List of wars involving Israel

See also: List of Israel Defense Forces operations and List of conflicts in the southern Levant

This is a list of wars and other major military engagements involving Israel. Since its declaration of independence in May 1948, the State of Israel has fought various wars with its neighbouring Arab states, two major Palestinian Arab uprisings known as the First Intifada and the Second Intifada (see Israeli–Palestinian conflict), and a broad series of other armed engagements rooted in the Arab–Israeli conflict.

Wars and other conflicts

Israel has been involved in a number of wars and large-scale military operations, including:

• 1948 Arab–Israeli War (November 1947 – July 1949) – Started as 6 months of civil war between Jewish and Arab militias when the mandate period in Palestine was ending and turned into a regular war after the establishment of Israel and the intervention of several Arab armies. In its conclusion, a set of agreements were signed between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, called the 1949 Armistice Agreements, which established the armistice lines between Israel and its neighbours, also known as the Green Line .
• Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency (1950s–1960s) – Palestinian attacks and reprisal operations carried out by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1950s and 1960s. These actions were in response to constant fedayeen incursions during which Arab guerrillas infiltrated from Syria, Egypt, and Jordan into Israel to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. The policy of the reprisal operations was exceptional due to Israel's declared aim of getting a high 'blood cost' among the enemy side which was believed to be necessary in order to deter them from committing future attacks.
• Suez Crisis (October 1956) – A military attack on Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel, beginning on 29 October 1956, with the intention to occupy the Sinai Peninsula and to take over the Suez Canal. The attack followed Egypt's decision of 26 July 1956 to nationalize the Suez Canal after the withdrawal of an offer by Britain and the United States to fund the building of the Aswan Dam. Although the Israeli invasion of the Sinai was successful, the United States and USSR forced it to retreat. Even so, Israel managed to re-open the Straits of Tiran and pacified its southern border.
• Six-Day War (June 1967) – Fought between Israel and Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The nations of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria, and others also contributed troops and arms to the Arab forces. Following the war, the territory held by Israel expanded significantly ("The Purple Line") : The West Bank (including East Jerusalem) from Jordan, Golan Heights from Syria, Sinai and Gaza from Egypt.
• War of Attrition (1967–1970) – A limited war fought between the Israeli military and forces of the Egyptian Republic, the USSR, Jordan, Syria, and the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1967 to 1970. It was initiated by the Egyptians as a way of recapturing the Sinai from the Israelis, who had been in control of the territory since the mid-1967 Six-Day War. The hostilities ended with a ceasefire signed between the countries in 1970 with frontiers remaining in the same place as when the war began.
• Yom Kippur War (October 1973) – Fought from 6 to 26 October 1973 by a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel as a way of recapturing part of the territories which they lost to the Israelis back in the Six-Day War. The war began with a surprise joint attack by Egypt and Syria on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Egypt and Syria crossed the cease-fire lines in the Sinai and Golan Heights, respectively. Eventually Arab forces were defeated by Israel and there were no significant territorial changes.
• Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon (1971–1982) – The PLO relocated to South Lebanon from Jordan, staged attacks on the Galilee, and used South Lebanon as a base for international operations. In 1978, Israel launched Operation Litani – the first Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which was carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in order to expel PLO forces from the territory. Continuing ground and rocket attacks, and Israeli retaliations, eventually escalate into the 1982 War.
• 1982 Lebanon War (1982) – Began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon to expel the PLO from the territory. The Government of Israel ordered the invasion as a response to the assassination attempt against Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, by the Abu Nidal Organization and due to the constant terror attacks on northern Israel made by the Palestinian guerrilla organizations which resided in Lebanon. The war resulted in the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon and created an Israeli Security Zone in southern Lebanon.
• South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000) – Nearly 18 years of warfare between the Israel Defense Forces and its Lebanese Christian proxy militias against Lebanese Muslim guerrilla, led by Iranian-backed Hezbollah, within what was defined by Israelis as the "Security Zone" in South Lebanon.
• First Intifada (1987–1993) – First large-scale Palestinian uprising against Israel in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
• Second Intifada (2000–2005) – Second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified violence, which began in late September 2000.
• Israel–Hezbollah War (2006) – Began as a military operation in response to the abduction of two Israeli reserve soldiers by the Hezbollah. The operation gradually strengthened, to become a wider confrontation. The principal participants were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israeli military. The conflict started on 12 July 2006 and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect on 14 August 2006, though it formally ended on 8 September 2006, when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon. The war resulted in a stalemate.
• Gaza War or Operation Cast Lead (December 2008 – January 2009) – Three-week armed conflict between Israel and Hamas during the winter of 2008–2009. In an escalation of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israel responded to ongoing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip with military force in an action titled "Operation Cast Lead". Israel opened the attack with a surprise air strike on 27 December 2008. Israel's stated aim was to stop such rocket fire from and the import of arms into Gaza. Israeli forces attacked military and civilian targets, police stations, and government buildings in the opening assault. Israel declared an end to the conflict on 18 January and completed its withdrawal on 21 January 2009.
• 2012 Gaza War or Operation Pillar of Defense (November 2012) – Military offensive on the Gaza Strip. ^[1]
• 2014 Gaza War or Operation Protective Edge (July–August 2014) – Military offensive on the Gaza Strip as a response to the collapse of American-sponsored peace talks, attempts by rival Palestinian factions to form a coalition government, the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, the subsequent kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian teenager, and increased rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas militants. ^[2]
• Syrian Civil War and the Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war.
• 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis or Operation Guardian of the Walls (May 2021) – Riots between Jews and Arabs in Israeli cities. Hamas fired rockets into Israel, with Iron Dome intercepting the most dangerous projectiles. Israel began airstrikes in Gaza.
• Gaza war or Operation Iron Swords (October 2023–present) – After a Palestinian incursion from the Gaza Strip into Southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel responded with a devastating bombing campaign and invaded the Strip. The war has created a humanitarian crisis in the Strip, including an ongoing famine.
• Israeli invasion of Lebanon or Operation Northern Arrows (September 2024–present).

