted in several ambassador recalls 233 234 235 External videos nbsp Gazan child speaks of having to carry a decapitated body after Israeli strike on Jabalia via The Irish Times 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 236 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 237 On 18 November Israel struck a marked Medecins Sans Frontieres convoy killing two aid workers 238 On 22 November Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire agreement providing for a four day pause 239 in hostilities to allow for the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza 239 240 The deal also provided for the release of approximately 150 Palestinian women and children incarcerated by Israel 240 Resumption of hostilities December 2023 January 2024 For a chronological guide see Timeline of the Gaza war 12 January 6 May 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 241 242 and Israel sometimes struck areas it had told people to evacuate to 243 244 245 Law experts called these warnings ineffective 246 Amnesty International found no evidence of Hamas targets at the sites of some strikes and requested that they be investigated as possible war crimes 247 On 6 December Refaat Alareer a prominent professor and writer in Gaza was killed by an Israeli airstrike 248 His poem If I Must Die was widely circulated after his death 249 nbsp Palestine refugees enforced to flee Hamad quarter in Khan Yunis southern Gaza Strip after receiving an evacuation warning from the IDF In December the IDF reported its troops had reached the centers of Khan Yunis Jabalia and Shuja iyya 250 Intensified bombing pushed Palestinian civilians south to Rafah 251 Between 7 and 10 December Israel detained more than 150 men according to Israel they surrendered en masse 252 253 but this account was disputed by several publications 254 255 256 On 15 December the IDF killed three Israeli hostages in a friendly fire incident after mistakenly identifying them as enemies 257 258 259 The same day Pope Francis condemned the killing of two women sheltering at a convent as terrorism 238 On 1 January 2024 Israel withdrew from neighborhoods in North Gaza 260 On 15 January Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant 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 261 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 262 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 263 264 265 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 an Israeli tank and machine gun fire two rescue workers who attempted to retrieve Rajab were also killed 266 The Red Crescent released the audio from Rajab s phone call with rescue workers causing international outrage over her death 267 Build up to the Rafah offensive February April 2024 Main article Background of the Rafah offensive nbsp An aerial view showing destruction in Rafah after Israeli forces withdrawal and as the ceasefire took hold Gaza Strip nbsp An aerial view of the Flour massacre captured by an Israeli drone February 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 268 Food supplies became an increasing issue On 5 February Israeli gunboats shelled a clearly marked UNRWA convoy forcing UNRWA to suspend its operations for almost 3 weeks affecting 200 000 people 238 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 269 Survivors described it as an intentional ambush by Israeli forces 270 271 On 1 March the United States announced it would begin an operation to airdrop food aid into Gaza 272 Some experts called the initiative performative saying it would not alleviate the food situation 273 During his State of the Union Address Biden announced that a temporary port on Gaza s coast would be constructed to enable aid delivery 274 Al Shifa Hospital previously besieged in November 2023 was raided again between 18 March and 1 April 275 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 276 277 The IDF said it killed 200 people in the hospital fighting including senior Hamas leaders this account was disputed 278 279 Survivors denied that militants had organised on the hospital grounds 280 Israeli forces were accused of reducing the hospital to a blown out fire blackened state and of massacring 400 Palestinians 281 282 283 nbsp A World Central Kitchen car after IDF strike April 2024 A 25 March UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for Ramadan 284 was ignored by the IDF 285 On 1 April seven international aid workers from World Central Kitchen WCK were killed in an Israeli airstrike south of Deir al Balah 286 287 288 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 287 289 On 4 April Israel opened the Erez Crossing for the first time since 7 October after US pressure 290 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 291 On 7 April Israel withdrew from the south Gaza Strip with only one brigade remaining in the Netzarim Corridor in the north 292 Palestinians displaced from that city began to return from the south of the Gaza Strip 293 Israel planned to initiate its ground offensive in Rafah around mid April but postponed to consider its response to the Iranian strikes on Israel 294 On 25 April Israel intensified strikes on Rafah ahead of its threatened invasion 295 296 Beginning of the Rafah offensive May July 2024 For a chronological guide see Timeline of the Gaza war 7 May 12 July 2024 Main article Rafah offensive nbsp Israeli Merkava tanks at the Rafah Border Crossing On 6 May the IDF ordered 100 000 civilians in eastern Rafah to evacuate to Al Mawasi west of Khan Yunis 297 Later that day Hamas announced that it had accepted the terms of a ceasefire brokered by Egypt and Qatar 298 The deal included a 6 week ceasefire and exchange of prisoners 299 However Israel rejected this deal 300 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 301 302 On 31 May the United States announced a ceasefire framework for ending the war 303 The same day the IDF entered the outskirts of Rafah 304 305 306 seizing control of the Gaza side of the Rafah Crossing to Egypt the following day 307 308 On 11 May the IDF ordered more residents to evacuate eastern and central Rafah 309 By 15 May an estimated 600 000 had fled Rafah and another 100 000 from the north according to the United Nations 310 nbsp An aerial view of Al Mawasi area where displaced Palestinians live in tents Gaza Strip On 24 May the United Nations said only 906 aid truckloads had reached Gaza since Israel s Rafah operation began 311 Israel bombed the Tel al Sultan displacement camp in Rafah on 26 May killing at least 45 people allegedly including two senior Hamas officials 312 313 314 This provoked a skirmish between Egyptian and Israeli soldiers at the Gaza border in which one Egyptian soldier was killed 315 Less than 48 hours afterwards another evacuation zone the Al Mawasi refugee camp was bombed killing at least 21 people 312 316 317 The IDF denied involvement in the attack 318 On 6 June Israel bombed a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp killing dozens Two days later Israel conducted an attack on Nuseirat refugee camp which resulted in the rescue of four hostages 319 320 and the deaths of 274 Palestinians 321 On 27 June Israeli forces re invaded the al Shuja iyya neighborhood 322 According to Middle East Monitor and ReliefWeb between 4 July and 10 August Israel attacked 21 schools in Gaza killing 274 people 323 324 Rafah Khan Yunis and general bombardment July September 2024 For a chronological guide see Timeline of the Gaza war 13 July 26 September 2024 On 22 July the IDF began a brief second invasion of Khan Yunis 325 326 Israel ordered the evacuation of the eastern part of Khan Yunis 327 73 people were killed during the first day of the attack 326 328 329 Footage from an Israeli drone surfaced showing the destruction of the Grand Mosque in Khan Yunis 330 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 killed over 250 Palestinian militants 331 UN analysis covering killed Palestinian civilians between November 2023 and April 2024 332 333 Children 44 Women 26 Men 30 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 334 335 336 On 10 August at least 80 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Al Tabaeen school 337 The IDF claimed to have killed 200 militants and discovered dozens of weapons in Tel al Sultan in one week in its operation in Rafah 338 On 10 September Israeli missile strikes on a tent encampment in Al Mawasi killed 19 to 40 people 339 340 341 An IAF UH 60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Rafah while trying to evacuate a critically injured combat engineer killing two Israeli soldiers and injuring seven others 342 An Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp on 11 September killed at least 18 people 343 344 345 Continued operations throughout Gaza October December 2024 For a chronological guide see Timeline of the Gaza war 27 September 2024 16 October 2024 Timeline of the Gaza war 17 October 26 November 2024 Timeline of the Gaza war 27 November 2024 18 January 2025 and Timeline of the Gaza war 19 January 2025 present Further information Siege of Jabalia and Killing of Yahya Sinwar In October Israeli airstrikes on Shuhada al Aqsa mosque in Deir el Balah and a school in central Gaza killed at least 26 Palestinians and injured over 93 346 347 348 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 349 350 351 Oxfam 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 352 On 8 October the IDF began to encircle Jabalia camp killing several Palestinian militants and civilians in air strikes and street battles 353 354 On 10 October the IDF issued evacuation orders for three hospitals in northern Gaza 353 The IDF s air and ground operations in Jabalia continued for the rest of October 355 During that month and November strikes on Jabalia killed hundreds of people 356 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 357 On 30 December the IDF said that it killed dozens of militants in Jabalia 358 The IDF has been accused of blocking aid delivery to the Gaza Strip by allowing looting gangs to target aid convoys 359 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 359 360 361 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 362 On 12 December two Israeli strikes on an aid convoy in southern Gaza killed 13 people and wounded at least 30 people including several of them seriously 363 364 365 On 30 November a strike on a World Central Kitchen vehicle transporting supplies killed three aid workers 366 367 368 An Israeli airstrike on a group of Palestinians waiting for receiving food from an aid convoy in Khan Yunis killed at least 12 Palestinians and injured several others 369 On 9 December an Israeli strike hit people who lined up for buying flour in Rafah killing 10 people 370 On 16 October IDF ground forces killed Yahya Sinwar in a shootout in Tal as Sultan 371 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 372 There were no hostages in Sinwar s vicinity at the time of his death 373 and no civilian casualties were reported 374 Biden urged Israel to end the war after Sinwar s death 375 Siege of northern Gaza See also Israeli generals plan and Siege of North Gaza nbsp A street in northern Gaza pictured in the aftermath of the siege during the initial phase of the 2025 ceasefire 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 376 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 377 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 378 The IDF continued its encirclement of Jabalia by sending tanks to Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun and issuing evacuation orders to residents 379 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 380 On 25 October the WHO said it had lost contact with Kamal Adwan hospital and UN human rights chief Volker Turk called recent developments in North Gaza the darkest moment in the war so far 381 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 382 Residents of northern Gaza said in November that no aid had reached their cities since 5 October 378 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 383 On 2 November UNICEF said that over 50 children were killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia in the past two days 384 On 12 November aid in Gaza fell to its lowest level in 11 months despite a US ultimatum that it be restored 385 On 24 November Israel issued a new wave of evacuation orders triggering another round of displacements in Jabalia 386 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 387 Mahmoud Almadhoun a chef who founded the Gaza Soup Kitchen was targeted and killed by an Israeli quadcopter near Kamal Adwan hospital 388 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 389 On 13 December Israeli tank fire killed Dr Sayeed Joudeh the last orthopedic surgeon in northern Gaza 390 On 26 December an Israeli air strike hit a building in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital killing about 50 people including five staff 391 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 392 The IDF claimed to have killed 19 militants during its raid 393 394 Gaza Health Ministry said that 50 people including hospital staff were killed 393 Israeli resumption of hostilities March 2025 present Main articles March 2025 Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and March 2025 Rafah humanitarian convoy attacks On 18 March Israel launched attacks across Gaza killing over 400 and ending the ceasefire 91 395 396 397 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 398 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 399 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 400 Multiple senior members of Gaza s government and the Hamas political bureau were killed during this round of fighting including Issam al Da alis whose position is akin to the Prime Minister of Gaza Salah al Bardawil 401 and Ismail Barhoum members of the political bureau 402 403 404 Mahmoud Abu Watfa undersecretary of the Interior Ministry of the Gaza Strip and Bahjat Abu Sultan chief of internal security Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza was also killed in the airstrikes 405 406 The Popular Resistance Committees announced the death of Muhammad al Batran commander of its artillery unit and a member of its Central Military Brigade Council 407 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 408 409 Two days later the IDF destroyed a hospital via controlled demolition 410 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 411 412 On 27 March an Israeli airstrike on a tent in Jabalia killed Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al Qanoua 413 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 414 On 25 March amid the Israeli operation 399 hundreds 415 to thousands 416 of Palestinians in Gaza rose up in protest against Hamas demanding an end to the war and an end to Hamas s rule over the Gaza Strip The protests were caused by war weariness and dissatisfaction with Hamas specifically their alleged misuse of humanitarian aid intended for Gazans 417 suppression of the freedom of speech and of the press and abuse of Palestinian civilians 418 TrucesSee also 2023 Israeli Palestinian prisoner exchange First ceasefire November 2023 Main article 2023 Gaza war ceasefire nbsp 13 year old Israeli hostage released by Hamas during the first ceasefire 26 November 2023 Following the introduction of a Qatari brokered truce on 24 November 2023 active fighting in the Gaza Strip ceased Hamas exchanged some hostages for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel 419 Israel arrested almost as many Palestinians as it released during the truce 420 This occurred until 28 November when both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the truce 421 422 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 423 The truce expired on 1 December as Israel and Hamas blamed each other for failing to agree on an extension 424 Second ceasefire January March 2025 Main article 2025 Gaza war ceasefire See also March 2025 Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip nbsp Return of displaced people via Al Rasheed Street after ceasefire January 2025 Gaza Strip 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 since the 7 October attack 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 425 it went into effect on the morning of 19 January 2025 426 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 427 Hamas claimed that Israel had violated the terms of the ceasefire and announced the suspension of the release of Israeli hostages on 10 February 428 After Netanyahu and Trump threatened to restart fighting in Gaza 429 Hamas relented on 13 February 430 allowing the release of hostages to begin again two days later 431 On 22 February Hamas released six Israeli hostages 432 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 433 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 releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners without public ceremony 434 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 demanding the implementation of the second phase 435 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 sixteen days after the initial ceasefire began but never happened 436 437 Netanyahu s office said that Israel endorsed a US plan to extend the Gaza truce for the Ramadan and Passover 