An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas -led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in and around the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, with clashes also taking place in the West Bank and Israel–Lebanon border . On that day, militant groups launched a surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, marking the start of the most significant military escalation in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. After clearing Hamas militants, the Israeli military retaliated by conducting an extensive aerial bombardment campaign on Hamas targets, followed by a large-scale ground invasion of Gaza . The current hostilities constitute the fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict , which is part of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict . Around 1.9 million Palestinians, more than 85% of Gaza’s population, and around 500,000 Israelis have been internally displaced .
The war began when Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups targeted Israel with a barrage of rockets , while around 3,000 militants breached the Gaza–Israel barrier and attacked neighboring Israeli communities and military bases, resulting in the death of 695 Israeli civilians, 373 soldiers and 71 foreigners, giving a total of 1,139. The total includes an unknown number of deaths from friendly fire. Hamas stated that its attack was in response to the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories , the blockade of the Gaza Strip , the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements , rising Israeli settler violence and recent escalations. An estimated 240 Israeli soldiers, civilians and foreigners were taken to the Gaza Strip as captives or hostages , with the stated goal of forcing Israel to release Palestinian prisoners .
Over the first six days, Israel dropped over 6,000 bombs on targets in Gaza, causing widespread destruction and thousands of civilian deaths. Experts blame the widespread use of heavy munitions, such as hundreds of 2,000-pound bombs, many of which are capable of killing or injuring people more than 1,000 feet away, for increasing casualties in the densely populated area. Israel also imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip , leading to accusations that Israel was using starvation as a weapon and forcing Gazans to drink contaminated, salty water. Israel then launched a large-scale ground invasion of Gaza with the stated goal of destroying Hamas, freeing hostages held by Palestinian militants and controlling Gaza afterward.
As of 22 December 2023, more than 20,000 Palestinians, including over 8,000 children, 6,200 women and 61 journalists have been killed. It is estimated that thousands more bodies were buried under the rubble. Widespread civilian deaths have led to both Israel and Hamas being accused of war crimes . Israel ordered Gazans to evacuate from northern to southern Gaza , but also bombed locations to which it told Palestinians to evacuate. It was widely reported that there was “no safe place in Gaza”. The war has led to a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza due to the cut off of water, electricity and fuel by Israel as part of the announced blockade of the area; Israel stated that fuel would be diverted by Hamas for military use. [86] [108] The health system is in a state of partial collapse , most hospitals are out of service, and there are acute shortages of drinking water, food, fuel and medical supplies. Israel has also conducted mass detentions , with thousands of Palestinians detained or disappeared in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Throughout the duration of the war, there have been widespread global protests that primarily call for a ceasefire. The United States has sided with Israel in rejecting calls for a ceasefire, vetoing multiple UN Security Council resolutions calling for a humanitarian ceasefire to send aid to Gaza, saying that they believed that a ceasefire was in Hamas’ best interest, although a humanitarian pause was approved on 15 November with the US abstaining. During a seven-day truce , 105 Israeli hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners. The war still continues with United States military and diplomatic support for Israel , which has been condemned by various human rights groups.
Background
The Gaza Strip and Israel have been in conflict since the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, which it had occupied since 1967 . The United Nations and several human rights organizations continue to classify Gaza as held under Israeli occupation, due to its effective military control over the territory. In 1987, the First Intifada began, a popular uprising by the Palestinians against the Israeli occupation. The conflict lasted five years and ended with the Oslo Accords , creating the Palestinian National Authority and dividing the West bank into three administrative areas . Following the failure of the subsequent peace talks at the Camp David Summits in 2000 , violence once again escalated during the Second Intifada, which ended with the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit and Israel’s military withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.
Hamas, an Islamist militant group, won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and a subsequent battle in the Gaza Strip between it and Fatah , which led to it taking over governance in the strip, and further escalating tensions with Israel. Israel, along with Egypt, imposed a blockade that significantly damaged Gaza’s economy, citing security concerns as the justification. International rights groups have characterized the blockade as a form of collective punishment , while Israel defended it as necessary to prevent weapons and dual-use goods from entering the territory.
