Israel–Hamas war
Ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups[ad] has been taking place in the Gaza Strip and Israel since 7 October 2023. It is the fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.[146] It is the deadliest war for Palestinians in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,[147] and has sparked an ongoing Middle Eastern crisis.
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The war began when Hamas-led militant groups launched a surprise attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which involved a rocket barrage and a few thousand militants breaching the Gaza–Israel barrier, attacking Israeli civilian communities and military bases. During this attack, 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, including 815 civilians.[93][ae] In addition, 251 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive into Gaza, with the stated goal to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners and detainees.[148][149] Hamas said its attack was in response to Israel's policies, including its blockade of Gaza, actions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and expansion of settlements and occupation.[150][151][152] After clearing militants from its territory, Israel launched one of the most destructive bombing campaigns in modern history[153][154] and invaded Gaza on 27 October with the stated objectives of destroying Hamas and freeing hostages.[155][156]
Since the start of the Israeli offensive, over 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed,[af] most of them women and children,[28][157][158] with thousands more dead under the rubble.[159][160] More than 100,000 Palestinians have also been injured,[161] resulting in the world's highest rate of child amputees.[162] Israel's tightened blockade cut off basic necessities and attacks on infrastructure have destroyed Gaza's healthcare system and caused a severe hunger crisis, with a high risk of famine persisting as of November 2024[update].[163][164] By early 2024, Israeli forces had destroyed or damaged over half of Gaza's houses,[165] at least a third of its tree cover and farmland,[166][167] most of its schools and universities,[168][169] hundreds of cultural landmarks,[170] and at least a dozen cemeteries.[171] Nearly all of the strip's 2.3 million Palestinian population have been forcibly displaced.[172][173] Over 100,000 Israelis were internally displaced as of February 2024.[174] Throughout the war, Israel assassinated several Hamas leaders in and outside of Gaza. Torture and sexual violence were committed by Palestinian militant groups and Israeli forces.[175]
The war continues to have significant regional and international repercussions. Large, primarily pro-Palestinian protests have taken place across the world, calling for a ceasefire. Various experts and human rights organizations have characterized the events in Gaza as genocide.[176] A case accusing Israel of committing genocide is being reviewed by the International Court of Justice, while the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.[177] Israel received extensive military and diplomatic support from the United States, which has vetoed multiple UN Security Council ceasefire resolutions.[178] The war has reverberated regionally, with groups of the Axis of Resistance launching attacks on American military bases, and the Yemeni Houthi movement attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea that incurred a US-led military operation.[179] Meanwhile, by the end of 2024, a year-long exchange of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into a brief Israeli invasion of Lebanon, before pausing after a ceasefire.[180] The crisis also saw the fall of the Assad regime and an ongoing Israeli invasion of Syria.
The war is referred to by different names. Israel calls it the 'War of Iron Swords' (Hebrew: מלחמת חרבות ברזל).[181][ag] Palestinian militant groups refer to it as the 'Battle of al-Aqsa Flood' (Arabic: معركة طوفان الأقصى), in reference to Operation al-Aqsa Flood.[184][185] Western media outlets have variably described it as the 'Israel–Gaza War'[186] or the 'Israel–Hamas War',[187] while others use 'War on Gaza'.[188] The Institute for the Study of War and researcher Seth Frantzman have used the term 'October 7 War'.[189][190] Some have rejected 'war' as an appropriate framework and call it the 'Gaza genocide',[191][192] 'second Nakba'[193] or 'Nakba 2023.'[194][195]
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.[146] The upcoming period witnessed two popular uprisings by Palestinians against the Israeli occupation; the First and Second Intifadas in 1987 and 2000 respectively,[197] with the latter's end seeing Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.[198][199]
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' takeover, Israel imposed a blockade of the Gaza Strip,[200][201] that significantly damaged its economy.[202] The blockade was justified by Israel citing security concerns,[203] but international rights groups have characterized the blockade as a form of collective punishment.[204][205][206] 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.[196][207]
Since 2007, Israel and Hamas, along with other Palestinian militant groups based in Gaza, have engaged in conflict,[203][201][208] including in four wars in 2008–2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021.[209][210] These conflicts killed approximately 6,400 Palestinians and 300 Israelis.[211][101][196] 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.[212][213] Soon after the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis began, Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, started planning the 7 October 2023 operation against Israel.[214][215] 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.[206]
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.[150][151][216] Numerous commentators have identified the broader context of Israeli occupation as a cause of the war.[217][218][219] The Associated Press wrote that Palestinians are "in despair over a never-ending occupation in the West Bank and suffocating blockade of Gaza".[220] Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International,[221] B'Tselem[222] and Human Rights Watch[223] have likened the Israeli occupation to apartheid, although supporters of Israel dispute this characterization.[224][225] 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.[226]
The attacks took place during the Jewish holidays of Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret on Shabbat,[227] and one day after the 50th anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War, which also began with a surprise attack on Israel.[220] At around 6:30 a.m. IDT (UTC+03:00) on 7 October 2023,[228] Hamas announced the start of what it called "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood", stating it had fired over 5,000 rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel within a span of 20 minutes. Israeli sources reported that at least 3,000 projectiles had been launched from Gaza. At least five people were killed by the rocket attacks.[229][230][231] Explosions were reported in areas surrounding the strip and in cities in the Sharon plain including Gedera, Herzliya,[232] Tel Aviv, and Ashkelon.[233]
Hamas employed tactics such as using aerial drones to disable Israeli observation posts, paragliders for infiltration into Israel, and motorcycles, which was unusual for Hamas.[234] In the evening, Hamas launched another barrage of 150 rockets towards Israel, with explosions reported in Yavne, Givatayim, Bat Yam, Beit Dagan, Tel Aviv, and Rishon LeZion.[230] Simultaneously, around 3,000 Hamas militants[68] infiltrated Israel from Gaza using trucks, motorcycles, bulldozers, speedboats, and paragliders.[220][228][235] They took over checkpoints at Kerem Shalom and Erez, and created openings in the border fence in five other places.[236] Hamas militants also carried out an amphibious landing in Zikim.[233][237]
Militants killed civilians at Nir Oz,[238] Be'eri, and Netiv HaAsara, and other agricultural communities, where they took hostages[239] and set fire to homes.[232] 52 civilians were killed in the Kfar Aza massacre, 108 in the Be'eri massacre (a loss of 10% of the kibbutz's population) and 15 in the Netiv HaAsara massacre.[240][241][242] In Sderot, gunmen targeted civilians and set houses ablaze. In Ofakim, hostages were taken during Hamas's deepest incursion.[243][242] In Be'eri, Hamas militants took up to 50 people hostage.[244] At least 325 people were killed and more injured at an outdoor music festival near Re'im and Hamas took at least 37 attendees hostage.[245][246][247] In total, 251 people were taken hostage during the attacks, mostly civilians.[244][248] Captives in Gaza included children, festivalgoers, peace activists, caregivers, elderly people, and soldiers.[249] Hamas militants also reportedly engaged in mutilation, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence.[250][251][252]
The 7 October attack was described as "an intelligence failure for the ages"[253] and a "failure of imagination" on the part of the Israeli government.[254] A BBC report on the intelligence failure commented that "it must have taken extraordinary levels of operational security by Hamas".[255] Israeli officials later anonymously reported to Axios that the IDF and Shin Bet had detected abnormal movements by Hamas the day before the attack, but decided to wait for additional intelligence before raising the military's alert level. They also did not inform political leaders of the intelligence reports.[256]
A briefing in The Economist noted that "the assault dwarf[ed] all other mass murders of Israeli civilians", reasoning that "the last time before October 7th that this many Jews were murdered on a single day was during the Holocaust."[242] 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.[150][151][216] Intelligence and security officials from multiple Western countries, along with Hamas political officials, claimed that the 7 October attack was a calculated effort to create a "permanent" state of war and revive interest in the Palestinian cause.[257][258]
After the initial breach of the Gaza perimeter by Palestinian militants, it took hours for the IDF to start its counter-attack.[259] The first helicopters sent to support the military were launched from the north of Israel, and arrived at the Gaza Strip an hour after fighting began.[246] They encountered difficulty in determining which outposts and communities were occupied, and distinguishing between Palestinian militants and the soldiers and civilians on the ground.[246] The helicopter crews initially sustained a high rate of fire, attacking approximately 300 targets in four hours. Later on the crews began to slow down the attacks and carefully select targets.[246] According to Haaretz's journalist, a police source said that a police investigation indicated an IDF helicopter which had fired on Hamas militants "apparently also hit some festival participants" in the Re'im music festival massacre.[245] The Israeli police denied the Haaretz report.[260]
A subsequent Israeli investigation claimed that militants had been instructed not to run so that the air force would think they were Israelis.[246] This deception worked for some time, but pilots began to realize the problem and ignore their restrictions. By around 9:00 am, some helicopters started laying down fire without prior authorization.[246]
A July 2024 Haaretz investigation revealed that the IDF ordered the Hannibal Directive to be used, adding: "Haaretz does not know whether or how many civilians and soldiers were hit due to these procedures, but the cumulative data indicates that many of the kidnapped people were at risk, exposed to Israeli gunfire, even if they were not the target." At 7:18 a.m., an observation post reported someone had been kidnapped at the Erez crossing, close to the IDF's liaison office.[261]