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 438 439 Netanyahu ceased the entry of aid to Gaza the next day 440 441 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 442 443 On 9 March Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen ordered a halt to supply of Israeli electricity to Gaza 444 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 445 446 The U S 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 447 448 On 18 March Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Gaza as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that Israel has returned to fighting in Gaza 449 Post war plansMain article Potential American ownership of the Gaza Strip After the announcement of a second ceasefire in January 2025 Donald Trump 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 450 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 451 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 In a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan 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 452 Trump had proposed Jordan take in the displaced Palestinians from Gaza which Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi categorically rejected stating They don t want to come to Jordan and we don t want them to come to Jordan 453 These statements were met with condemnation from world leaders however in Israel far right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir praised Trump saying that Palestinian migration was the only solution to the war 454 Netanyahu and Ben Gvir characterized the planned displacement of Gazans as a voluntary migration but communications minister Shlomo Karhi said the transfer will be forced rather than voluntary 455 In February the leader of the Israeli opposition Yair Lapid 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 456 Arab governments have rejected Trump s transfer plan instead backing an Egyptian proposal The Arab League meeting on 4 March in Cairo devised a 53bn plan detailing the reconstruction of Gaza while keeping its population in place 457 The proposal also included the demand that Hamas disarm step down and fresh elections to a reformed Palestinian Authority be held 458 Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune 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 458 Hamas also reiterated that the group s arms were non negotiable and rejected the plan 458 In turn on 5 March Trump has rejected the Arab 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 and that the Trump administration will go ahead with seizing the territory to bring peace and prosperity to the region 458 In March 2025 the United States and Israel claimed to have contacted officials from Egypt Jordan Sudan Somalia and Somaliland to discuss the resettlement of Gaza residents in their territories 459 Egypt 460 Jordan 453 and Sudan 461 rejected the proposal while Somalia and Somaliland denied that they had been contacted 462 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 463 SpilloverMain articles Middle Eastern crisis 2023 present and Spillover of the Gaza war in Syria See also Israel Hezbollah conflict 2023 present Israeli invasion of Syria 2024 present 2024 Iran Israel conflict and Red Sea crisis nbsp nbsp nbsp Rising smoke after the Israel strike on Hezbollah headquarters A damaged building in Kiryat Shmona northern Israel Two United States carrier strike groups in the Mediterranean Sea The war s spillover has resulted in a major escalation of existing tensions between Israel and Iran with groups in the Axis of Resistance launching attacks on American military bases and the Yemeni Houthi movement attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea and incurring a US led military operation 464 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 465 Israel has bombed targets in and around Damascus throughout the war 466 467 468 with an attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus on 1 April 2024 leading to a series of retaliatory airstrikes on Israel in response 469 470 On 31 July Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran where he had traveled to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian 471 and on 1 October Iran fired approximately 200 missiles at Israel 472 473 By the end of 2024 a year long exchange of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into a brief Israeli invasion of Lebanon before it was paused after a ceasefire 474 The crisis has also seen the fall of the Assad regime and an ongoing Israeli invasion of Syria 475 476 West Bank and Israel Further information Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Gaza war 2023 Givat Shaul shooting and 2024 Kiryat Malakhi attack nbsp West Bank sector of war West Bank Palestinian enclaves Areas A amp B West Bank under Israeli control Area C Israeli annexed East Jerusalem Amnesty International released a report 477 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 478 479 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 480 481 At the same time Israeli settler violence further increased to around 1 270 attacks against 856 for all of 2022 482 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 483 According to the West Bank Protection Consortium since the 7 October attacks six Palestinian communities have been abandoned due to the violence 484 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 485 In July Israeli authorities approved the seizure of 12 7 square kilometers of land in the occupied West Bank According to Peace Now this was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords 486 Israeli authorities also approved plans for almost 5 300 new houses in occupied West Bank 487 By July 2024 Israeli land seizures exceeded the combined total of the previous 20 years 488 The following month the Israeli government approved new settlements in the occupied West Bank 489 490 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 491 482 492 including land seizure and large scale settlement plans 493 On 7 August Wafa reported that Israeli forces destroyed the regional headquarters of Fatah in the Balata Camp 494 495 On 28 August Israel launched the largest military operation into the northern West Bank in more than 20 years Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the operation was a full fledged war 496 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 497 A day later UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded a halt to the operations 498 and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the operations must not constitute the premises of a war extension from Gaza including full scale destruction 499 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 500 501 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 502 On 6 September Turkish American protestor Aysenur Eygi was killed by an Israeli sniper at a demonstration near Nablus 503 On 3 October an Israeli airstrike in Tulkarm Camp killed at least 20 people 504 505 On 13 November Israeli far right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said that with Donald Trump s victory in the 2024 United States presidential election Israel was a step away from sovereignty in Judea and Samaria Later comments by Mike Huckabee chosen by Trump as the next ambassador to Israel corroborated the possibility of an Israeli annexation of the West Bank 506 On 21 January 2025 the IDF said it launched a major raid in West Bank 507 508 On 29 January the IDF said that it conducted a drone strike targeting a group of militants in Tammun killing at least 10 people 509 510 511 Attacks in Israel On 30 November two Palestinian gunmen killed three and wounded eleven Israeli civilians at a bus stop on the Givat Shaul Interchange in Jerusalem Hamas claimed responsibility 512 On 16 February 2024 a Palestinian gunman shot and killed two Israeli civilians and injured four others in Kiryat Malakhi Israel The shooter was killed by an off duty IDF reservist at the scene 513 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 in Aqraba 514 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 515 Israeli prisons and detention camps Israel has increased its administrative detention 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 516 More than 11 000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails not counting detainees taken from Gaza during the war 517 At least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli detention since 7 October 518 They are held without charge or trial which violates international law 519 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 520 521 522 After conditions in the camp came to light in May 2024 the