Since the blockade, Israel and Palestinian militants have had several clashes and made attacks on each other. The Palestinian Authority has not held national elections since 2006. Hamas tunneled under the border wall to launch cross-border attacks and fired rockets into Israeli territory. This led to multiple conflicts, escalating into outright wars. Israel relied on the Iron Dome rocket defense system for defense, and responded with targeted strikes into Gaza, aiming to minimize the militant threat. Surveys in 2023 of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank before the war indicated that a majority supported the use of “armed struggle”, the creation of “militant groups”, and an intifada (“uprising”) against the Israeli occupation .
The Gaza Strip’s economy declined greatly due to the blockade, with a 30% drop in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) within a year. By 2015, the unemployment rate had risen to 45% (compared to the pre-blockade level of 10%). In 2023, UNRWA statistics for Gaza reported 81% of people living below the poverty level, and 63% being food insecure and dependent on international assistance. According to UNICEF, “Israel only approves 64%” of patients requests to leave Gaza for specialized medical treatment. According to an analysis in The Independent , the Gaza blockade created hopelessness among Palestinians, which was exploited by Hamas, convincing young Palestinian men that violence was their only solution. Daoud Kuttab wrote that Palestinian attempts to solve the conflict via negotiations or non-violent boycotts have been fruitless.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist entity by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union , but not by other UNSC permanent members China and Russia. A 2018 attempt to condemn Hamas for “acts of terror” at the United Nations failed to achieve the required two thirds majority, with 87 votes in favor, 58 votes against, 32 abstentions and 16 non-votes.
In February–March 2021, Fatah and Hamas reached agreement to jointly conduct elections for a new Palestinian legislative assembly , in accordance with the Oslo Accords . Hamas committed to upholding international law, transferring control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority and to allowing it to negotiate with Israel to establish a Palestinian state along the 1967 ceasefire lines , with East Jerusalem as its capital. According to Menachem Klein, Israeli Arabist and political scientist at Bar-Ilan University , Mahmoud Abbas subsequently cancelled the elections under pressure from Israel and the United States. Soon after, the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis exploded and the Al-Aqsa Brigades started planning the operation which would break out on 7 October 2023.
Hamas motivations
Hamas officials said their 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.
Mohammad Deif , the head of Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades , said in a recorded message on 7 October that it was in response to what he called the “desecration” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque , and Israel killing and wounding hundreds of Palestinians in 2023. He called on Palestinians and Arab Israelis to “expel the occupiers and demolish the walls”. He continued, “in light of the continuing crimes against our people, in light of the orgy of occupation and its denial of international laws and resolutions, and in light of American and western support, we’ve decided to put an end to all this, so that the enemy understands that he can no longer revel without being held to account.”
Many scholars state that Hamas’s objective is the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, while others say that Hamas has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel . In 2017, Hamas replaced its old charter with a new one that removed antisemitic language and stated that its struggle was with Zionists, not Jews.
Other Hamas officials said that they expected a severe Israeli retaliation and were “proud to sacrifice martyrs.” Hamas hoped that the attack would trigger a wider war against Israel. The attack was also seen as a resolution of internal tensions within Hamas as to whether the group’s main goal is governing the Gaza Strip or fighting against Israel.
Israeli policy
Benjamin Netanyahu has been Israel’s prime minister for most of the two decades preceding the war, and was criticized for having championed a policy of empowering Hamas in Gaza. He has been accused of doing this to sabotage a two-state solution by confining the Fatah -controlled Palestinian Authority to the West Bank and weakening it in order to demonstrate to the Israeli public and to Western countries that Israel has no Palestinian partner for peace. This criticism was leveled by several Israeli officials, including former prime minister Ehud Barak and former head of the Shin Bet internal security service Yuval Diskin . Along with the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia was also critical of Netanyahu’s government allowing Qatar to deliver suitcases of money to Hamas, in exchange for maintaining the ceasefire. Moreover, in recent years, Israel allowed up to 18,000 Palestinian laborers from Gaza to work in Israel as an incentive to maintain relative calm. A Times of Israel op-ed argued after the Hamas attack that Netanyahu’s policy to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset had “blown up in our faces”.