At 6:40 p.m. military intelligence believed militants were intending to flee back to Gaza in an organized manner from near Kibbutz Be'eri, Kfar Azza and Kissufim. In response the army launched artillery at the border fence area, very close to some of these communities. Shells were also fired at the Erez border crossing shortly thereafter. The IDF said it was not aware of any civilians being hurt in these bombardments.[261] 14 hostages were in the house of Pessi Cohen at Kibbutz Be'eri as the IDF attacked it, with 13 of them killed.[261]
Former Israeli Air Force officer Colonel Nof Erez said: "This was a mass Hannibal. It was tons and tons of openings in the fence, and thousands of people in every type of vehicle, some with hostages and some without." ABC News (Australia) said that not only soldiers but also Israeli civilians were targeted, citing testimonies from two incidents at Kibbutz Be'eri and Nir Oz.[262]
Six months later the IDF released a review exonerating itself, but it left many at Kibbutz Be'eri unsatisfied and contradicted the testimony from one of the survivors, Yasmin Porat, who told Israel's Kan radio on 15 October that Hamas gunmen had not threatened the hostages and instead intended to negotiate with police for their safe return to Gaza. She said an Israeli police special unit had started the gun battle by firing upon the house, catching "five or six" kibbutz residents outside in "very, very heavy crossfire". In the interview, she was asked: "So our forces may have shot them?" "Undoubtedly," she replied."[262]
The attack appeared to have been a complete surprise to the Israelis.[263] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency gathering of security authorities, and the IDF launched Operation Swords of Iron in the Gaza Strip.[264][230] In a televised broadcast, Netanyahu said, "We are at war".[235] 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.[265][150] Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conducted security assessments at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.[238][233] 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".[266] The Israel Electric Corporation, which supplies 80% of the Gaza Strip's electricity, cut off power to the area.[233] This reduced Gaza's power supply from 120 MW to 20 MW, provided by power plants paid for by the Palestinian Authority.[267]
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.[268]
The IDF declared a "state of readiness for war",[230] mobilized tens of thousands of army reservists,[228][233] and declared a state of emergency for areas within 80 kilometers (50 mi) of Gaza.[269] The Yamam counterterrorism unit was deployed,[270] along with four new divisions, augmenting 31 existing battalions.[220] Reservists were reported deployed in Gaza, in the West Bank, and along borders with Lebanon and Syria.[271]
Residents near Gaza were asked to stay inside, while civilians in southern and central Israel were "required to stay next to shelters".[233] The southern region of Israel was closed to civilian movement,[270] and roads were closed around Gaza[220] and Tel Aviv.[233] While Ben Gurion Airport and Ramon Airport remained operational, multiple airlines cancelled flights to and from Israel.[272] Israel Railways suspended service in parts of the country and replaced some routes with temporary bus routes,[273][274] while cruise lines removed the ports of Ashdod and Haifa from their itineraries.[275]
Following the surprise attack, the Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes that they said targeted Hamas compounds, command centers, tunnels, and other targets.[230][269][276] Israel employed its artificial intelligence Habsora ("The Gospel") software to automatically generate targets to be attacked.[277][278] Two days after the surprise attack, Israel said that 426 targets had been hit, including Beit Hanoun, homes of Hamas officials, a mosque, and the Watan Tower, an internet infrastructure hub.[276][279][280] Israel also rescued two hostages before declaring a state of war for the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.[281][282]
On 9 October, Defense Minister Gallant announced a "total" blockade of the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity and blocking the entry of food and fuel, saying "We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly".[283] This drew criticism from Human Rights Watch (HRW) who described the order as "abhorrent" and as a "call to commit a war crime" and accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions over Gaza in violation of international law.[284][285] On 10 October, an Israeli airstrike on a house in Deir al-Balah killed 18 people.[286] Gallant backed down from implementing a total blockade under pressure from US President Joe Biden and a deal was made on 19 October for Israel and Egypt to allow aid into Gaza.[287] The first aid convoy after the start of the war entered Gaza on 21 October 2023,[288] while fuel did not enter Gaza until November.[289]
On 13 October, the IDF called for the evacuation of all civilians in Gaza City to areas south of the Wadi Gaza[290] within 24 hours. The Hamas Authority for Refugee Affairs responded by telling residents in northern Gaza to "remain steadfast in your homes and stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation".[291] The statement by Israel faced widespread backlash with numerous agencies such as Doctors Without Borders, the World Health Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and others condemning it as "outrageous" and "impossible" while calling for an immediate reversal of the order.[292]
As a part of the order, the IDF announced a six-hour window from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time on 13 October, for refugees to flee south along specified routes within the Gaza Strip.[293] An explosion at 5:30 p.m. along one of the safe routes killed 70 Palestinians. Israel and Hamas blamed each other for the attack.[294]
The IDF said Hamas set up roadblocks to keep Gaza residents from evacuating south and caused traffic jams.[295] Israeli officials stated this was done to use civilians as "human shields", which Hamas denied.[296] A number of countries and international organizations condemned what they called Hamas's use of hospitals and civilians as human shields.[297]
On 17 October, Israel bombed areas of southern Gaza.[298] Gazan Ministry of Health officials reported heavy overnight bombing killing over 70 people, including families who had evacuated from Gaza City in the north.[299] One of the airstrikes killed a senior Hamas military commander Ayman Nofal.[300] In the afternoon, an Israeli strike hit a UNRWA school in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, killing six and injuring 12.[301] 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 cause of the explosion was disputed by Hamas and the IDF, and the ongoing conflict prevented independent on-site analysis.[302] 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.[303] The PIJ denied any involvement.[304][305]
The cause of the explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is contested. In the days after the blast, US, Canadian, French and UK defense and intelligence services concluded it was caused by an errant Palestinian rocket.[306] Channel 4 news cast doubt on Israeli claims of a misfired Hamas rocket being responsible for the blast.[307][308] The Associated Press,[309] CNN,[310] The Economist, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal[311] concluded a Palestinian missile was the most likely explanation for the blast. In late November, an analysis by Human Rights Watch indicated the evidence pointed to a misfired Palestinian rocket as the cause, but stated that further investigation was required.[312] Forensic Architecture's investigation, as reported by The New York Times, Bloomberg News, BBC News, and El País, disputed Israel's account, concluding instead that the blast was the result of a munition fired from the direction of Israel.[313] A second report by Forensic Architecture took into account the situated testimony of doctors, survivors, and journalists on the ground, as well as photogrammetry and 3D reconstruction, and gave additional credibility to the incident being an Israeli attack instead of a misfired Palestinian rocket.[314] In April 2024 The New Yorker, citing investigations from Earshot and Forensic Architecture, highlighted doubts about a Palestinian rocket involvement and noted the IDF's role in fostering uncertainty through misinformation.[315][316]
On 27 October, the IDF launched a large-scale, multi-pronged ground incursion into parts of northern Gaza. The IDF was building up a force of over 100,000 soldiers in the cities of Ashkelon, Sderot and Kiryat Gat. Clashes between Hamas and the IDF were reported near Beit Hanoun and Bureij.[317][318] Israeli airstrikes targeted the area around al-Quds hospital,[319] where around 14,000 civilians were believed to be sheltering in or near the hospital.[319] Associated Press reported that Israeli airstrikes also destroyed roads leading to Al-Shifa hospital, making it increasingly difficult to reach.[320] The following day, the IDF struck Jabalia refugee camp, killing 50 and wounding 150 Palestinians. Israel said a senior Hamas commander and dozens of militants in an underground tunnel complex were among those killed. Hamas denied the presence of a senior commander on the scene.[321][322][323] The nearby Indonesia Hospital's surgical director said they had received 120 dead bodies and treated 280 wounded, the majority of them women and children.[324] The attack resulted in several ambassador recalls.[325][326][327]
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."[328] On 1 November, the first group of evacuees left Gaza for Egypt. 500 evacuees, comprising critically wounded and foreign nationals, would be evacuated over the course of several days, with 200 evacuees already waiting at the border crossing.[329] On the same day, the Jabalia refugee camp was bombed for a second time.[330][331]
On 3 November, Israel struck an ambulance convoy directly in front of Al-Shifa Hospital, killing at least 15 people and injuring 60 more.[332][333] The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said one of its ambulances was struck "by a missile fired by the Israeli forces" about two meters from the entrance to al-Shifa hospital.[333] The PRCS said another ambulance was fired on about a kilometer from the hospital.[333] The next day, a UNRWA spokeswoman confirmed reports that Israel had conducted an airstrike against a UN-run school in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing 15 people.[334]
On 18 November Israeli strikes killed over 80 people in Jabalia refugee camp.[335] Israel also attacked a clearly marked Médecins Sans Frontières convoy, killing two aid workers.[336] On 22 November, Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire agreement, providing for a four-day pause[337] in hostilities to allow for the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza.[337][338] The deal also provided for the release of approximately 150 Palestinian women and children incarcerated by Israel.[338]
Following the introduction of a Qatari-brokered truce on 24 November, starting at 7:00 am Israel time, active fighting in the Gaza Strip ceased and some of the Israeli and foreign hostages were released by Hamas in exchange for the release of some of the Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel. The truce was announced for a period of four days but was extended for a longer period.
