| Timeline of the Israel–Hamas war | |
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The Israel–Hamas war began on 7 October 2023 when Hamas launched an unprecedented multi-faceted and sustained assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip. [1] As of 5 March 2024, over 31,000 people (30,228 Palestinian [2] and 1,410 Israeli [10] ) have been reported as killed in the Israel–Hamas war, including 94 journalists (89 Palestinian, 2 Israeli and 3 Lebanese) and over 136 UNRWA aid workers. [11] [12]
On 7 October 2023, 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 764 civilians, were killed, and 248 persons taken hostage during the initial attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. [3] [13] [14] Since then, over 30,228 Palestinians (the majority of whom were women and children) in the Gaza Strip have been killed according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The total death toll in Gaza is presumed to be higher than reported, [15] [16] with thousands remaining unaccounted for, including those trapped under rubble. [17] [18]
The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between combatant and civilian casualties in its reports. Hamas themselves have said they believe they have lost 6,000 fighters in the war, [19] while the IDF claims up to 12,000 Hamas combatants were killed in Gaza as of 19 February 2024. [20] [21] A further 382 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank by Israel military and settlers. [22] Casualties have also occurred in other parts of Israel, as well as in southern Lebanon, and Syria. [23] Some developments may become known or understood only in retrospect, so this is not an exhaustive list. Events on the ground for which the precise time is known are in Israel Summer Time (UTC+3) until October 29 when Israel Standard Time (UTC+2) resumed.
The Gaza–Israel conflict is a localized part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict beginning in 1948, when 200,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes, settling in the Gaza Strip as refugees. Since then, Israel has fought 15 wars against the Gaza Strip. The number of Gazans killed in the most recent 2023 war — 27,000 — is higher than the death toll of all other wars of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Hannibal Directive is the name of a controversial procedure that was used by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) until 2016 to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces. According to one version, it says that "the kidnapping must be stopped by all means, even at the price of striking and harming our own forces." It was introduced in 1986, after a number of abductions of IDF soldiers in Lebanon and subsequent controversial prisoner exchanges. The full text of the directive was never published, and until 2003, Israeli military censorship forbade any discussion of the subject in the press. The directive has been changed several times, until it was officially revoked in 2016 by IDF chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot. The Directive's replacement has not been published.
Mass civilian casualties of Israeli bombing, shelling and rocket attacks on the Gaza Strip have occurred in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in which Israeli bombing attacks on the Gaza Strip cause numerous civilian fatalities. The reason for such operations is purportedly to carry out targeted assassinations of militants from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other groups seen to be a threat to Israel, whose Shin Bet data banks monitor thousands of Palestinians for targeting. Israel regards such cases as either unfortunate errors, the consequence of civilians being used to shield militants, or as acceptable collateral damage.
Events of the year 2023 in Israel.
Events in 2023 in the Palestinian territories.
An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in and around the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. After clearing Hamas militants from its territory, the Israeli military embarked on an extensive aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip followed by a large-scale ground invasion beginning on 27 October. Clashes have also occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and with Hezbollah along the Israel–Lebanon border. The fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, it is part of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and the most significant military escalation in the region since the Yom Kippur War 50 years earlier.
On 8 October 2023, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, taking advantage of the Israel–Hamas war, fired guided rockets and artillery shells at Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms. Israel retaliated by launching drone strikes and artillery shells at Hezbollah positions near Lebanon's boundary with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The outbreak of the conflict had followed Hezbollah's declaration of support and praise for the Hamas attack on Israel, which took place on 7 October. Clashes subsequently escalated to reach other parts of the Israel-Lebanon border and onto Syria and the occupied Golan Heights. It is currently the largest escalation of the Hezbollah–Israel conflict to have occurred since the 2006 Lebanon War.
On 9 October 2023, Israel intensified the blockade of the Gaza Strip in response to the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war and attacks in Israel by Hamas militants. Israel announced a "total blockade", blocking the entry of food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity. Israel has said that the Gaza Strip blockade would not be lifted until the hostages, who were abducted by Hamas, are safely returned to their homes. Hamas had announced that it would release all Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of all Palestinian prisoners by Israel. On 18 October 2023, United States President Joe Biden announced that Israel and Egypt had agreed to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, with the first supplies entering on 21 October 2023. The blockade resulted in a humanitarian crisis.
On 27 October 2023, Israel launched an ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip with the stated goals of destroying Hamas, a military and political movement that led an attack on Israel earlier in the month, and to free hostages taken by the group. Before the invasion, dubbed Operation Swords of Iron, Israel declared war, tightened its blockade, and ordered the evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip.
Since the start of the Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, the UN Human Rights Council has identified "clear evidence" of war crimes by both Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces. 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 OHCHR called for an independent court to review potential war crimes committed by both sides.
As of January 30, 2024, the Israel–Hamas conflict has claimed the lives of at least 85 journalists, with 78 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 3 Lebanese casualties. This toll, along with other acts of violence targeting journalists, marks the deadliest period for journalists in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict since 1992 and the deadliest commencement of a war for journalists in the 21st century. On 30 January 2024, the head of the Committee to Protect Journalists stated, "Israel's war on Gaza is more deadly to journalists than any previous war". Israeli airstrikes additionally damaged or destroyed an estimated 48 media facilities in Gaza. Reporters Without Borders has reported that the Israeli army intentionally targeted Palestinian and Lebanese journalists. In 2023, nearly 75% of world wide killed journalists died in Israel’s war in Gaza.
Since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war on October 7, 2023, Israel has carried out mass arrests and detentions of Palestinians. Thousands have been arrested in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel, based on alleged militant activity, offensive social media postings, or arbitrarily.
Events of the year 2024 in Israel.
The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2024.
Since the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war, which has mostly been confined to southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, a number of armed clashes and standoffs have been reported in other parts of the Middle East, particularly involving Shia Islamist militias backed by Iran. There has been speculation that any escalation of these incidents, specifically between Israel and Hezbollah—an Iranian-backed Shia militia which is based in southern Lebanon and which is more powerful than the Lebanese Armed Forces —could bring the entire region into a full-scale military conflict. In addition to the Israel–Hezbollah conflict, the Iranian-backed Houthi militia—which controls parts of northern Yemen, but is not internationally recognized as the country's government —became directly involved in the conflict by firing missiles at Israeli cities, albeit on a limited scale; the Houthis have since focused more on seizing civilian cargo ships passing through the Red Sea in order to inflict economic losses on Israel and the global economy, evoking American and British airstrikes against Houthi-controlled Yemen. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have also mounted numerous attacks against American military bases in the region; these confrontations have increasingly escalated tensions between long-time adversaries Iran and the United States, especially after the 2024 Iranian missile strikes in Iraq and Syria. In the West Bank, over 100 Palestinians have been killed in armed confrontations with Israeli soldiers and Israeli settlers, as violence in the territory increased drastically following the Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Six soldiers have also been killed in attacks claimed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Hezbollah terror group on the border with Lebanon since the fighting started. One soldier was killed in a West Bank terror attack. The military's list also includes a soldier killed by friendly fire in the West Bank, a soldier killed due to malfunctioning ammunition on the Lebanon border, and two soldiers killed in a tank accident in northern Israel.
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