The Associated Press wrote that Palestinians are “in despair over a never-ending occupation in the West Bank and suffocating blockade of Gaza.” Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International , B’Tselem , and Human Rights Watch have likened the Israeli occupation to apartheid , although supporters of Israel dispute this characterization. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported roughly 6,400 Palestinians and 300 Israelis were killed in the wider Israeli–Palestinian conflict, from 2008 through September 2023, before the start of this war.
2023 local escalation
Over the course of 2023, before the attack, 39 Israelis and two foreign nationals had been killed, 116 wounded in Palestinian attacks, while at least 247 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces. [188] Increases in settler attacks had displaced hundreds of Palestinians, and there were clashes around the Al-Aqsa Mosque which sits on the Temple Mount , a contested holy site in Jerusalem.
In August 2023, 1,264 Palestinians were held in administrative detention in Israel, without charge or trial, the highest number in three decades. Israel says this tactic is necessary in order to contain dangerous militants.
Tensions between Israel and Hamas rose in September 2023, and the Washington Post described the two “on the brink of war”. Israel found explosives hidden in a shipment of jeans and halted all exports from Gaza. [192] In response, Hamas put its forces on high alert, and conducted military exercises with other groups, including openly practicing storming Israeli settlements. Hamas also allowed Palestinians to resume protests at the Israel-Gaza barrier . On 13 September, five Palestinians were killed at the border. According to the Washington Post , the Palestinians were attempting to detonate an explosive device. Al-Jazeera reported that a Palestinian Explosives Engineering Unit was working to deactivate the device. On 29 September, Qatar , the UN, and Egypt mediated an agreement between Israel and Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip to reopen closed crossing points and deescalate tensions.
Simon Tisdall argues that an uptick in Israeli–Palestinian violence in the West Bank in the first half of 2023 had portended war, and stated that Netanyahu’s “refusal to contemplate any type of peace process” added “fuel to the smouldering fire” in the context of “the relentless expansion of illegal Israeli settlements”. Prior to the attack, Saudi Arabia warned Israel of an “explosion” as a result of the continued occupation, Egypt had warned of a catastrophe unless there was political progress, and similar warnings were given by Palestinian Authority officials. Two months before the attacks, King Abdullah II of Jordan commented that Palestinians have “no civil rights; no freedom of mobility”.
Israeli intelligence failure
Israeli intelligence officials initially stated that they had no warnings or indications of the 7 October attack by Hamas, despite Israel exercising extensive monitoring over Gaza. Furthermore, the United States warned the Israeli government of the possibility of a surprise attack from Hamas a few days before the incident. Egypt said it warned Israel days before the attack, “an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big.” Israel denied receiving such a warning, but the Egyptian statement was corroborated by Michael McCaul , Chairman of the US House Foreign Relations Committee , who said warnings were made three days before the attack.
According to the New York Times , Israeli officials had obtained detailed attack plans more than a year prior to the actual attack. The document described operational plans and targets, including the size and location of Israeli forces, and raised questions in Israel as to how Hamas was able to learn these details. The document provided a plan that included a large scale rocket assault prior to an invasion, drones to knock out the surveillance cameras and gun turrets that Israel has deployed along the border, and gunmen invading Israel, including with paragliders . The Times reported that “Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision.” According to the Times , the document was circulating among Israeli military and intelligence leadership, who largely dismissed the plan as being beyond Hamas’ capabilities, though it was unclear if the political leadership was informed. In July 2023, a member of the Israeli signals intelligence unit alerted her superiors that Hamas was conducting preparations for the assault, saying that “I utterly refute that the scenario is imaginary”. An Israeli colonel ignored her concerns. According to the Financial Times , alerts from the signals unit were ignored because they came from lower-ranking soldiers, contradicted the belief that Hamas was contained by Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip , bombing, and placation via aid, and the belief that Hamas was seeking to avoid a full war.