From 24 to 30 November, Hamas released hostages and Israel released prisoners. On 27 November, Qatar announced that an agreement between Israel and Hamas to extend the truce by two days had been reached.[339] Both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the truce on 28 November.[340] 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.[341]
The truce expired on 1 December, as Israel and Hamas blamed each other for failing to agree on an extension. The disagreement centered on "how to define soldiers versus civilians and how many Palestinian prisoners Israel would release for its hostages".[342][excessive quote] The remaining Israeli hostages include a year old baby, his 4-year-old brother and their mother, 13 women aged 18–39, and 85 men, some over 80.[343] Thousands of Palestinians remain in administrative detention.[344] A Hamas official said that after the exchange, the only remaining hostages were civilian men and soldiers, and refused to exchange them until "all our prisoners are freed" and there is a ceasefire.[345] US National Security Advisor Kirby said "Hamas agreed to allow the Red Cross access to these hostages" during the pause, which "didn't happen and is still not happening".[346] The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that although 240 Palestinian prisoners were released as part of the ceasefire deal, another 240 Palestinians were incarcerated. Released Palestinian prisoners reported mistreatment including beatings, overcrowding, food deprivation, and suspension of access to the Red Cross.[347] Released prisoners were forbidden to speak with the media and threatened with fines.[344]
Israel adopted a grid system to order precise evacuations within Gaza, released a map, and dropped leaflets with a QR code. The grid-based evacuation system was criticized as inaccessible and confusing due to the lack of electricity and internet connectivity in Gaza. Some evacuation instructions were vague or contradictory,[348][349] and Israel struck "safe" areas it had told people to evacuate to.[350][351][352]
Law experts said they had not seen significant changes in how Israel waged war, calling its warnings to civilians ineffective and saying it was unclear if anywhere in Gaza was safe.[353] Amnesty International said "US-made weapons facilitated the mass killings of extended families". Amnesty found no evidence of military targets at the sites of the strikes, or indication occupants were affiliated with Hamas, prompting it to request airstrikes be investigated as possible war crimes.[354] Decomposed babies were found in Al-Nasr Children's Hospital in north Gaza, two weeks after its forced evacuation.[355][356]
On 6 December Refaat Alareer, a prominent professor and writer in Gaza, was killed by an Israeli airstrike.[357] His poem, "If I Must Die" was widely circulated after his death.[358]
In December, the IDF reported its troops had reached the centers of Khan Yunis, Jabalia, and Shuja'iyya.[359] Intensified bombing pushed Palestinian civilians south to Rafah.[360] On 7 December, Israel detained 150 men in the Gaza Strip, with dozens more detained on 10 December. According to Israel, the detentions followed a mass surrender of Hamas militants.[361][362] This account was disputed by several publications.[363][364][365] Amnesty International described the treatment of those detained on 7 December as a violation of international law.[366]
On 13 December, the IDF said that, since it designated a humanitarian zone for civilians in the Gaza Strip on 18 October 116 rockets had been fired from there toward Israel, including 38 falling inside Gaza.[367] The Pentagon announced on 9 December that the Biden administration had authorized the sale of around 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition to Israel without congressional authorization, using emergency powers.[368] On 29 December, it did so again with $148 million worth of artillery shells and related items.[369]
On 15 December, the IDF announced it had killed three Israeli hostages by friendly fire. They "mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat" during operations in Shuja'iyya.[134][370][371] The same day, an IDF tank fired at the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa, displacing the 54 disabled people sheltering there and leaving some without respirators that they needed to survive. Later that day, an IDF sniper killed two women sheltering in the compound. Pope Francis condemned the attack, calling it "terrorism."[336]
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On 1 January 2024, Israel withdrew from neighborhoods in North Gaza.[372] On 7 January, the IDF conducted a targeted missile strike on a car carrying Al Jazeera journalists Hamza Dadouh and Mustafa Thuraya; they and their driver were killed.[373]
Rocket attacks on Israeli cities by Hamas decreased during this period with attacks on New Year's Eve and 29 January 2024.[374][375] On 8 January, an Israeli tank fired at a MSF facility housing 100 aid workers and their families, killing a 5-year-old girl.[336] 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.[376] On 13 January, an Israeli tank fired at a convoy of Paltel repair workers returning to Rafah from the Paltel central offices in Khan Yunis. Two were killed. The job they completed and the route they took were pre-approved by COGAT.[377]
By 18 January, the IDF stated that Hamas had begun to rebuild its armies in formerly occupied parts of North Gaza and that their fighting strength had been significantly restored. The IDF had previously said that Hamas control over North Gaza was "dismantled" without providing any evidence.[378] An Israeli airstrike hit a residential compound housing aid workers with the International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinians in Al-Mawasi. Because of the destruction of the compound, six frontline medical workers had to leave their posts and IRC and MAP surgeons were forced to suspend their work at Nasser Hospital.[336]
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 that soldiers were rigging to demolish to collapse prematurely.[379][380][381]
On 29 January, Israeli forces killed Hind Rajab and six of her family members when the car they were driving was struck by an Israeli tank and machine gun fire. The IDF later killed two rescue workers who attempted to retrieve Rajab from her family's car.[382] The Red Crescent released the audio from Rajab's phone call with rescue workers, causing international outrage over her death.[383] On 31 January, Israeli forces bombed the offices of the Belgian development agency Enabel, completely destroying the building, after Belgium announced earlier that day that it would not suspend funding for UNRWA.[336]
During February to early May 2024, Israeli preparations to invade Rafah became a dominant issue in Israeli officials' public rhetoric. On 12 February, Israel started a bombing campaign on Rafah.[384] 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.[336] On 15 February, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Egypt was building a refugee camp for over 100,000 people south of Rafah, surrounded by five-meter-high concrete walls.[385][386] Mohamed Abdel-Fadil Shousha, governor of North Sinai Governorate, denied these rumors in a statement published by Al Arabiya.[387] On 20 February 2 family members of MSF staff were killed when Israel shelled a clearly marked MSF shelter.[336]
On 29 February, over 100 Palestinians were killed and 750 wounded during the flour massacre when Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City. Some of the victims were run over by trucks as panic spread.[388] Survivors described it as an ambush, stating that Israeli forces opened fire as people approached the aid trucks, resulting in a rush away from the gunfire that added to the death toll.[389][390] On 1 March, the US announced they would begin an operation airdropping food aid into Gaza.[391] Some experts called the airdrops performative and said they would not alleviate the food situation.[392] During his State of the Union Address, Biden announced a new initiative for providing food and medications to Gaza by sea, setting up a temporary port on Gaza's coast to enable aid delivery.[393]
By 6 March, Israel had completed a new road in Gaza running from east to west. The IDF reported the road was an "active logistical route, constantly maintained". It was intended to be used for mobilization of troops and supplies, to connect and defend IDF positions on al-Rashid and Salah al-Din streets, and prevent people in the south Gaza Strip from returning to the north.[394] On 9 March, an Anera employee and his six-year-old son were killed along with several neighbors when their home was hit by an airstrike.[336]
Israeli forces raided al-Shifa hospital again between 18 March and 1 April. The IDF clashed with Hamas in the area.[395] Israeli forces killed Faiq al-Mabhouh, who they said was head of the operations directorate of Hamas' internal security service. Hamas said al-Mabhouh was in charge of civil law enforcement and had been engaged in "purely civil and humanitarian activity,"[396] coordinating aid deliveries to north Gaza.[397][398] The IDF assaulted and detained Al-Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and over 80 others, including medical staff and journalists, and confiscated and destroyed media equipment.[399][400] Al-Ghoul was released the following day and could not verify the whereabouts of his colleagues.[401][402] The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was "deeply alarmed and outraged by reports of the assault of Ismail Al-Ghoul and other journalists".[402]