Supreme Court of Israel held a hearing and the IDF began transferring 1 200 of the prisoners to Ofer Prison 523 Detainees have reported severe instances of violence during transfers between prisons 518 524 Several Palestinian healthcare workers have been abducted from Gaza hospitals during sieges by Israeli forces 524 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 525 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 526 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 517 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 and other members of the far right Otzma Yehudit party condemned the arrests 520 Supporters of the arrested soldiers including Ben Gvir Amihai Eliyahu 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 527 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 The journalists cameras and phones were confiscated Loffredo was released after four days in detention and barred from leaving the country until 20 October 528 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 529 American involvement Main article Potential American ownership of the Gaza Strip nbsp US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv Israel 9 January 2024 The extent of American support for Israel has led the war to be labelled as the first US Israeli joint war 530 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 anti air battery 531 532 In addition America piloted drones over Gaza in order to provide intelligence to Israel 533 This intelligence was aimed at locating Palestinian militant leaders in Gaza and the location of hostages 534 this also included information on Sinwar s location 535 On 18 March 2025 Israel launched a surprise attack 536 on the Gaza Strip ending the 2025 Gaza war ceasefire These attacks killed more than 400 Palestinians including 263 women and children 537 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 538 CasualtiesMain article Casualties of the Gaza war Further information Gaza war hostage crisis Mass detentions in the Gaza war Killing of journalists in the Gaza war and Killing of health workers in the Gaza war Event Total Civilians Children Total Total October 7 attacks 1 195 48 815 48 68 2 36 539 3 2 Israeli invasion of Gaza 48 405 540 80 u 33 1 544 Israeli attacks in the West Bank 555 v 102 545 18 37 As of 4 March 2025 update over 50 000 people 48 405 Palestinian 540 545 and 1 706 Israeli w have been reported killed in the Gaza war according to the official figures of the Gaza Health Ministry as well as 166 journalists and media workers x 120 academics 558 and over 224 humanitarian aid workers a number that includes 179 employees of UNRWA 559 Scholars have estimated 80 of Palestinians killed are civilians 542 541 543 560 A study by OHCHR that verified fatalities from three independent sources found that 70 of the Palestinian killed in residential buildings or similar housing were women and children 333 561 The majority of casualties have been in the Gaza Strip The Gaza Health Ministry GHM total casualty count is the number of deaths directly caused by the war The demographic breakdown is a subset of those individually identified 562 563 On 17 September 2024 the GHM published the names gender and birth date of 34 344 individual Palestinians whose identities were confirmed and continues to attempt to identify all casualties 562 The GHM count does not include those who have died from preventable disease malnutrition and other consequences of the war 564 An analysis by the Gaza Health Projections Working Group predicted thousands of excess deaths from disease and birth complications 565 In January 2025 a peer reviewed analysis of deaths in the Gaza war between October 2023 and 30 June 2024 was published in The Lancet The paper estimated 64 260 deaths from traumatic injury during this period and likely exceeding 70 000 by October 2024 with 59 1 of them being women children and the elderly It concluded that the GHM underestimated trauma related deaths by 41 in its report and also noted that its findings underestimate the full impact of the military operation in Gaza as they do not account for non trauma related deaths resulting from health service disruption food insecurity and inadequate water and sanitation 7 A survey by PCPSR reported showed over 60 of Gazans have lost family members since the war began 566 567 Thousands of more dead bodies are thought to be under the rubble of destroyed buildings 568 569 The number of injured is greater than 100 000 570 Gaza has the most amputated children per capita in the world 571 The 7 October attacks on Israel killed 1 195 people including 815 civilians 48 A further 806 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem 572 Casualties have also occurred in other parts of Israel as well as in southern Lebanon 573 Syria 574 Yemen 575 and Iran 576 According to the Israeli Ministry of Defense s Rehabilitation Division about 1 000 soldiers are wounded every month 577 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 578 Humanitarian crisisMain article Gaza humanitarian crisis 2023 present Further information Gaza Strip famine and Timeline of the Gaza Strip healthcare collapse See also Humanitarian aid during the Gaza war Effect of the Gaza war on children in the Gaza Strip and Gaza Strip evacuations nbsp Residents inspect the ruins of an apartment in Gaza destroyed by Israeli airstrikes The Gaza Strip is experiencing a humanitarian crisis as a result of the war 579 580 including a hunger crisis in which famine like conditions occurred in some areas of the strip and a high risk of famine persists as of October 2024 581 93 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 579 582 583 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 584 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 585 Doctors warned of disease outbreaks spreading due to overcrowded hospitals 580 A polio epidemic was the target of mostly successful vaccination campaigns 586 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 587 588 589 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 587 The blackouts impeded emergency services making it harder to locate and access the time critical injured 587 and have impeded humanitarian aid agencies and journalists 587 By December 2023 200 000 Gazans approximately 10 of the population had received internet access through an eSIM provided by Connecting Humanity 590 nbsp UN OCHA casualties summary as of 19 June 2024 The Gaza Health Ministry reported over 4 000 children killed in the war s first month 591 UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated that Gaza had become a graveyard for children y 594 595 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 funding with a Lancet study stating that the death toll in Gaza including future deaths indirectly caused by the war may exceed 186 000 542 596 Scale of destructionMain article Bombing of the Gaza Strip 2023 present See also Attacks on health facilities during the Gaza war Attacks on schools during the Israeli invasion of Gaza 2023 Israeli airstrikes on municipal services in the Gaza Strip Attacks on religious sites during the Israeli invasion of Gaza and AI assisted targeting in the Gaza Strip nbsp Rimal in Gaza City following an Israeli airstrike 10 October 2023 The scale and pace of destruction and damage of buildings in the Gaza Strip ranks among the most severe in modern history 597 598 599 surpassing the bombing of Dresden Hamburg and London combined during World War II 600 601 602 z and included apartment buildings hospitals schools religious sites factories shopping centres and municipal infrastructure 602 As of January 2024 researchers at Oregon State University and the City University of New York estimated that 50 62 of buildings in the Gaza Strip had been damaged or destroyed 604 605 aa ab The damage to buildings in northern Gaza reportedly exceeds that in Bakhmut and Mariupol in the Russian invasion of Ukraine 601 Aleppo in the Battle of Aleppo 597 and Mosul and Raqqa in the War against the Islamic State 597 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 608 According to satellite analyses 68 of roads 70 of greenhouses and nearly 70 of tree crops have been damaged or destroyed 609 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 610 The Guardian reported that the scale of destruction has led international legal experts to raise the concept of domicide which it describes as the mass destruction of dwellings to make a territory uninhabitable 598 The term urbicide has also been used to refer to the destruction of Gazan cities and their institutions 611 In October 2024 after monitoring and analyzing Israel s war conduct