Israel–Saudi normalization talks
At the time of the attack, Israel and Saudi Arabia were conducting negotiations to normalize relations . Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said normalization was “for the first time real”. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said it had “repeatedly warned that Israel’s ongoing occupation of Gaza would propel further violence”.
Iran proxy warfare
Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman has said the October 7 attacks were an Iranian revenge for the US assassination of Qasem Soleimani . Hamas, however, denies this.
Iran’s IRGC reportedly worked with Hamas to plan its 7 October 2023 attack and gave the green light to launch the assault on a meeting in Beirut on 2 October. In the weeks leading up to the attack, some 500 fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad received training in Iran, under the guidance of the IRGC Quds Force .
Iranian officials publicly boasted for years about their role in arming militants in Gaza, and a 2020 US State Department report said Iran funnels $100 million a year to Hamas.
Events
7 October attack
The attack took place during the Jewish holidays of Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret on Shabbat , [211] and one day after the 50th anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War , which also began with a surprise attack. At around 6:30 a.m. IDT (UTC+3) on 7 October 2023, 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. Explosions were reported in areas surrounding the strip and in cities in the Sharon Plain including Gedera , Herzliyya , Tel Aviv , and Ashkelon . Air raid sirens were activated in Beer Sheva , Jerusalem , Rehovot , Rishon Lezion , and Palmachim Airbase . Hamas issued a call to arms, with commander Mohammad Deif calling on “Muslims everywhere to launch an attack” and to “kill them [the enemy] wherever you may find them”.
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. Palestinian militants opened fire on Israeli boats, while clashes broke out between Palestinians and the Israel Defense Forces along the Gaza perimeter fence . 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.
Simultaneously, around 3,000 Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from Gaza using trucks, pickup trucks, motorcycles, bulldozers, speedboats, and paragliders . They took over checkpoints at Kerem Shalom and Erez , and created openings in the border fence in five other places. Images and videos showed armed and masked militants, riding pickup trucks and opening fire in Sderot . Other videos display Israelis taken prisoner, a burning Israeli tank, and militants driving Israeli military vehicles.
Hamas has also stated that its attack was in response to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements , rising Israeli settler violence and recent escalations at Al-Aqsa . Intelligence and security officials from multiple Western countries say that Hamas initiated the war in order to create a “permanent” state of war and to revive interest in the Palestinian cause.
Military base attacks
Hamas militants carried out an amphibious landing in Zikim . A military base near Nahal Oz was also taken by the militants, leaving at least two Israeli soldiers dead and six others captured. The IDF said it killed two attackers on the beach and destroyed four vessels, including two rubber boats.
Fighting was reported at Re’im military base, headquarters of Israel’s Gaza Division . It was later reported that Hamas took control of the base and took several Israeli soldiers captive, before the IDF regained control later in the day. The police station of Sderot came under Hamas control, with militants killing 30 Israelis, including policemen and civilians. At least six Israeli military bases near the Gaza border were attacked.
Towns and rural settlements
Militants killed civilians at Nir Oz , Be’eri , and Netiv HaAsara , and other agricultural communities , where they took hostages and set fire to homes. This resulted in widespread fires and smoke across the region. 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 , in what has been described as the bloodiest day in Israel’s history and the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust . In Sderot, gunmen targeted civilians and set houses ablaze. In Ofakim , hostages were taken during Hamas’s deepest incursion. Hamas said it took prisoners to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners. In Be’eri , Hamas militants took up to 50 people hostage . Videos showed hostages being led barefoot across a street in the town. Hamas also massacred at least 325 and injured many more at an outdoor music festival near Re’im and took at least 37 attendees hostage. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority denied the massacre, stating that Israeli helicopters and fighter jets were behind the high number of casualties; An Israeli Police investigation stated that the first helicopters at the scene arrived hours after the massacre began, and that they were likely responsible for only a few friendly fire casualties. In Be’eri, a tank fired on a house known to contain around 40 Hamas fighters and 14 hostages, among them 2 children; only one of the hostages in the house survived. A Ynet article stated that there was an “immense and complex quantity” of friendly-fire incidents during the October 7 attack that “it would not be morally sound to investigate” given their number and the challenges soldiers were facing at the time.