According to the IDF, senior Hamas leaders were killed during the hospital fighting.[403] Survivors of the events reported that workers in Gaza's civil government were receiving their salaries at the hospital before it was raided, and that claims of militants organizing on hospital grounds were not supported by evidence.[404] The IDF said it killed 200 people in and around the hospital. Time Magazine said it provided "no evidence that all were militants."[405] The Gaza media office reported that Israeli forces had killed 400 Palestinians around the hospital, and rendered the medical facility out of use, according to Reuters.[406] Photos of the hospital after Israeli withdrawal showed its "walls blown out and frame blackened" by fire.[407] Hundreds of bodies were found on hospital grounds, with Palestinian witnesses describing massacres.[408] According to a Forensic Architecture report, Israeli forces desecrated makeshift burial grounds within the hospital compound and buried Palestinians killed during the second invasion in mass graves using military bulldozers.[409]
On 10 March, a deputy Hamas military commander, Marwan Issa, was reportedly killed in an airstrike.[410] On 23 March, 19 Palestinians were killed by the IDF while waiting for humanitarian aid at the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City.[411] On 25 March, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, to last for the remainder of Ramadan. The US abstained; all other delegates voted in favor.[412] IDF activities in the Gaza Strip remained unchanged following adoption of the resolution.[413] On 28 March, the IDF shot and killed two unarmed men in central Gaza, before burying them in sand with bulldozers.[414] The Council on American-Islamic Relations called for a UN investigation into the "heinous war crime."[415]
On 1 April, seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen, including British, Polish, Australian, and Irish nationals, were killed in an Israeli airstrike south of Deir al-Balah.[416][417][418] World Central Kitchen said their vehicles were clearly marked and their location known to Israel. World Central Kitchen, ANERA and Project HOPE suspended their operations in Gaza. 240 tons of aid from World Central Kitchen was not distributed due to its withdrawal.[417][419] On 4 April, Israel opened the Erez Crossing for the first time since 7 October after US pressure.[420]
On 7 April, Israel withdrew from the south Gaza Strip, with only one brigade remaining in the Netzarim Corridor in the north.[421] Palestinians displaced from that city began to return from the south of the Gaza Strip.[422] Israel planned to initiate its ground offensive in Rafah around mid-April, but postponed to consider its response to the Iranian strikes on Israel.[423] On 25 April, Israel intensified strikes on Rafah ahead of threatened invasion.[424][425] On 5 May, Hamas launched a rocket attack from Rafah towards Kerem Shalom, killing 3 Israeli soldiers.[426]
On 6 May, the IDF ordered civilians in eastern Rafah to evacuate to Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, affecting about 100,000 people.[427] Later that day, Hamas announced that it had accepted the terms of a ceasefire brokered by Egypt and Qatar.[428] The deal included a 6-week ceasefire and exchange of prisoners.[429] However, Israel rejected this deal.[430] 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".[431][432]
Israel ordered a series of airstrikes on Rafah, while the Israeli war cabinet voted to invade Rafah.[433][434] Later that day, the IDF entered the outskirts of Rafah and approached the Rafah Crossing and Egyptian border.[433][435][436] On 7 May, the IDF seized control of the Gaza side of the Rafah Crossing bordering Egypt.[437][438] Haaretz reported that as talks continued, Israel committed to Egypt and the US that it would limit fighting to the Rafah Crossing and transfer control of the area to an American security company. However, the State Department and White House denied any knowledge of this commitment.[439] The previous week, the US had paused a shipment of bombs to Israel over concerns about the offensive.[440] On 11 May, the IDF ordered more residents to evacuate eastern and central Rafah.[441] By 15 May, an estimated 600,000 had fled Rafah and another 100,000 from the north, according to the United Nations.[442] On 24 May, the International Court of Justice ruled that "Israel must immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."[177][443]
On 24 May, the United Nations said only 906 aid truckloads had reached Gaza since Israel's Rafah operation began.[444] On 26 May, Hamas fired a barrage of rockets towards Central Israel. Israel bombed the Tel al-Sultan displacement camp in Rafah in an area designated by Israel as a safe zone, killing at least 45 people. The IDF said the strike killed two senior Hamas officials.[445][446][447] The bombing provoked a skirmish between Egyptian and Israeli soldiers at the Gaza border in which one Egyptian soldier was killed.[448] Despite global outrage and calls from government officials to halt its Rafah offensive, less than 48 hours after the Tel al-Sultan attack, the Al-Mawasi refugee camp, another designated civilian evacuation zone, was bombed, killing at least 21 people, 13 of them women and girls.[445][449][450] The IDF denied involvement in the attack.[451] On 31 May, the United States announced a ceasefire framework for ending the war.[452]
| Al Jazeera video of the Al-Awda School massacre | |
|---|---|
| External video | |
 Video of the July 9 air strike and its aftermath taken by a football spectator who was filming the game. Contains graphic images of severe injury.[453] |
On 6 June, Israel bombed a UN-run school sheltering displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians. Two days later, Israel conducted an attack on Nuseirat refugee camp which resulted in the rescue of four hostages. The United States provided advice and intelligence to Israeli forces during the raid, through its "hostage cell" stationed in Israel.[454][455] The attack resulted in the deaths of 274 Palestinians.[456] On 23 June, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to a partial deal with Hamas to return some of the hostages without a permanent ceasefire. Hamas said that any deal should include a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.[457][458] On 27 June, Israeli forces re-invaded the al-Shuja'iyya neighborhood.[459] According to Middle East Monitor and ReliefWeb, between 4 July and 10 August, Israel attacked 21 schools in Gaza, killing 274 people.[460][461] On 9 July, at least 31 people were killed in an Israeli strike on Al-Awda school.[462][463][453] The IDF carried out a series of coordinated attacks in Gaza City and Deir al-Balah. The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they fought against Israeli soldiers with anti-tank munitions and mortar fire. The fighting resulted in the killing of at least 50 Palestinians.[464]
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.[465][466][467] On 15 July, Israeli air raids destroyed the UNRWA's Gaza headquarters.[468] Israeli forces destroyed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, prompting calls for an investigation from the Turkish government.[469] On 31 July, Al Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman were killed in a targeted strike in the west of Gaza City. They were reporting on the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, which occurred earlier that day, from the area near Haniyeh's home in Gaza.[470] Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas officials were killed in an Israeli airstrike.[471][472] On 1 August, Israeli strikes killed at least 15 in a shelter in Gaza City.[473][474] On 3 August, at least 17 Palestinians were killed in two Israeli airstrikes on a school turned shelter in Gaza City.[475][476] On 4 August, Israel bombed tents outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing 5 Palestinians,[477][478][479] and airstrikes targeting shelters in Gaza City killed at least 30.[480] Two days later, at least 80 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Al-Tabaeen school.[481] On 20 August, Israel struck the Mustafa Hafiz school in Gaza City, killing at least 12.[482][483] On 29 August, an Israeli airstrike on an Anera aid convoy en route to the Emirati Red Crescent Hospital killed four Palestinians.[336]
On 22 July, the IDF began a second invasion of Khan Yunis.[484][485] Israel ordered the evacuation of the eastern part of Khan Yunis,[486] 73 people were killed during the first day of the attack.[485][487][488] Footage from an Israeli drone surfaced showing the destruction of the Grand Mosque in Khan Yunis.[489] On 30 August, The IDF withdrew its 98th battalion from Khan Yunis and Deir el-Balah after its month-long operation, saying it killed over 250 Palestinian militants.[490]
On 16 August, a 10-month-old contracted Gaza's first case of polio in 25 years.[493] Polio vaccinations began on 31 August at Nasser Hospital.[494][495] On 4 September, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that vaccinations would continue at "four fixed sites in central Gaza for three more days".[496] On 6 September, the Gaza Health Ministry said that Israel was hindering polio vaccinations by refusing to coordinate the entry of medical teams into the southern Gaza Strip.[497] On 9 September, UN staff working with the polio vaccination campaign were detained by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza, who held them at gunpoint and damaged UN vehicles with bulldozers.[498] On 16 September, Lazzarini said that first phase of polio vaccination was a success and it reached 90% of the children.[499] On 12 October, the WHO was able to begin its vaccination campaign in Central Gaza despite strikes on al-Aqsa Hospital.[500][501][502] Strikes on the Mufti school in Nuseirat also delayed the distribution of polio vaccines.[503] On 17 October, the vaccination campaign in central Gaza was completed.[504] On 23 October, vaccinations in northern Gaza were postponed due to Israeli bombardment, mass displacement and lack of access.[505] On 2 November, the WHO began its vaccination campaign in northern Gaza. An Israeli quadcopter fired on the Sheikh Radwan clinic, injuring six people. The IDF denied responsibility for the attack.[506][507] On 6 November, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza was completed a day prior. He said that up to 10,000 children could not be reached for receiving a second dose and added that "efforts will continue to reach more children through regular health services".[508]