Table

Conflicts considered as wars by the Israeli Ministry of Defense (as they were named by Israel in small text) are marked in bold.

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Results	Israeli commanders			Israeli losses
				Israeli Prime Minister	Defense Minister of Israel	Chief of Staff of the IDF	IDF forces	Civilians
1948 Palestine war War of Independence (1947–1949)	Yishuv (before 14 May 1948)   Israel (after 14 May 1948) Before 26 May 1948: Haganah Palmach Hish Corps HIM Corps Irgun Lehi Druze militants [3] [4] Allied Bedouin tribes [5] [6] After 26 May 1948: Israel Defense Forces IDF Minorities Unit Foreign volunteers: Mahal	Arab Higher Committee (before 15 May 1948)   Arab League (after 15 May 1948) Arab Liberation Army Holy War Army Al-Najjada Egypt All-Palestine Protectorate (after 22 September 1948) Transjordan Syria Iraq   Lebanon   Saudi Arabia   Yemen   United Kingdom   Mandatory Palestine (before 15 May 1948)	Victory Arab League invasion of former Mandatory Palestine repelled. Armistice Agreements; Israel captured 50% of area allotted to Arab state.	David Ben-Gurion		Yaakov Dori	4,074 [7]	~2,000 [7]
Suez Crisis Sinai War (1956)	Israel United Kingdom France	Egypt	Victory Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip until March 1957			Moshe Dayan	231	None
Six-Day War (1967)	Israel	Egypt   Syria   Jordan Iraq [8] Minor involvement:   Lebanon [9]	Victory Israel occupies a total of 70,000 km2 (27,000 sq mi) of territory: [10] The Golan Heights from Syria The West Bank including East Jerusalem from Jordan The Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt [11] [12]	Levi Eshkol	Moshe Dayan	Yitzhak Rabin	776–983	20
War of Attrition (1967–1970)	Israel	Egypt   Soviet Union   Kuwait [13] PLO   Jordan   Syria [14]   Cuba	Inconclusive Both sides claimed victory Continued Israeli occupation of Sinai. Black September in Jordan	Golda Meir		Haim Bar-Lev	1,424 [15]	227 [16]
Yom Kippur War (1973)	Israel	Egypt Syria Expeditionary forces   Saudi Arabia [17] [ page needed ]   Algeria [18]   Jordan Libya Iraq   Kuwait [19]   Tunisia [20]   Morocco [21]   Cuba [22]   North Korea [23] [24]	Victory [25] At the final ceasefire: Egyptian forces held 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi) on the eastern bank of the canal. [26] Israeli forces held 1,600 km2 (620 sq mi) on the western bank of the canal. [27] Israeli forces held 500 km2 (193 sq mi) of the Syrian Bashan region of the Golan Heights.
1978 South Lebanon conflict Operation Litani (1978)	Israel FLA	PLO	Victory PLO retreat from South Lebanon.	Menachem Begin	Ezer Weizman	Mordechai Gur	18	None
1982 Lebanon War First Lebanon War / Operation Peace Galilee (1982)	Israel SLA Lebanese Front	PLO Syria Jammoul Amal	"Tactical victories, strategic failure" [28] PLO expulsion from Lebanon. [29]		Ariel Sharon	Rafael Eitan	657	2–3
South Lebanon conflict Security Zone Campagin (1982–2000)	Israel SLA	Hezbollah Amal Jammoul	Defeat [30] Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. [31]	Shimon Peres	Yitzhak Rabin	Moshe Levi	559	7
First Intifada (1987–1993)	Israel	UNLU Hamas	Oslo I Accord Palestinian Authority established.	Yitzhak Shamir		Dan Shomron	60	100
Second Intifada (2000–2005)	Israel	PA Hamas	Victory Palestinian uprising suppressed. [32]	Ariel Sharon	Shaul Mofaz	Moshe Ya'alon	301	773
2006 Lebanon War Second Lebanon War / Operation Just Reward (2006)	Israel	Hezbollah	Stalemate Ceasefire through UNSCR 1701	Ehud Olmert	Amir Peretz	Dan Halutz	121	44
Gaza War Operation Cast Lead (2008–2009)	Israel	Hamas	Victory Rocket fire from Gaza reduced.		Ehud Barak	Gabi Ashkenazi	10	3
Gaza War Operation Pillar of Defense (2012)	Israel	Hamas	Victory Cessation of rocket fire into Israel.	Benjamin Netanyahu		Benny Gantz	2	4
Gaza War Operation Protective Edge (2014)	Israel	Hamas	Both sides claim victory Destruction of Hamas war tunnels.		Moshe Ya'alon		67	6
Israel–Palestine crisis (2021)	Israel	Hamas	Both sides claim victory Truce declared		Benny Gantz	Aviv Kochavi	1	14
Gaza war Operation Iron Swords (2023–present)	Israel	Hamas Palestinian Joint Operations Room Hezbollah Houthi Movement Islamic Resistance in Iraq Iran	Ongoing		Yoav Gallant (until November 2024) Israel Katz (currently)	Herzi Halevi	978+	956+
Israel–Hezbollah conflict Operation Northern Arrows (2023–present)	Israel	Hezbollah	Ongoing				65+	19+

Other armed conflicts involving the IDF

Main article: List of Israel Defense Forces operations

See also

• Israel portal
• Palestine portal
• Lists portal

• History of the Israel Defense Forces
• History of the Israeli Air Force
• Iran–Israel proxy conflict
• Israeli casualties of war
• Jewish military history
• List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
• List of wars involving the State of Palestine
• Outline of the Gaza war
• Timeline of Israeli history
• History of the Arab–Israeli conflict
• Violent conflicts involving the Yishuv