in Gaza for more than a year Forensic Architecture 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 612 War crimesMain article War crimes in the Gaza war See also Israeli war crimes Palestinian war crimes and Gaza genocide 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 613 614 615 On 27 October a spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights OHCHR called for an independent court to review potential war crimes committed by both sides 616 The International Criminal Court ICC confirmed that its mandate to investigate alleged war crimes committed since June 2014 in the State of Palestine extends to the current conflict 617 618 On 20 May ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced his intention to seek arrest warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar Mohammed Deif 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 during the war 619 620 621 On 21 November the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu Gallant and Deif for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity 622 623 624 The ICC canceled Deif s arrest warrant after confirming his death 625 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 626 627 628 On 19 June 2024 the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory presented a detailed report to the United Nations Human Rights Council 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 629 In a second report the Commission found that Israel had carried out a policy of destroying Gaza s healthcare system 630 631 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 the property outrages upon personal dignity and taking hostages including children 632 633 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 634 635 636 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 637 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 631 638 On 5 December 2024 Amnesty International published a report concluding that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip 94 639 and on 19 December 2024 Human Rights Watch 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 640 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 641 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 642 Diplomatic impactMain article Diplomatic impact of the Gaza war Further information 2023 Gaza war ceasefire 2023 Israeli Palestinian prisoner exchange and 2024 Beijing Declaration See also Israeli Palestinian peace process and Two state solution nbsp US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council member states in Riyadh Saudi Arabia 19 April 2024 The war sparked a diplomatic crisis with countries around the world reacting strongly to the conflict that affected the momentum of regional relations 643 At least nine countries withdrew their ambassadors or cut diplomatic ties with Israel 644 645 The war has also resulted in a renewed focus on a two state solution to the broader conflict 646 647 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 648 Negotiations have focused on the possibility of a ceasefire with United States Egypt and Qatar serving as negotiation mediators between Israel and Hamas 649 650 The United Nations Security Council passed resolution 2728 in March 2024 demanding an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of hostages for the month of Ramadan 284 651 The United Nations Security Council passed resolution 2735 in June 2024 demanding acceptance of the three phase ceasefire proposal 652 Following talks mediated by China 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 653 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 654 655 656 On 29 September Saudi Arabia said they would send aid to the Palestinian Authority 60 million 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 657 ReactionsMain article International reactions to the Gaza war See also Arms embargoes on Israel Israel Main article Israeli government response to the 2023 Hamas led attack on Israel The Israeli government s response to the 2023 Hamas led attack on Israel has multiple aspects including a military response leading to the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip In October the Knesset approved a war cabinet in Israel adding National Unity ministers and altering the government Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz froze non war legislation establishing a war cabinet with military authority Settler expansions and officials remarks heightened unrest leading to protests in Israel The Knesset s law criminalizing terrorist materials consumption drew criticism 658 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 659 There was broad support in Israeli society for military operations in Gaza 660 661 Public opinion poll conducted in December 2023 by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 87 of Jewish Israelis supported the war in Gaza 662 Palestinian territories Initially Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asserted the Palestinian people s right to self defense against the terror of settlers and occupation troops 663 and condemned the orders by Israel for residents to evacuate north Gaza labeling it a second Nakba 664 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 665 International Main article International reactions to the Gaza war Further information Arms embargoes on Israel United States support for Israel in the Gaza war and United Kingdom support for Israel in the Gaza war See also Gaza war protests Violent incidents in reaction to the Gaza war and Calls for a ceasefire during the Gaza war This section needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information May 2024 nbsp US Vice President Kamala Harris with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the 60th Munich Security Conference in Germany February 2024 Significant geopolitical divisions emerged during the war Much of the Western world provided strong diplomatic and military support to Israel 666 including the United States 667 United Kingdom 668 and Germany 669 however several European nations have been less supportive of Israel s actions most notably Spain Norway and Ireland who formally recognised the State of Palestine in a coordinated move in June 2024 670 Spain and Ireland have also supported South Africa s genocide case against Israel 671 672 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 673 674 675 Hugh Lovatt of the European Council on Foreign Relations 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 club and that this partially explains the continued strong Western support for Israel which has now largely become reflexive 666 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 676 In contrast the Islamic world and much of the Global South denounced the actions of Israel and its allies criticizing the moral authority of the West and alleging that it holds double standards surrounding human rights 666 677 The double standards in their view is condemning an illegal occupation in Ukraine while standing firmly behind Israel that has occupied Palestinian lands 678 Bolivia has cut all ties with Israel as a result of the conflict while Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors to the country 234 677 The United States United Kingdom and Germany have supplied Israel with substantial military and medical aid 668 679 680 The Israeli government s response prompted international protests arrests and harassment 681 Evacuations of foreign nationals Main article Evacuations during the Gaza war Brazil announced a rescue operation of nationals using an air force transport aircraft 682 Poland announced that it would deploy two C 130 transport planes to evacuate 200 Polish nationals 683 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 planes and two private aircraft on the same day 684 Australia also announced repatriation flights 685 300 Nigerian pilgrims in Israel fled to Jordan before being airlifted home 686 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 687 Nepal arranged a flight to evacuate at least 254 of its citizens who were studying in Israel 688 India launched Operation Ajay to evacuate its citizens from Israel 689 Ukraine facilitated the evacuation of 450 of its citizens from Israel as of 18 October with additional evacuation flights planned for the near future 690 ImpactsMain article Impacts of the Gaza war Regional impact According to Daniel Byman and Alexander Palmer the attack showcased the decline of the Palestine Liberation Organization PLO and the rise of Hamas as a power center in Palestinian politics They predicted the PLO s further decline if the status quo held 691 Laith Alajlouni wrote that the immediate effect of the