On 1 September, Israel bombed a school sheltering displaced Palestinians, killing 11 people.[509] 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.[510] On 10 September, Israeli missile strikes on a tent encampment in Al-Mawasi killed 19 to 40 people.[511][512][513] On 11 September, an Israeli airstrike on a family home in eastern Khan Yunis killed at least 13 Palestinians.[514] 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.[515]
An Israeli airstrike on a UNRWA-run school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 18 people.[516][33][517] In September, an Israeli strike on a home in Nuseirat refugee camp killed 10 Palestinians.[518][519] An Israeli air strike on Zeitoun school in Gaza City killed at least 21 Palestinians.[520][521][522] Israel returned 88 bodies to Gaza in a container truck, providing no personal or location information where the victims had been killed. Nasser Hospital health officials refused to bury the bodies until they were identified.[523] An Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Jabalia killed at least 15 Palestinians.[524][525] Israeli forces bombed two houses on the Nuseirat camp, killing at least 13 people.[526][527]
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.[528][529][530] Palestinian journalist Hassan Hamad was killed in an airstrike on his home after receiving threats from an Israeli officer over WhatsApp.[531] Video of a fire at a tent camp outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital showed a person burned alive in the flames, and at least four others were killed.[503] An Israeli air strike on a residential building in the Maghazi refugee camp killed at least 10.[532][533] Israeli tank shelling on a school which serves as shelter for displaced people in Nuseirat killed at least 22 people and injured 80 others.[534][535] 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.[536][537][538] Oxfam condemned the killing of four engineers working with one of its partners, Coastal Municipalities Water Union near Khuzaa by an Israeli airstrike, despite prior coordination of their activities with Israeli authorities.[539] Israeli missile strikes on Shuhadaa al-Nuseirat school serving as a shelter for displaced families in Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 18 Palestinians and injured at least 52 others.[540][541][542]
In November, Israeli bombardment in Deir Al-Balah, the Nuseirat refugee camp and Al-Zawayda killed 47 Palestinians and injured dozens of people.[543] An Israeli strike on the entrance of a school serving as shelter for displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 14 Palestinians.[544] An Israeli strike on a car in Khan Yunis killed 10 people.[544] An Israeli strike on a school serving as shelter for displaced people in the Al-Shati refugee camp killed 12 people.[545][546] An Israeli drone strike on a small cafe in Israeli designated humanitarian zone in al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis killed 11 people and injured dozens of people.[547][548] Israeli air strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp.[549] An Israeli strike on a group of Palestinians waiting for aid killed 12 people and injured several others.[550] An Israeli airstrike on Abu Assi School used for housing displaced families in Al-Shati refugee camp killed at least 10 people and wounded at least 20 others.[551][552]
In December, an Israeli air strike targeted a home in Nuseirat refugee camp that was evacuated before the strike, killing at least 26 Palestinians and injuring over 60 others in nearby houses.[553][554][555] An Israeli air strike on a residential home in Bureij refugee camp killed at least 11 people.[556] Israeli strikes hit a post office serving as shelter for displaced Palestinians and nearby homes in a residential area in Nuseirat refugee camp killing 36 people and injuring approximately 50 others.[557][558][559] An Israeli airstrike in the vicinity of the municipality building in Deir al-Balah killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded several others.[560][561][562]
On 8 October, the IDF began to encircle Jabalia camp and said it had killed about 20 Palestinian militants in air strikes and street battles. Casualties also included at least seven Palestinian civilians.[563][564] On 10 October, the IDF issued evacuation orders for three hospitals in northern Gaza, threatening that they would meet "the same fate as al-Shifa hospital, with destruction, killing and arrest."[563] After an initial 14 October strike on the Alsayed family home in Jabalia, an American member of the family passed the home's coordinates to the Israeli military through the White House to coordinate an ambulance dispatch. However, the Alsayed family home was bombed again, killing several members of the family and the doctor sent to aid them.[565] The IDF said that an Israeli airstrike on a Hamas base in Jabaliya killed at least 12 Hamas and PIJ commanders.[566] The IDF said that it killed 20 Hamas militants in the Jabalia refugee camp in the past 24 hours.[567] The IDF said that its air force killed dozens of militants in Jabalia on 17 October.[568] On 28 October, the IDF said that it continued air and ground operations in Jabalia, killing dozens of fighters.[569]
In October, Israeli strikes on Jabalia killed at least 152 people. Strikes included the bombardment of Jabalia refugee camp on 6 October,[570] Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital on 9 October,[571] an evacuation center in the western part of Jabalia on 10 October,[572] a multistory building on 11 October,[573][574] a food distribution center on 14 October,[575] the al-Faluja area on 15 October,[576] the UNRWA-run Abu Hussein school on 17 October,[577][578][579] and houses in the vicinity of Nassar Junction on 18 October.[580][581][582]
Strikes on Jabalia in November killed at least an additional 95 people. Strikes included the bombardment of a house on 7 November,[583] another house on Old Gaza Street on 10 November,[584][585][586][587] a strike on another home on 13 November,[588] shelling on 14 November,[589] and a strike in Jabalia al-Balad on 20 November.[590][591]
On 10 December, the IDF said that it killed 10 Hamas operatives who were involved in the killing of three Israeli soldiers and injuring of 12 others in Jabalia one day prior in an air strike.[592] On 30 December, the IDF said that it killed dozens of militants in Jabalia.[593]
On 16 October, IDF ground forces killed Yahya Sinwar in a shootout in Tal as-Sultan.[594] The conscript soldiers who participated in the shootout were initially unaware that one of the militants they had killed was Sinwar, and he was identified the following day by his dental records.[595] Sinwar's death while participating in ground battles alongside a small group of militants ran counter to the Israeli defense establishment's assumptions that he would be hiding underground, surrounded by hostages. There were no hostages in Sinwar's vicinity at the time of his death,[596] and no civilian casualties were reported.[597] Joe Biden urged Israel to end the war citing victory as a result of Sinwar's death.[598]
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.[599] In the later weeks of October, Israel's siege on 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.[600] On 19 October, Israel bombed al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia and Kamal Adwan and the Indonesian hospitals in Beit Lahiya.[601] The IDF continued its encirclement of Jabalia by sending tanks to Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun and issuing evacuation orders to residents. Israeli Colonel Ehsan Daxa was killed on 20 October during fighting in Jabalia when his tank squadron was hit with explosive devices.[602] Civilian sources also told Mondoweiss that on 20 October, Israel detained over 700 people at the UN-run Abu Hussein school in Jabalia camp. The army then forced the detainees to huddle together in a ditch and made each person stand in front of a camera that scanned their faces, revealing detailed personal information about them.[603] On 24 October, an IDF attack destroyed at least 10 residential buildings in the al-Hawja residential area inside the Jabalia refugee camp. According to an assessment by Gaza Civil Defense, 150 people were killed or injured.[604] Gaza's civil defense ministry said that since the start of Israel's siege of north Gaza, at least 770 people had been killed there in total.[605] On 25 October, Gaza Civil Defense said that an Israeli drone strike on a group of Palestinians receiving aid near Shati refugee camp killed 12 people.[606] The WHO said it had lost contact with Kamal Adwan hospital that night, and UN human rights chief Volker Türk called recent developments in North Gaza the "darkest moment" in the war so far. In his statement, Türk invoked the international obligation to prevent genocide, marking a departure from UN hesitancy to use that word regarding the war.[607] 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.[608] Residents of northern Gaza have said no aid has reached its cities since 5 October.[609]
Israeli strikes on Beit Lahia in October killed at least 270 people. Israel struck several homes and a multistory building on 20 October,[610][611][612] a residential area on 26 October,[613] a building housing displaced people on 27 October,[614] a residential building on 29 October where over 100 people were killed,[615][616][617] and another residential area the same day,[618][619] as well as a market on 30 October.[620]