Witnesses recounted militants on motorcycles opening fire on participants who were already fleeing due to rocket fire. Graeme Wood reported that the video footage retrieved from the body cameras of Hamas militants displayed several victims “in the beginning of the footage they are alive, by the end they’re dead. Sometimes, in fact frequently, after their death their bodies are still being desecrated.”
Around 240 people were taken hostage during the attacks , mostly civilians. Captives in Gaza include children, festivalgoers, peace activists, caregivers, elderly people, and soldiers.
An Israeli spokesman said militants had entered Israel through at least seven locations from both land and sea, and invaded four small rural Israeli communities, the border city of Sderot , and two military bases. Israeli media reported that seven communities came under Hamas control, including Nahal Oz , Kfar Aza , Magen , Be’eri , and Sufa , and there were 21 active high-confrontation locations in southern Israel.
Israel has reported that rape and sexual violence against Israeli women took place during the Re’im music festival massacre, in private homes and an Israeli military base, and Physicians for Human Rights–Israel issued a report calling for an investigation into what it called the “accounts indicating that sexual and gender-baded violence occurred across several locations”. An 8 October report by The Times of Israel referenced videos it said “have raised concerns of sexual assault against women”. On 14 October, Israel’s military forensic teams attested that there were indications of torture and multiple rapes among the deceased. On 24 October, Israeli authorities screened footage of atrocities committed during Hamas’s incursion to a small group of foreign journalists. In one clip a partially burnt female corpse was seen, with her dress pulled up to around her waist and underwear missing. An Israeli official said that authorities had evidence of rape. An NBC News report on 27 October stated “there are signs of rape” in some of the videos. An NBC News report on 6 December stated that human rights investigators “believe that sexual violence and gender-based violence was carried out by Hamas,” but that they are “not yet certain about the scale”.
Initial Israeli counter-operation (7–27 October)
After the initial breach of the Gaza perimeter by Palestinian militants, it took hours for the Israeli military to respond by sending troops to counter-attack. 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. They immediately encountered difficulty in determining which outposts and settlements were occupied, and distinguishing between Palestinian militants and the soldiers and civilians on the ground. The helicopter crews initially sustained a high rate of fire, attacking approximately 300 targets in 4 hours. Later on the crews began to slow down the attacks and carefully select targets. According to Haaretz ‘ s journalist Josh Breiner, 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 Re’im music festival massacre . The Israeli police denied the Haaretz report.
Subsequent investigation has determined that militants had been instructed not to run so that the air force would think they were Israelis. This deception worked for some time, but pilots began to realize the problem and ignore their restrictions. By around 9:00 a.m., amid the chaos and confusion, some helicopters started laying down fire without prior authorization.
The attack appeared to have been a complete surprise to the Israelis. Prime Minister Netanyahu convened an emergency gathering of security authorities, and the IDF launched Operation Swords of Iron in the Gaza Strip. In a televised broadcast, Netanyahu said, “We are at war”. He threatened to “turn all the places where Hamas is organized and hiding into cities of ruins”, called Gaza “the city of evil”, and urged its residents to leave. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conducted security assessments at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv. Overnight, Israel’s Security Cabinet voted to act to bring about the “destruction of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad”. The Israel Electric Corporation , which supplies 80% of the Gaza Strip’s electricity, cut off power to the area. This reduced Gaza’s power supply from 120 MW to 20 MW, provided by power plants paid for by the Palestinian Authority.
The IDF declared a “state of readiness for war”, mobilized tens of thousands of army reservists , and declared a state of emergency for areas within 80 kilometers (50 mi) of Gaza. The Yamam counterterrorism unit was deployed, along with four new divisions, augmenting 31 existing battalions. Reservists were reported deployed in Gaza, in the West Bank, and along borders with Lebanon and Syria.