Hamas offensive was to unite Hamas and PLO 692 Amit Segal chief political commentator for Israel s Channel 12 said that the conflict would test Benjamin Netanyahu s survival as prime minister noting that past wars had toppled the governments of several of his predecessors such as that of Golda Meir following the 1973 Yom Kippur War Menachem Begin following the 1982 Lebanon War and Ehud Olmert following the 2006 Lebanon War 693 Citing the Israeli intelligence failure which some observers attributed to the incumbent government focusing more on internal dissent the judicial reform and efforts to deepen Israel s occupation of the Palestinian territories 694 some commentators criticized Netanyahu for putting aside the PLO and propping up Hamas 157 and described him as a liability 695 696 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 697 Andreas Kluth wrote in his Bloomberg News 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 698 Economic impact Main article Economic impact of the Gaza war The Bank of Israel estimates that by 2025 the war will have cost the country US 67 billion notwithstanding a 14 5 billion US aid package part of the 22 76 billion the U S has so far allocated for military assistance 699 ac 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 600 million 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 701 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 702 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 703 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 704 China s actions were described as a de facto sanction 705 703 The 3 500 member Water Transport Workers Federation of India said it would refuse to operate shipments carrying weapons to Israel 706 The declaration came a few months after one Indian company halted production of Israeli police uniforms due to the war in Gaza 707 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 708 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 709 Media coverageMain article Media coverage of the Gaza war 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 710 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 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 which lasted two decades 711 Reporters Without Borders filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court under section 8 2 b of the Rome Statute accusing Israel of committing war crimes against 8 journalists 712 710 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 712 The Committee to Protect Journalists 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 713 See alsoGaza genocide Misinformation in the Gaza war Outline of the Gaza war List of modern conflicts in the Middle East List of wars involving Israel List of wars involving the State of Palestine Timeline of the Israeli Palestinian conflict in 2023 Timeline of the Israeli Palestinian conflict in 2024Notes See List of military aid to Israel during the Gaza war and American involvement Fired by Netanyahu as defense minister on 5 November 2024 The combined forces of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad add up to 37 000 1 2 Estimates for Hamas alone are highly variable from 20 000 to over 40 000 3 4 Including 169 500 active personnel 5 and 360 000 reservists 6 A larger estimate of 70 000 exists for total direct deaths 7 As of March 2025 8 9 Per the Gaza Health Ministry 10 the number recorded killed is 50 669 11 12 13 The number of killed identified is 50 021 14 15 16 Israeli estimates of 36 000 Palestinians killed including nearly 20 000 militants 17 are widely criticised as inaccurate and no evidence has been presented for the claims of militants having been killed 18 19 US intelligence estimate 10 000 15 000 militants as of January 2025 20 21 22 In addition to direct deaths armed conflicts result in indirect deaths attributable to the conflict Mortality due to indirect deaths could be due to a variety of causes such as infectious diseases 23 24 Indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths in recent conflicts 25 26 Estimated 51 000 natural deaths natural death rate has gone up from 3 5 1000 to 22 1000 late June 2024 27 At least 68 deaths confirmed due to starvation and malnutrition only and deaths were also confirmed due to dehydration 28 29 30 31 32 but the true figure is likely to be far higher 33 34 Per the Palestinian Health Authority Based in Israel proper 1967 borders Per Hezbollah Hamas PIJ and Lebanese Health Ministry 42 1 356 killed since 23 September 2024 43 44 Per Syrian Observatory for Human Rights 45 46 Total is derived from taking the current number of killed in Gaza the current number of killed in West Bank the current number of militants killed inside Israel the current number of killed in Lebanon and the current number of killed in Syria Including 810 47 815 48 on October 7 including foreign or dual national citizens and including up to 14 Israeli civilians killed by the Israeli military as part of the Hannibal Directive 47 49 82 dead hostages including 34 dead hostages that remain in Gaza hostages in Gaza thought dead 50 46 on the Lebanese border 51 3 in Alexandria Egypt 23 in the West Bank and Israel by 6 January 2025 per OCHA oPt and The Times of Israel 52 53 not including 1 mistakenly killed by Israeli forces in Jerusalem 54 and 4 killed by militants 2 near Ofra 55 1 in Tel Aviv 56 1 near al Khader 57 1 in Haifa 58 1 near Pardes Hanna Karkur 59 and 1 near Yokneam Illit 60 bringing the total to 31 conflict related deaths for the period 2 in Gaza Strip 61 62 8 in Tel Aviv 63 64 3 in Allenby Bridge 65 1 in Hadera 66 1 in Afula by heart attack in Iranian missile attack 67 1 in Herzliya 68 1 in Rishon LeZion by heart attack in a Houthi missile attack 69 1 in the West Bank from Israeli fire 70 Including 71 72 73 74 75 913 845 confirmed by names Israel Defence Force soldiers 69 Israel Police officers 10 Shin Bet personnel The higher figure for IDF soldier deaths includes soldiers who died since the start of the war but not necessarily as a result of it The lower figure for IDF soldier deaths includes only those listed by the IDF as killed in the war Both figures include deaths in areas other than the Gaza Strip including Israel proper the West Bank Golan and Lebanon As of 31 December 2024 76 77 Including 5 569 soldiers as of 2 January 2025 78 Also referred to as the Israel Gaza war Israel Hamas war war on Gaza the war of iron swords Hebrew מלחמת חרבות ברזל the battle of al Aqsa Flood Arabic معركة طوفان الأقصى October 7 war and others For more information see Names Including Palestinian Islamic Jihad the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine 79 80 50 021 Palestinians of which have been fully identified as of 24 March 2025 Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to have backed changing the name of the war to Genesis evoking the biblical Book of Genesis 109 110 A group of Israeli politicians supported the name change because of what they see as its universality and association with a new reality separating between darkness and light good and evil barbarism and civilization 110 The plan has also been presented to National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz and Israel s Public Diplomacy Directorate he 110 Sources 541 542 543 From 2024 01 01 to 2025 01 31 545 Including 915 civilians killed 828 on October 7 48 546 547 548 549 including 258 foreign or dual national citizens and 14 hostages in Gaza 47 33 additional hostages in Gaza thought dead 546 27 on the Lebanese border 550 551 3 in Alexandria Egypt 14 in the West Bank and Israel by 11 August 2024 per OCHA oPt 52 not including 1 mistakenly killed by Israeli forces in Jerusalem 54 and 3 killed by militants 2 near Ofra 55 and 1 near Kedumim 552 bringing the total to 18 conflict related deaths for the period 1 in Rafah Gaza Strip 553 1 in Tel Aviv 554 3 in Allenby Bridge 65 791 security forces killed 71 715 soldiers 66 Israel Police officers 10 Shin Bet personnel 555 Casualty by nationality 556 557 152 158 Palestinian 2 4 Israeli 6 9 Lebanese 0 1 Syrian Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan responded directly to Guterres stating Shame on Guterres More than 30 minors among them a 9 month old baby as well as toddlers and children who witnessed their parents being murdered in cold blood are being held against their will in the Gaza Strip Hamas is the problem in Gaza not Israel s actions to eliminate this terrorist organization 592 593 By December 2023 the percentage of buildings damaged or destroyed in Gaza exceeded Dresden and Cologne during World War II and approached the level of destruction seen in Hamburg 601 603 In northern Gaza including Gaza