An Israeli airstrike on the UN-run Asmaa school sheltering displaced families in Al-Shati refugee camp killed at least 11 people and injured several others.[621][622][623] On 1 November, two Israeli strikes on buildings in northern Gaza killed 84 Palestinians.[624] 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".[625] On 2 November, UNICEF said that over 50 children were killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia in the past two days.[626] 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".[609] On 7 November, the IDF said that it killed an estimated 50 militants in Jabalia and Beit Lahia and killed a number of militants in Rafah one day prior.[627] On 9 November, the IDF said that its 162nd Division killed dozens of militants in Jabalia in the past day.[628] On 12 November, aid in Gaza fell to its lowest level in 11 months despite a US ultimatum that it be restored.[629]
In November, Israeli strikes on Beit Lahia killed at least 248 people. Strikes hit a home on 4 November,[630] a building serving as a shelter on 6 November,[631] a multi-story building on 17 November,[632][633][634] a home near Kamal Adwan Hospital on 18 November,[635] a residential neighborhood near Kamal Adwan on 20 November,[636][637][638] and another residential building on 29 November.[639][640] Hamas said an additional 112 people were killed in Israeli attacks on 22 November.[641]
Attacks on Gaza City in November killed at least 58 people. Targets included the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood on 20 November,[642] al-Tabin school on 27 November,[643][644][645] a home in the Abu Iskandar neighborhood on 29 November,[646][647] and Al-Hurreya School, which served as a shelter for displaced people, on 26 November.[648][649][650]
On 16 November, PIJ said it destroyed an Israeli army vehicle in Beit Lahia.[632] On 23 November, Hamas said an Israeli hostage had been killed in northern Gaza in an area where Israel was operating. On 24 November, Israel issued a new wave of evacuation orders, triggering another round of displacements in Jabalia.[651] 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.[652] On 30 November, more than 40 people were killed in an Israeli air raid on the Tel al-Zataar area of Jabalia which caused the collapse of a six-story building and trapped several others under the rubble.[653][654][655] Al-Aqsa TV journalist Mamdouh Qanita was killed by an Israeli quadcopter in Gaza City.[656] On 1 December, an Israeli strike on a home in Beit Lahia killed 25 people.[657][658] Mahmoud Almadhoun, a chef who founded the Gaza Soup Kitchen, was targeted and killed by an Israeli quadcopter near Kamal Adwan hospital.[659] 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.[660]
Attacks on northern Gaza in December killed at least 211 people, excluding the attacks on Kamal Adwan hospital. Targets included residential buildings in Beit Lahia on 3, 5, 11 and 17 December,[661][662][663][664][665][666][667] four multi-story buildings in Sheikh Radwan on 4 December,[668][669][670] a building sheltering displaced people and another multistory building in Beit Hanoun on 10 December,[671][672] The Khalil Oweida school on 15 December,[673][674][675] homes in Jabalia on 18 and 20 December,[676][677][678][679] a home in Sheikh Radwan on 27 December[680][681] and a home in Beit Hanoun on 28 December.[682]
On 1 January, an Israeli strike hit a house sheltering displaced people in Jabalia, killing at least 15 people, including the Director General of Gaza's police and a deputy.[683] Twenty others were injured.[684][685] On 2 January, an Israeli airstrike on tents serving as shelter for displaced people in designated humanitarian area of Al-Mawasi in western Khan Yunis killed 12 people and injured 15 others.[686][687][688] Another Israeli strike in Jabalia refugee camp killed 10 people.[689] On 4 January, an Israeli strike on a home in Shuja'iyya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City killed at least 11 Palestinians and trapped several others under the rubble.[690][691] An Israeli airstrike in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City killed 13 people and trapped several others under the rubble.[692][693]
On 6 December, Israeli shelling around the Kamal Adwan Hospital killed at least 33 people and dozens were injured.[694][695] On 13 December, Israeli tank fire killed Dr. Sayeed Joudeh, the last orthopedic surgeon in northern Gaza.[696] On 26 December, an Israeli air strike hit a building in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital, killing about 50 people, including five staff.[697] On 27 December, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital said that Israel had razed parts of the facility after forcibly evacuating and detaining some of the hospital staff.[698] The World Health Organization announced that Kamal Adwan hospital had been put out of service by Israeli attacks and the hospital's director, Hussam Abu Safiya, had been abducted. The IDF raided the hospital's courtyard with tanks and bulldozers and forced patients to evacuate to the Indonesian Hospital, which had already been destroyed, by cutting off their oxygen.[699] The IDF claimed to have killed 19 militants during its raid. Hamas denied the claim.[700][701] Gaza Health Ministry said that 50 people including hospital staff were killed.[700]
After several incidents of aid convoys at the occupied Kerem Shalom crossing being looted by armed gangs, an internal UN memo concluded that gangs in Israeli occupied areas of Gaza "may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence" or "protection" from the IDF. WHO teams were shot at by Israeli forces during several attempts to clear an alternative route for aid convoys, leading to allegations that the IDF was deliberately steering convoys into the path of the looters.[702]
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.[702][703][704] An Israeli strike on a home in Bureij refugee camp killed at least 10 Palestinians including a child and injured several others including children.[705][706][634] On 30 November, a strike on a World Central Kitchen vehicle transporting supplies along Salah al-Din Road near Khan Yunis killed three aid workers.[707][708][709] Israel alleged that one of the workers was affiliated with Hamas, a claim WCK denied.[710] World Central Kitchen announced it would suspend its operations in response to the killing of its aid workers.[711] 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.[712] 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."[713] 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.[714][715][716]
On 4 December, two consecutive Israeli strikes in Israeli designated humanitarian safe zone of al-Mawasi killed at least 21 Palestinians, injured at least 28 others.[717][718][719] On 9 December, an Israeli strike hit people who lined up for buying flour in Rafah, killing 10 people.[720] An Israeli strike on UNRWA-run Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz school sheltering displaced people in Khan Yunis, killed at least 20 people and injured many others.[721][675][722] On 15 December, Al Jazeera photojournalist Ahmad Al-Louh was killed in a strike on an office of Gaza's Civil Defense while covering their attempts to rescue a family that had been wounded in an earlier bombing.[723] On 16 December, an Israeli strike in Shuja'iyya killed 10 people.[158][724] On 17 December, an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Daraj neighbourhood, east of Gaza City killed at least 10 people.[725][726] On 25 December, an Israeli strike on a home in the Maen area of southern Khan Younis killed at least 10 people and injured several others.[727] On 2 January, an Israeli strike in Deir el-Balah killed 10 Palestinian men who were members of local committees helping to secure aid convoys.[688][728]
 | It has been suggested that this section be merged into Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present). (Discuss) Proposed since November 2024. |
Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the Houthi movement in Yemen have launched limited attacks against Israel, raising fears of a wider regional military conflict. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have also traded attacks with the US and IDF.[729] Israel has bombed targets in and around Damascus throughout the war,[730][731][732] with an attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus on 1 April leading to a direct Iranian response.[733] Iran launched a series of retaliatory airstrikes on Israel.[733][734] Over 100 Palestinians have been killed in confrontations with Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since 7 October. The IDF has condemned some acts of Israeli settler violence.[735][736]
Amnesty International released a report[737] 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.[738][739]
Even 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.[740][741] At the same time, Israeli settler violence further increased to around 1,270 attacks, against 856 for all of 2022.[742] About 1,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by settlers since 7 October and almost half of clashes have included "Israeli forces accompanying or actively supporting Israeli settlers while carrying out the attacks" according to a U.N. report.[743] According to the West Bank Protection Consortium, since the 7 October attacks six Palestinian communities have been abandoned due to the violence.[744]
By 10 October, confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces had left 15 Palestinians dead, including two in East Jerusalem.[745] On 11 October, Israeli settlers attacked the village of Qusra, killing four Palestinians. A 16-year-old child was fatally shot by the IDF in Bani Na'im, while another person was shot dead by the IDF near Bethlehem.[746] On 12 October, two Palestinians were killed after Israeli settlers interrupted a funeral procession for Palestinians killed in prior settler attacks and opened fire.[747][748][749]