Residents near Gaza were asked to stay inside, while civilians in southern and central Israel were “required to stay next to shelters”. The southern region of Israel was closed to civilian movement, and roads were closed around Gaza and Tel Aviv. While Ben Gurion Airport and Ramon Airport remained operational, multiple airlines cancelled flights to and from Israel. Israel Railways suspended service in parts of the country and replaced some routes with temporary bus routes, while cruise ships removed the ports of Ashdod and Haifa from their itineraries.
Israeli blockade and bombardment
Following the surprise attack, the Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes that they said targeted Hamas compounds, command centers, tunnels, and other targets. Two days after the surprise attack, Israel said that 426 Hamas targets had been hit, including destroying Beit Hanoun , homes of Hamas officials, a mosque, and an internet hub. Israel also rescued two hostages before declaring a state of war for the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War . Defense Minister Gallant announced a “total” blockade of the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity and blocking the entry of food and fuel, adding “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly”. This drew criticism from Human Rights Watch who described the order as “abhorrent” and as a “call to commit a war crime”. The IDF later deployed C-130 and C-130J transport aircraft to retrieve off-duty personnel.
As a part of a bombing run targeting Hamas command centers and weapon caches, the IDF stated that it had bombed the Nukhba forces—a Hamas special forces unit that is thought to have led the attack on Israel.
Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions over Gaza on 10 and 11 October, stating that it violated international law. [285] Israel denied the allegations.
Evacuation of Northern Gaza
Almost a week after the initial attack on Israel, on 13 October, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for communities north of the Wadi Gaza . All Palestinians in that region, including those in Gaza City, were given 24 hours to evacuate to the south. 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”.
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 , among others, condemning the order as “outrageous” and “impossible” while calling for an immediate reversal of the order.
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. An explosion at 5:30 p.m. along one of the safe routes killed 70 people. Some sources attributed it to an IDF airstrike, while CNN said the cause was unclear. The Jerusalem Post said open-source analysts believed the explosion originated from a car on the ground, but the cause was unclear. The Financial Times carried out an investigation, concluding “analysis of the video footage rules out most explanations aside from an Israeli strike”, although it was “difficult to conclusively prove whether these blasts came from an IDF strike, a potential Palestinian rocket misfire or even a car bomb”.
The IDF stated Hamas set up roadblocks to keep Gaza residents from evacuating south and caused traffic jams. Israeli officials stated this was done to use civilians as “human shields”, which Hamas denied. A number of countries and international organizations condemned what they called Hamas’s use of hospitals and civilians as human shields .
According to an unnamed Israeli official, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar left Gaza City using a vehicle associated with a humanitarian relief mission.
17 October
Late in the evening, an explosion occurred in the parking lot of the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in the center of Gaza City, burning some nearby vehicles. The cause of the explosion was disputed by Hamas and the IDF, and the ongoing conflict prevented independent on-site analysis. Palestinian statements that it was an Israeli airstrike were denied by the IDF, which stated that the explosion resulted from a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad . The PIJ denied any involvement. An independent analysis by Human Rights Watch indicated that the evidence pointed to a misfired Palestinian rocket as the cause, but stated that further investigation was required.
On 18 October, President Biden said the Pentagon had independently concluded that the explosion was not caused by Israel, but by “the other team”, based on data from the Defense Department . Over the next few days, Canadian, British, and French officials announced that their respective intelligence agencies concluded the cause to be a failed Palestinian rocket and not an Israeli airstrike. In its article dated 2 November, CNN stated that multiple experts said “they believe this to be the most likely scenario – although they caution the absence of munition remnants or shrapnel from the scene made it difficult to be sure. All agreed that the available images of evidence of the damage at the site was not consistent with an Israeli airstrike.”