References

1. "Q&A: Israel-Gaza violence". BBC News. 19 November 2012.
2. "Israel and Hamas Trade Attacks as Tension Rises". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
3. Nisan, Mordechai (2015). Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 284. ISBN   978-0-7864-5133-3. This Jewish-Druze partnership was often referred to as a "covenant of blood," in recognition of the common military yoke carried by the two peoples for the security of the country.
4. "The Druze in Israel: Questions of Identity, Citizenship, and Patriotism" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
5. Palestine Post, "Israel's Bedouin Warriors", Gene Dison, August 12, 1948
6. AFP (24 April 2013). "Bedouin army trackers scale Israel social ladder". Al Arabiya. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
7. Sandler, Stanley (2002). Ground Warfare: An International Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 160. ISBN   9781576073445.
8. Krauthammer, Charles (18 May 2007). "Prelude to the Six Days". The Washington Post. p. A23. ISSN   0740-5421. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
9. Oren (2002), p. 237.
10. Arnold, Guy (2016). Wars in the Third World Since 1945. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 299. ISBN   9781474291019.
11. "Milestones: 1961–1968". Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 23 October 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2018. Between June 5 and June 10, Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria and occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights
12. Weill, Sharon (2007). "The judicial arm of the occupation: the Israeli military courts in the occupied territories". International Review of the Red Cross. 89 (866): 401. doi:10.1017/s1816383107001142. ISSN   1816-3831. S2CID   55988443. On 7 June 1967, the day the occupation started, Military Proclamation No. 2 was issued, endowing the area commander with full legislative, executive, and judicial authorities over the West Bank and declaring that the law in force prior to the occupation remained in force as long as it did not contradict new military orders.
13. Tucker, Spencer; Roberts, Priscilla (2008). The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 596. ISBN   9781851098422.
14. "The War: Lebanon and Syria". Dover.idf.il. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
15. Lorch, Netanel (2 September 2003). "The Arab-Israeli Wars". Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 9 March 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2007.
16. Schiff, Zeev, A History of the Israeli Army (1870–1974), Straight Arrow Books (San Francisco, 1974) p. 246, ISBN   0-87932-077-X
17. O'Ballance (1979).
18. Shazly (2003), p. 278.
19. Rabinovich (2004), pp. 464–465.
20. Hussain, Hamid (November 2002). "Opinion: The Fourth round – A Critical Review of 1973 Arab–Israeli War". Defence Journal. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009.
21. Mahjoub Tobji (2006). Les officiers de Sa Majesté: Les dérives des généraux marocains 1956–2006 (in French). Fayard. p. 107. ISBN   978-2-213-63015-1.
22. Ra'anan, G. D. (1981). The Evolution of the Soviet Use of Surrogates in Military Relations with the Third World, with Particular Emphasis on Cuban Participation in Africa. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation. p. 37
23. Shazly (2003), pp. 83–84.
24. Cenciotti, David. "Israeli F-4s Actually Fought North Korean MiGs During the Yom Kippur War". Business Insider.
25. References:
    • Herzog, The War of Atonement, Little, Brown and Company, 1975. Forward
    • Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, Yom Kippur War, Doubleday and Company, Inc, 1974, page 450
    • Luttwak and Horowitz, The Israeli Army. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Abt Books, 1983
    • Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, Schocken Books, 2004. Page 498
    • Revisiting The Yom Kippur War, P. R. Kumaraswamy, pages 1–2 ISBN   0-313-31302-4
    • Johnson and Tierney, Failing To Win, Perception of Victory and Defeat in International Politics. Page 177
    • Charles Liebman, The Myth of Defeat: The Memory of the Yom Kippur war in Israeli Society ^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}Middle Eastern Studies, Vol 29, No. 3, July 1993. Published by Frank Cass, London. Page 411.
26. Rabinovich (2004), p. 467.
27. Morris (2011), p. 437.
28. Eligar Sadeh Militarization and State Power in the Arab–Israeli Conflict: Case Study of Israel, 1948–1982 Universal-Publishers, 1997 p.119.
29. References:
    • Armies in Lebanon 1982–84, Samuel Katz and Lee E. Russell, Osprey Men-At-Arms series No. 165, 1985