On 18 October, protests broke out over the al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, with clashes reported in Ramallah.[750] In Jenin, a 12-year-old girl was shot dead by crossfire from Palestinian Authority security forces, and another youth was injured by PA forces in Tubas. One Palestinian was killed in confrontations with Israeli forces in Nabi Salih, and 30 others were injured across the West Bank.[751] 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.[752]
On 22 October, Israel struck the al-Ansar Mosque in the Jenin refugee camp, saying that it had killed several "terror operatives" from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were planning attacks inside without providing evidence.[753] Within a few days Ayser Mohammad Al-Amer, a senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was killed during a clash with IDF in the Jenin refugee camp.[754] On 31 October, the IDF engaged Hamas around Shuweika.[755]
On 20 April 14 Palestinians were killed in clashes during an Israeli raid in the West Bank. Palestinian sources identified one of the victims as a militant,[756] while Israel said that 14 gunmen were killed.[757]
In July 2024, 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."[758] On 4 July, Israeli authorities approved plans for almost 5,300 new houses in occupied West Bank.[759]
On 7 August, Wafa reported that Israeli forces destroyed the regional headquarters of Fatah in the Balata Camp.[760][761]
On 14 August, the Israeli government approved new settlements in the occupied West Bank.[762][763]
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".[764] Israeli forces carried out simultaneous operations in Jenin, Tubas, Nablus, Ramallah and Tulkarem. In Jenin, Israeli forces devastated civilian infrastructure with anti-tank munitions and armored bulldozers, set fire to the Jenin farmers' market, 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 while the operation was ongoing. Eyewitnesses also reported the use of Palestinian detainees as human shields and the use of attack dogs against civilian families. The army blocked access to hospitals and ambulances.[765] On 29 August, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded a halt to the operations.[766] EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the operations "must not constitute the premises of a war extension from Gaza, including full-scale destruction."[767] 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.[768][769] 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".[770] On 6 September, Turkish-American protestor Ayşenur Eygi was killed by an Israeli sniper at a demonstration near Nablus.[771]
On 3 October, an Israeli airstrike in Tulkarm Camp killed at least 20 people.[772][773]
On 13 November, 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.[774]
Israeli settlers have taken advantage of the ongoing war to expand settlement activity supported by a far-right Israeli government,[775][742][776] including land seizure and large scale settlement plans.[777] In 2024, Israeli land seizures exceeded the combined total of the previous 20 years.[778]
During the war, civilians in Israel have been subjected to intermittent killings and other violence. For example, 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.[779] 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.[780] On 12 April a 14-year-old Israeli shepherd was killed and on 16 April two Palestinians were killed by Israeli settlers in Aqraba.[781] 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.[782]
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.[783] More than 11,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, not counting detainees taken from Gaza during the war.[784] At least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli detention since 7 October.[785]
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.[786][787][788] 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.[789] Detainees have reported severe instances of violence during transfers between prisons.[785][790]
Several Palestinian healthcare workers have been abducted from Gaza hospitals during sieges by Israeli forces.[790] 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.[791] 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.[792]
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.[784]
In July 2024, military police raided Sde Teiman to arrest ten soldiers "suspected of the serious sexual abuse" of a Palestinian detainee. Itamar Ben-Gvir and other members of the Otzma Yehudit party condemned the arrests.[786] 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.[793]
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.[794]
On 24 November 2023, a suspected Iranian drone attacked the CMA CGM Symi, owned by Eastern Pacific Shipping, whose principal is Israeli, in the Indian Ocean, according to a US defense official. An anonymous source said the drone was suspected to have been a Shahed-136 drone. The attack caused damage to the ship but did not injure any of the crew.[795]
In December, the US military was reportedly looking to build a maritime task force to protect trade against Iranian harassment.[796]
On 23 December, a suspected Iranian drone attacked the Israel-affiliated oil tanker MV Chem Pluto in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Gujarat. The attack did not harm any of its 20 crew members, but caused a fire that was extinguished. The vessel was reportedly carrying Saudi oil to Mangalore, India.[797]
On 13 April 2024, the IRGC Navy boarded the Portuguese-registered and Madeira-flagged container ship MSC Aries in the Strait of Hormuz via helicopter, and directed it to Iranian territory for "violating maritime law". The ship is leased by MSC from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, whose principal is Israeli.[798][799]
On 31 July, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, where he had traveled to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iranian media said an Israeli strike took place at 02:00 and targeted a residence for war veterans in North Tehran, where Haniyeh was staying.[800]
On 13 April, following an Israeli airstrike on its consulate building in Damascus, Syria on 1 April,[801] Iran launched Operation True Promise,[802] a series of retaliatory airstrikes on Israel,[733][734] attacking the country from Iranian soil for the first time.[803]
On 1 October 2024, Iran began firing missiles at Israel in at least two waves,[804][805] with sirens being heard across the country. Explosions were heard overhead across Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.[804] The IDF confirmed over 100 missiles were fired by Iran.[806]
On 12 October, the United States authorized the deployment of THAAD missile defense systems and American crews to man them to Israel in anticipation of an Iranian response to the planned Israeli retaliation for Iran's 1 October strikes.[807][808] Massive cyberattacks were reported on nuclear facilities and government agencies of Iran.[809] Leaked US intelligence documents revealed that Israel was conducting covert drone operations over Iran in preparation for a strike. The documents also showed that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency was monitoring Israeli weapons movements, ground forces, air defenses, navy, air and special forces, and nuclear weapons, but that it lacked the intelligence to anticipate an Israeli strike. US intelligence did not find any indication that Israel was planning to use nuclear weapons in its response.[810][811] On 23 October, Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Iran's National Organization for Passive Defense said that Israeli cyberattacks against Iranian interests are continuing, but they are facing a "layer-by-layer" defence strategy that have kept them at bay.[812] On 24 October, IRGC chief Hossein Salami claimed that THAAD systems will not be enough if Israel prompts an Iranian attack by attacking Iran.[813] On 26 October, the IDF carried out airstrikes in Iran in response to its attacks against Israel.[814][815] An Iranian civilian and four Iranian soldiers were killed in the strikes.[816][817]
| Victims of the... | Total | Civilians | Children | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | % | Total | % | ||
| October 7 Hamas-led attacks | 1,139 | 695[818] | 61% | 36[818] | 3.2% |
| Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip | 44,786 | ~80%[819][820][821] | 33.1%[822] | ||
| Israeli attacks on the West Bank | 479 | 116[823] | 24% | ||
As of 10 December 2024[update], over 46,000 people – 44,786 Palestinian[823] and 1,706 Israeli[830] – have been reported killed in the Israel–Hamas war, as well as 141–156 journalists and media workers,[833] 120 academics,[834] and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, a number that includes 179 employees of UNRWA.[835] Scholars have estimated 80% of Palestinians killed are civilians,[820][819][821][836] while a study by OCHR, that verified fatalities from three independent sources, found that 70% of Palestinians killed were women and children.[492]
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.[28][837] 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.[28] The GHM count does not include those who have died from "preventable disease, malnutrition and other consequences of the war".[838] An analysis by the Gaza Health Projections Working Group predicted thousands of excess deaths from disease and birth complications.[839] A survey by PCPSR reported showed over 60% of Gazans have lost family members since the war began.[840][841] Indirect deaths[842][44] are likely to be multiple times higher.[45][46] Thousands of more dead bodies are thought to be under the rubble of destroyed buildings.[159][160] The number of injured is greater than 100,000;[161] Gaza has the most amputated children per capita in the world.[162]