City the number of buildings damaged or destroyed is as high as 80 percent 606 In October 2024 The New York Times estimated 168 000 buildings in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed 607 A conservative estimate for U S funding for Israel s military operations and related U S operations in the area sets the figure for the fiscal year between 7 October and 30 September at 22 76 billion 700 References Abraham Yuval 3 April 2024 Lavender The AI machine directing Israel s bombing spree in Gaza 972 Magazine Retrieved 12 June 2024 as many as 37 000 Palestinians as suspected militants How Israel is using Lavender and Daddy to identify 37 000 Hamas operatives The Economic Times 9 April 2024 Retrieved 12 June 2024 The Lavender system is designed to identify individuals suspected of being part of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad PIJ even targeting those with lower ranks for potential aerial bombardments In the initial stages of the conflict the military heavily relied on Lavender leading to the system labeling up to 37 000 Palestinians as militants along with their residences for potential airstrikes Gaza Strip The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency 22 May 2024 Retrieved 8 June 2024 How Hamas secretly built a mini army to fight Israel Reuters 13 October 2023 Archived from the original on 13 October 2023 Retrieved 13 October 2023 International Institute for Strategic Studies 25 February 2021 The Military Balance 2021 London Routledge p 344 ISBN 978 1 03 201227 8 Archived from the original on 21 January 2022 Retrieved 13 October 2023 Israel s massive mobilization of 360 000 reservists upends lives The Washington Post 10 October 2023 Archived from the original on 30 October 2023 Retrieved 13 October 2023 a b Jamaluddine Zeina Abukmail Hanan Aly Sarah Campbell Oona M R Checchi Francesco January 2025 Traumatic injury mortality in the Gaza Strip from Oct 7 2023 to June 30 2024 a capture recapture analysis The Lancet doi 10 1016 S0140 6736 24 02678 3 Gaza death toll rises close to 62 000 as missing added Al Jazeera 3 February 2025 Gaza death toll exceeds 47 500 as more bodies found under rubble Anadolu Agency 3 February 2025 van der Merwe Ben 4 April 2024 Israel Hamas war Gaza s morgue network has effectively collapsed how are they recording their dead Sky News Retrieved 18 May 2024 a b c Israeli attacks on Gaza killed over 60 people in 24 hours Al Jazeera 5 April 2025 a b c Israel Gaza war in maps and charts Live tracker Al Jazeera 9 October 2023 Health Ministry In Hamas run Gaza Says War Death Toll At 47 583 Barron s AFP 6 February 2025 Analysis Hamas has been hit hard by Israel but is not out in Gaza Al Jazeera 29 January 2025 Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel reported impact UN OCHA 29 May 2024 Retrieved 30 May 2024 a b Gaza death toll how many Palestinians has Israel s offensive killed Reuters 24 March 2025 Retrieved 25 March 2025 In subtle parting shot at government IDF chief calls for external probe into Oct 7 failures The Times of Israel 21 January 2025 Retrieved 21 January 2025 a b The Palestinian death toll in Gaza s war passes 50 000 as Israel expands new airstrikes AP News 23 March 2025 Archived from the original on 23 March 2025 Retrieved 23 March 2025 Edwards Christian Michaelis Tamar 20 June 2024 Israeli military official says Hamas cannot be destroyed as rift with Netanyahu widens CNN Archived from the original on 19 January 2025 Retrieved 25 January 2025 Morris Loveday Rubin Shira Balousha Hazem 15 May 2024 As Hamas returns to the north Israel s Gaza endgame is nowhere in sight The Washington Post Archived from the original on 25 September 2024 Retrieved 25 January 2025 Netanyahu said last week that Israel has killed 14 000 Hamas militants the IDF put its estimate at 13 000 last month The numbers are not possible to independently verify and no evidence has been offered to support them but even the high end figure would amount to less than half of Hamas s estimated fighting force before the war As Gaza death toll tops 30 000 is Israel on the path to victory or quagmire NBC News 29 February 2024 Archived from the original on 29 February 2024 Retrieved 25 January 2025 Exclusive Hamas has added up to 15 000 fighters since start of war US figures show The Print Reuters 25 January 2025 Retrieved 25 January 2025 Nakhoul Samia Pamuk Humeyra Landay Jonathan 6 June 2024 Diminished Hamas switches to full insurgent mode in Gaza Reuters Retrieved 6 June 2024 Hamas Toll Thus Far Falls Short of Israel s War Aims U S Says The Washington Post 21 January 2024 Garry S Checchi F 2020 Armed conflict and public health Into the 21st century Journal of Public Health 42 3 e287 e298 doi 10 1093 pubmed fdz095 PMID 31822891 Geneva Declaration Secretariat 2008 Global Burden of Armed Violence PDF Report Geneva Declaration Secretariat p 4 The ratio of people killed in war to those dying indirectly because of a conflict is explored in the chapter on indirect deaths INDIRECT CONFLICT DEATHS Studies show that between three and 15 times as many people die indirectly for every person who dies violently Khatib Rasha McKee Martin Yusuf Salim 2024 Counting the dead in Gaza difficult but essential The Lancet 404 10449 Elsevier BV 237 238 doi 10 1016 s0140 6736 24 01169 3 ISSN 0140 6736 PMID 38976995 In recent conflicts such indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37 396 deaths reported it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza Using the 2022 Gaza Strip population estimate of 2 375 259 this would translate to 7 9 of the total population in the Gaza Strip Sridhar Devi 5 September 2024 Scientists are closing in on the true horrifying scale of death and disease in Gaza The Guardian Retrieved 12 November 2024 About 10 percent of the Gaza Strip s population killed injured or missing due to the Israeli genocide Euro Med Human Rights Monitor 25 July 2024 Retrieved 20 October 2024 In northern Gaza acute malnutrition doubled in a month UNICEF Al Jazeera 15 March 2025 Rowlands Lyndal Varshalomidze Tamila Rasheed Zaheena Quillen Stephen Gadzo Mersiha Najjar Farah 20 November 2024 Eighty five patients at risk as Kamal Adwan Hospital under Israeli attack Director Al Jazeera The hospital s director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya has been giving us regular updates on the situation there Here are his latest comments to Al Jazeera An elderly man has died of starvation in the northern Gaza Strip Najjar Farah 8 July 2024 Another child dies of starvation in Gaza Al Jazeera Retrieved 28 July 2024 Siddiqui Usaid 16 August 2024 WATCH Father loses daughter to malnutrition amid blockade and dire living conditions Al Jazeera Retrieved 16 August 2024 Mohamed Edna Jamal Urooba 1 June 2024 Child dies of malnutrition and dehydration Report Al Jazeera Haq Sana Noor Dahman Ibrahim Sabbah Abdul Qader Salman Abeer 6 March 2024 Newborns die of hunger and mothers struggle to feed their children as Israel s siege condemns Gazans to starvation CNN Graham Harrison Emma 5 June 2024 Starvation already causing many deaths and lasting harm in Gaza agencies say The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 13 June 2024 Uras Umut Milisic Alma 20 October 2024 Statistics bureau says 5 employees killed since October 2023 Al Jazeera Retrieved 20 October 2024 According to the organisation between October 7 2023 and October 15 2024 16 300 people have been imprisoned Martyrs Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics Archived from the original on 8 February 2024 Retrieved 3 June 2024 a b Israeli army raids Balata refugee camp 4 times in 24 hours Anadolu Agency 28 July 2024 Retrieved 28 July 2024 Simultaneously with its onslaught on the Gaza Strip the Israeli army intensified operations in the West Bank resulting in 592 deaths and approximately 5 400 injuries according to official Palestinian data Israeli offensive in Jenin Tulkarem marks 75 days of destruction al Jazeera 5 April 2025 Israeli forces arrest young man in occupied West Bank Al Jazeera 11 January 2025 Retrieved 11 January 2025 In parallel with Israel s war on Gaza since October 7 2023 the Israeli army has expanded its raids in the West Bank while settlers have escalated their attacks there as well resulting in 847 Palestinians killed 6 700 wounded and 14 300 arrested since according to official Palestinian data הבקשה של פיקוד הדרום בלילה שלפני הטבח והסירוב פרסום ראשון a b Fabian Emanuel Pacchiani Gianluca 1 November 2023 IDF estimates 3 000 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel in Oct 7 onslaught The Times of Israel Archived from the original on 1 November 2023 Retrieved 1 November 