    • Hirst, David (2010). Beware of Small States. NationBooks. pp. 144–145. ISBN   978-1-56858-657-1. In time, however, Arafat and his guerrilla leadership decided that they would have to withdraw, leaving no military and very little political or symbolic presence behind. Their enemy's firepower and overall strategic advantage were too great and it was apparently ready to use them to destroy the whole city over the heads of its inhabitants. The rank and file did not like this decision, and there were murmurings of 'treason' from some of Arafat's harsher critics. Had they not already held out, far longer than any Arab country in any former war, against all that the most powerful army in the Middle East – and the fourth most powerful in the world, according to Sharon – could throw against them? (...) But [Palestinians] knew that, if they expected too much, they could easily lose [Lebanese Muslim support] again. 'If this had been Jerusalem', they said, 'we would have stayed to the end. But Beirut is not outs to destroy.
30. Helmer, Daniel Isaac. Flipside of the Coin: Israel's Lebanese Incursion Between 1982–2000. DIANE Publishing, 2010.
31. References:
    • "Land for Peace Timeline". British-Israeli Communications & Research Centre. 2006. Archived from the original on 22 December 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
    • "Hezbollah 101: Who is the militant group, and what does it want?". Christian Science Monitor. 19 July 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012. Iran has also played an instrumental role in building up Hezbollah's military capabilities over the years, which enabled the group's impressive military wing to oust Israel from south Lebanon in 2000
32. Sources:
    • Amos Harel; Avi Issacharoff (1 October 2010). "Years of Rage". Haaretz . Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Laura King (28 September 2004). "Losing faith in the intifada". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Jackson Diehl (27 September 2004). "From Jenin to Falluja". The Washington Post . Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Zeev Chafetz (22 July 2004). "The Intifadeh is over – just listen". World Jewish Review. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Major-General (res) Yaakov Amidror (23 August 2010). "Winning the counterinsurgency war: The Israeli experience". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs . Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Hillel Frisch (12 January 2009). "The need for a decisive Israeli victory over Hamas" (PDF). Begin–Sadat Center for Strategic Studies . Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Lieutenant Colonel Ofek Bouchriss; Dr. Wallace A. Terrill (15 March 2006). "The "Defensive Shield" Operation as a Turning Point in Israel's National Security Strategy". United States Army War College . Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Charles Krauthammer (18 June 2004). "Israel's Intifada Victory". The Washington Post . p. A29. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Sever Plocker (22 June 2008). "2nd Intifada forgotten". Ynetnews . Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Moshe Yaalon (January 2007). "Lessons from the Palestinian "war" against Israel" (PDF). Washington Institute for Near East Policy. pp. 14–15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2007.
    • Yoaz Hendel (20 September 2010). "Letting the IDF win". Ynetnews . Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Yossi Klein Halevi; Michael B. Oren (20 September 2004). "Israel's unexpected victory over terrorism". World Jewish Review. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    • Zvi Shtauber; Yiftah Shapir (2006). The Middle East strategic balance, 2004–2005. Sussex Academic Press. p. 7. ISBN   978-1-84519-108-5 . Retrieved 12 February 2012.

Bibliography

• Morris, Benny (25 May 2011). Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN   978-0-307-78805-4.
• O'Ballance, Edgar (1979). No Victor, No Vanquished: The Yom Kippur War (1979 ed.). Barrie & Jenkins. pp. 28–370. ISBN   978-0-214-20670-2.
• Oren, Michael B. (2002). Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East . Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-515174-9.
• Rabinovich, Abraham (2004). The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East. New York: Schocken Books. ISBN   978-0-8052-4176-1.
• Shazly, Lieutenant General Saad el (2003). The Crossing of the Suez, Revised Edition (revised ed.). American Mideast Research. ISBN   978-0-9604562-2-2.

External links

• Israel's Wars at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Israel's Wars & Operations at the Jewish Virtual Library