The 7 October attacks on Israel killed 1,195 people, including 815 civilians.[93] A further 479 Palestinians, including 116 children, and 9 Israelis have been killed in the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem).[823] Casualties have also occurred in other parts of Israel, as well as in southern Lebanon,[843] Syria,[844] Yemen,[845] and Iran.[846]
According to the Israeli Ministry of Defense's Rehabilitation Division, about 1,000 soldiers are wounded every month.[847] 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.[848] In November 2024, Hamas said it killed 20 armed young men from local Bedouin tribes who were stealing humanitarian aid.[849]
The Gaza Strip is experiencing a humanitarian crisis as a result of the Israel–Hamas war,[850][851] 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,[852][164] as well as a healthcare collapse. At the start of the war, Israel tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip, resulting in significant shortages of fuel, food, medication, water, and essential medical supplies.[850][853][854] 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.[855] 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.[856] Doctors warned of disease outbreaks spreading due to overcrowded hospitals.[851] A polio epidemic was the target of mostly-successful vaccination campaigns.[857]
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.[858][859][860] 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.[858] The blackouts impeded emergency services, making it harder to locate and access the time-critical injured,[858] and have impeded humanitarian aid agencies and journalists.[858] By December 2023, 200,000 Gazans (approximately 10% of the population) had received internet access through an eSIM provided by Connecting Humanity.[861]
The Gaza Health Ministry reported over 4,000 children killed in the war's first month.[862] UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that Gaza had "become a graveyard for children."[ah][865][866] 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 one Lancet study stating that the death toll in Gaza, including future deaths indirectly caused by the war, might exceed 186,000.[820][867]
The scale and pace of destruction and damage of buildings in the Gaza Strip ranks among the severest in modern history,[868][869][870] surpassing the bombing of Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined during World War II,[871][872][873][ai] and included apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, religious sites, factories, shopping centres, and municipal infrastructure.[873] 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.[875][876][aj][ak] The damage to buildings in northern Gaza reportedly exceeds that in Bakhmut and Mariupol in the Russian invasion of Ukraine,[872] Aleppo in the Battle of Aleppo,[868] and Mosul and Raqqa in the War against the Islamic State.[868] 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.[879] According to satellite analyses, 68% of roads, 70% of greenhouses, and nearly 70% of tree crops have been damaged or destroyed.[880] 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.[881]
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".[869] 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".[882]
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."[883][884][885] 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.[886]
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.[887][888] On 20 May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced his intention to seek arrest warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh and Israeli leaders Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war.[889][890][891] On 21 November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Deif for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.[892][893][894]
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.[895][896][897]
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.[898] In a second report, the Commission found that Israel had carried out a policy of destroying Gaza's healthcare system.[899][900]
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.[901][902] 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.[903][904][905] 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.[906]
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.[900][907]
On 5 December 2024, Amnesty International published a report concluding that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.[192][908]
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.[909]
The war sparked a diplomatic crisis, with countries around the world reacting strongly to the conflict that affected the momentum of regional relations.[910] At least nine countries withdrew their ambassadors or cut diplomatic ties with Israel.[911][912] The war has also resulted in a renewed focus on a two-state solution to the broader conflict.[913][914] 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.[915]
Negotiations have focused on the possibility of a ceasefire, with Egypt and Qatar serving as negotiation mediators between Israel and Hamas.[916][917] 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.[918][919]
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.[920]
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.[921][922][923] 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 keeping the push for a two state solution alive notwithstanding Israeli financial restrictions.[924]
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.[925]
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".[926] There was broad support in Israeli society for military operations in Gaza.[927][928] Public opinion poll conducted in December 2023 by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 87% of Jewish Israelis supported the war in Gaza.[929]
Initially, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asserted the Palestinian people's right to self-defense against the "terror of settlers and occupation troops"[930] and condemned the orders by Israel for residents to evacuate north Gaza, labeling it a "second Nakba".[931] 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.[932]
 | 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,[933] including the United States,[934] United Kingdom,[935] and Germany,[936] 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.[937] Spain and Ireland have also supported South Africa's genocide case against Israel.[938][939] 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.[940][941][942] 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".[933] 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.[943]
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.[933][944] The double standards, in their view, is condemning an illegal occupation in Ukraine while standing firmly behind Israel that has occupied Palestinian lands.[945] Bolivia has cut all ties with Israel as a result of the conflict, while Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors to the country.[326][944]
The United States, United Kingdom, and Germany have supplied Israel with substantial military and medical aid.[935][946][947]
The Israeli government's response prompted international protests, arrests, and harassment.[948]
Brazil announced a rescue operation of nationals using an air force transport aircraft.[949] Poland announced that it would deploy two C-130 transport planes to evacuate 200 Polish nationals.[950] 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.[951] Australia also announced repatriation flights.[952] 300 Nigerian pilgrims in Israel fled to Jordan before being airlifted home.[953]
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.[954] Nepal arranged a flight to evacuate at least 254 of its citizens who were studying in Israel.[955] India launched Operation Ajay to evacuate its citizens from Israel.[956] Ukraine facilitated the evacuation of ~450 of its citizens from Israel as of 18 October, with additional evacuation flights planned for the near future.[957]
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.[958] Laith Alajlouni wrote that the immediate effect of the Hamas offensive was to unite Hamas and PLO.[959]
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.[960] 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,[961] some commentators criticized Netanyahu for putting aside the PLO and propping up Hamas,[962] and described him as a liability.[963][964]
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."[965] 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.[966]
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.[967][968]
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.[969] 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.[970] 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.[971] 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.[972] China's actions were described as a de facto sanction.[973][971]
The 3,500-member Water Transport Workers Federation of India said it would refuse to operate shipments carrying weapons to Israel.[974] The declaration came a few months after one Indian company halted production of Israeli police uniforms due to the war in Gaza.[975]
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.[976]
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.[977]
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".[978] 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".[979] 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.[980][978] 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.[980] 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".[981]
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