Invasion of the Gaza Strip until the truce (27 October–24 November)
On 27 October, the IDF launched a large-scale ground incursion into northern Gaza. Clashes between Hamas and the IDF were reported near Beit Hanoun and Bureij . The Israeli invasion of Gaza was confirmed after Israel said its units were still in Gaza the next day. Hamas leader Ali Baraka said the invading Israeli forces suffered heavy casualties and loss of equipment due to an ambush. Two days later, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), described as “deeply concerning” reports from the Palestinian Red Crescent that the al-Quds hospital had received an urgent evacuation warning. He reiterated that it was “impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives”. Israeli airstrikes targeted the area around the hospital, filling parts of the building with smoke and dust, prompting staff to give breathing masks to some patients. Around 14,000 civilians were believed to be sheltering in or near the hospital. Associated Press reported that Israeli airstrikes also destroyed roads leading to the Al-Shifa hospital, making it increasingly difficult to reach.
Three days following the beginning of ground operations A video showed an Israeli tank firing on a taxi with a white flag on its roof that had attempted to turn around. An IDF spokesperson said they were “not shown any proof” that the vehicle was civilian, adding, “terrorists use civilian infrastructure like cars.”
The following day, the IDF struck at densely-populated Jabalia refugee camp , killing 50 and wounding 150 Palestinians according to the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry. According to Israel, a senior Hamas commander and dozens of militants in a vast underground tunnel complex were among those killed. Hamas denied the presence of a senior commander on the scene. According to the IDF, the destruction of the tunnels caused the collapse of the foundations of several nearby buildings, leading to their collapse. Eyewitnesses interviewed by CNN and Der Spiegel spoke of “apocalyptic” scenes, with dozens of collapsed buildings, children carrying other injured children, and bodies lying in the rubble. The nearby Indonesian Hospital’s surgical director said they had received 120 dead bodies and treated 280 wounded, the majority of them women and children. The attack resulted in several ambassador recalls (see § Ambassador recalls ). Josep Borrell , the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy , wrote on the social media platform X that he was “appalled by the high number of casualties” from the bombing. According to The New York Times at least two 2,000-pound bombs, the second largest type in Israel’s arsenal, were used.
On 1 November, the first group of evacuees left Gaza into 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. On the same day, the Jabalia refugee camp was bombed for a second time; the UN Human Rights Office expressed “serious concerns” that these were “disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes”. The IDF released what it stated was an intercepted call between Hamas operatives and the head of the Indonesia Hospital , where they discuss diverting some of the hospital’s fuel supply to Hamas.
Two days later, the Gaza health ministry stated that Israel struck an ambulance convoy directly in front of Al-Shifa Hospital, killing at least 15 people and injuring 60 more. The IDF acknowledged having launched an airstrike at “an ambulance that was identified by forces as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell in close proximity to their position in the battle zone”, adding that a “number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike”. The IDF did not provide evidence that the ambulances were being used by Hamas combatants but said that additional information would be released. A Hamas official described the Israeli statement as “baseless”. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said one of its ambulances was struck “by a missile fired by the Israeli forces” about two metres from the entrance to al-Shifa hospital. The PRCS said another ambulance was fired on about a kilometre from the hospital. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that he was “utterly shocked by reports of attacks on ambulances evacuating patients”, adding that patients, health workers and medical facilities must always be protected.
On 4 November a UNRWA spokeswoman confirmed reports that Israel had conducted an airstrike against a UN-run school in the Jabalia refugee camp. According to the Gaza health ministry, the attack killed 15 and wounded dozens more. Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel “in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by Israel against civilians, and Israel’s refusal (to accept) a ceasefire.” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters he held Netanyahu personally responsible for civilian deaths in Gaza and said that he was “no longer someone we can talk to”.
Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, reported that due to Israeli air strikes, the bodies of 23 missing Israeli hostages were buried under the rubble. [347] [348]
Fighting continued through the middle of November and on 18 November Israeli strikes killed more than 80 people in Jabalia refugee camp. On 22 November, Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire agreement, providing for a four-day “pause” or “lull” in hostilities, to allow for the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza. The deal also provided for the release of approximately 150 Palestinian women and children incarcerated by Israel. The agreement was approved by the Israeli cabinet in the early hours of the day; in a statement, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office stated Israel’s intention to continue the war.
Duration of the truce (24 November–1 December)
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. Both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the truce on 28 November. On 30 November Hamas released two more hostages as the truce, which was supposed to end minutes later, was extended by another day.