2023 a b Death toll rises in Israel s war on Lebanon Al Jazeera 4 December 2024 Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed 4 047 people and wounded 16 638 others Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said in a televised address Rowlands Lyndal Regencia Ted Jamal Urooba Uras Umut Adler Nils 15 October 2024 Lebanon says 41 killed in Israeli attacks on Monday Al Jazeera Retrieved 15 October 2024 The newest figures bring the overall death toll since Israel on September 23 launched an intense air campaign in Lebanon to 1 356 وزير خارجية لبنان نصر الله قب ل وقف إطلاق النار مع إسرائيل قبل اغتياله Al Jazeera Arabic in Arabic 3 October 2024 Archived from the original on 7 October 2024 Retrieved 3 October 2024 Death toll update Three civilians including woman and her son killed in Israeli airstrikes on the vicinity of Aleppo international airport Syrian Observatory for Human Rights 31 December 2023 Archived from the original on 14 January 2024 Retrieved 31 December 2023 Including child and Syrian Red Crescent volunteer Israeli str ikes on crossings between Syria and Lebanon leave seven persons de ad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights 27 November 2024 Retrieved 27 November 2024 a b c New Tally Puts Oct 7 Attack Death Toll In Israel At 1 189 Barron s Agence France Presse 28 May 2024 Archived from the original on 23 September 2024 a b c d e October 7 Crimes Against Humanity War Crimes by Hamas led Groups Human Rights Watch 17 July 2024 Archived from the original on 24 September 2024 Retrieved 24 September 2024 Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem and Israel Advance unedited version A HRC 56 26 Question of Palestine 27 May 2024 ISF had likely applied the Hannibal Directive resulting in the killing of up to 14 Israeli civilians a b Bisset Victoria Ledur Julia Shapiro Leslie 5 March 2025 Monitoring the status of hostages still in Gaza after Hamas s attack The Washington Post 75 year old woman critically wounded in November rocket attack succumbs to her wounds The Times of Israel 12 January 2025 Retrieved 13 January 2025 a b c d Data on casualties United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory OCHAoPt Archived from the original on 12 October 2023 Retrieved 12 October 2023 3 Israelis killed 8 wounded in West Bank terror shooting IDF hunting for gunmen The Times of Israel 6 January 2025 Retrieved 6 January 2025 a b Hasson Nir 30 November 2023 Israeli Soldiers Who Killed Jerusalem Terrorists Shoot Dead Civilian Haaretz Archived from the original on 1 December 2023 Retrieved 1 December 2023 a b Friedson Yael 25 January 2024 East Jerusalem Resident Dies of Wounds Sustained in West Bank Attack Earlier in January Haaretz Archived from the original on 25 January 2024 Retrieved 25 July 2024 Davies Maia 1 October 2024 Seven killed in shooting and knife attack in Tel Aviv BBC News Young boy killed several bus passengers wounded in West Bank terror shooting The Times of Israel 18 December 2024 Summers Charlie 3 March 2025 Man stabbed to death in suspected terror attack at Haifa bus terminal The Times of Israel Yahli Gur 17 year old injured in last week s Pardes Hanna terror ramming dies of her wounds The Times of Israel 5 March 2025 Man shot dead in terror shooting in north attacker killed The Times of Israel 23 March 2025 Fabian Emanuel 15 May 2024 Defense Ministry contractor succumbs to wounds sustained in southern Gaza mortar attack The Times of Israel Israeli contractor mistakenly killed by IDF troops in Gaza army says The Times of Israel 28 January 2025 Drone explodes in central Tel Aviv killing man and wounding several others The Times of Israel 19 July 2024 Seven murdered in Jaffa terror shooting many more wounded The Jerusalem Post 1 October 2024 a b Michaelis Tamar 8 September 2024 Three Israeli civilians shot dead at Allenby Crossing between West Bank and Jordan CNN 35 year old man dies of injuries day after Hadera terror stabbing The Times of Israel 10 October 2024 Avni Idan 2 October 2024 tragdia beafula nisim zarka nifter bemamad bemehalech mitkafat hatilim me iran טרגדיה בעפולה ניסים זרקה נפטר בממ ד במהלך מתקפת הטילים מאיראן Tragedy in Afula Nissim Zarka died in the MMD during the missile attack from Iran Israel Hayom in Hebrew Retrieved 9 October 2024 83 year old woman killed in Herzliya terror stabbing attacker is ex Shin Bet informant The Times of Israel 27 December 2024 Man faints dies following siren in central Israel Israel National News 21 December 2024 It s not the damage it s the terror Israeli settlers run riot after ceasefire deal The Guardian 23 January 2025 a b Fabian Emanuel 8 October 2023 Authorities name 715 soldiers 66 police officers killed in Gaza war The Times of Israel Archived from the original on 8 October 2023 Retrieved 29 May 2024 Fabian Emanuel 3 November 2024 IDF soldier killed by grenade explosion in Gaza Military Police probing circumstances The Times of Israel Retrieved 9 November 2024 IDF suicide rate rises amid ongoing war and mass reservist call ups The Times of Israel 2 January 2025 Amid multi front war IDF sees 891 soldiers killed 38 suicides over 2 years The Jerusalem Post 2 January 2025 2 soldiers killed 8 wounded as crane collapses on troops in Gaza due to strong winds The Times of Israel 6 February 2025 Benson Pesach 22 January 2024 13 572 Israelis injured since Oct 7 Jewish News Syndicate Retrieved 24 May 2024 More than 13 500 Israelis wounded from the war since October 7 2023 Report Al Jazeera 31 December 2024 Retrieved 31 December 2024 The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation has reported that the rehabilitation department of Israel s Defence Ministry receives about 1 000 new people each month who have been wounded from the war Since October 7 2023 more than 13 500 Israelis have been injured and admitted for treatment at the rehabilitation department the broadcaster reported in a post on social media Of those wounded 51 percent are under the age of 30 years and 43 percent of the total are dealing with psychological reactions the broadcaster said Suicides soar among Israeli soldiers since Gaza war began Al Jazeera 2 January 2025 Retrieved 2 January 2025 According to figures released by the army at least 891 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 5 569 others wounded since the outbreak of the war on Gaza Ragad Abdelali Irvine Brown Richard Garman Benedict Seddon Sean 24 November 2023 How Hamas built a force to attack Israel on 7 October BBC News Retrieved 28 December 2023 Who are Hamas s allies in Gaza From Islamic Jihad to Marxist militants The National 15 November 2023 Retrieved 19 November 2023 Filiu Jean Pierre 18 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Pour Into Southern Gaza Voice of America 29 December 2023 Lev Gid on 27 February 2024 The tragedy of Israel s 135 000 displaced citizens Haaretz Archived from the original on 8 October 2024 Retrieved 19 May 2024 Dannenbaum Tom Dill Janina 2024 International Law in Gaza Belligerent Intent and Provisional Measures American Journal of International Law 118 4 659 683 doi 10 1017 ajil 2024 53 Dumper Michael Badran Amneh 2024 Introduction In Dumper Michael Badran Amneh eds Routledge Handbook on Palestine 1st ed Routledge doi 10 4324 9781003031994 ISBN 9781003031994 In this context we should not overlook the latest turning point in the history of Palestine the attack by Hamas on 7th October 2023 on Israeli settlements adjacent to Gaza and the subsequent genocidal war that the state of Israel has carried out in the Gaza stripSperi Alice 20 December 2024 Defining genocide how a rift over Gaza sparked a crisis among scholars Guardian Retrieved 23 December 2024 Narea Nicole 25 October 2024 Is Israel committing genocide Reexamining the question a year later Vox Archived from the original on 27 October 2024 Retrieved 28 October 2024 Albanese Francesca 25 March 2024 Anatomy of a Genocide Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 Francesca Albanese PDF Report United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories p 1 By analysing the patterns of violence and Israeli policies in its onslaught on Gaza the present report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating that Israel has committed genocide has been metAmnesty International 2024 You Feel Like You Are Subhuman Israel s Genocide Against Palestinians In Gaza PDF Report p 13 Archived PDF from the original on 5 December 2024 This report focuses on the Israeli authorities policies and actions in Gaza as part of the military offensive they launched in the wake of the Hamas led attacks on 7 October 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