Resumption of hostilities (1 December–28 December)
The truce expired in the morning on 1 December, as both Israel and Hamas blamed the other side for failing to agree on an extension. According to the New York Times , the disagreement centred on “how to define soldiers versus civilians and how many Palestinian prisoners Israel would release for its hostages”. A Hamas official said that after the exchange, the only remaining hostages were “soldiers and civilian men who served in the occupation army”, and refused to exchange them until “all our prisoners are freed and a ceasefire takes hold”. US National Security Advisor John Kirby said that “Hamas agreed to allow the Red Cross access to these hostages while the pause was in place,” which did not “happen and is still not happening”.
Israel adopted a grid system to order precise evacuations within Gaza, released a map online, and dropped leaflets with a QR code for the link. The maps were criticized for being hard to access due to the lack of electricity and internet connectivity, and for causing confusion or panic. Some evacuation instructions have been vague or contradictory, and Israel has struck areas it had told people to evacuate to.
Experts said they had not seen significant changes in Israeli prosecution of the war due to its warnings to civilians appearing ineffective and it being unclear if anywhere in Gaza is safe. Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said in a press release that “US-made weapons facilitated the mass killings of extended families”. Amnesty found no evidence of military targets at the sites of the strikes, or any indication that the occupants of the homes were affiliated with Hamas, prompting the group to request that the airstrikes be investigated as possible war crimes. Several decomposed babies were found in the ICU of Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital in northern Gaza, two weeks after its forced evacuation. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned against replacing “a tactical victory with a strategic defeat” if Israel does not work towards protecting Palestinian civilians. The US State Department said it was too early to definitively assess whether Israel was heeding US calls to protect civilians.
The IDF reported that its troops had reached the centers of Khan Younis, Jabalia, and Shejaiya reporting the most “intense fighting” since the ground invasion of Gaza began. Intensified bombing pushed Palestinian civilians further south to Rafah.
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.The New York Times reported that the statement about Hamas fighters surrendering was made after video and photographs of “men stripped to their underwear, sitting or kneeling on the ground, with some bound and blindfolded” were seen on social media. The Guardian reported that among the people seen in the images were people identified as civilians, among them a journalist. The ICRC said it was concerned by the images and that it strongly emphasized “the importance of treating all those detained with humanity and dignity, in accordance with international humanitarian law”. The BBC reported that a video of the apparent surrender of weapons is unclear whether a man is “surrendering” weapons or just moving them as instructed, suggested the event was performed for the camera, rather than as an act of authentic surrender, and that it not known whether the individuals shown have any involvement with Hamas or the 7 October attack. Haaretz reported that Israeli security officials believed that approximately 10–15% of the people shown in the video were actually affiliated with Hamas, and that despite the public statements by Israel that this was not a “massive surrender” by Hamas units. Amnesty International described the treatment of those detained on 7 December as a violation of international law.
On 8 and 9 December, the IDF released footage of what it said was its soldiers engaging combatants near and inside two schools in Shejaiya. According to the IDF, fighters also discovered a tunnel leading from one of the schools to a nearby mosque. It also released footage of armament that it stated was found on the campus of Al-Azhar University , along with a tunnel shaft leading to a school 1 km away. The Israeli military said that, since it designated a humanitarian zone for civilians in the Gaza Strip on October 18, 116 rockets had been fired from there toward Israel, including 38 falling inside Gaza.
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 by using an emergency power.
On 15 December, the IDF released a statement announcing that they had killed three of their own hostages by friendly fire . According to the Israeli military, they “mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat” during operations in Shuja’iyya and subsequently fired at them, killing them According to an Israeli military official on 16 December, the three hostages were shirtless and were carrying “a stick with a white cloth on it” when an Israeli soldier, who declared them to be “terrorists” after feeling “threatened”, opened fire, killing two hostages and injuring the third, who was killed by Israeli reinforcements.
In an interview to the Wall Street Journal on December 25, Netanyahu said that Israel’s objectives were to “destroy Hamas, demilitarize Gaza and deradicalize the whole of Palestinian society.”