10 key moments in the Israel-Hamas war
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike at Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City, on December 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. – The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on December 26, that 38 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours, taking the overall war death toll to 45,399. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / Agence France-Presse)
PARIS, France — After the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out the worst attack in Israeli history on October 7, 2023, Israel launched a devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
The air and ground operation has killed at least 46,707 people, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Here is a roundup of key moments in the war.
Hamas attacks
At dawn on October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel.
They killed civilians in the streets, in their homes, and at a desert music festival, as well as attacked troops in army bases.
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Article continues after this advertisementThey seized 251 hostages and took them back to Gaza. Currently, 94 are still held there, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to destroy Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, and Israel.
Ground offensive
Israel began bombing and besieging Gaza. On October 13, it called on civilians in northern Gaza to move south.
The vast majority of Gazans have been displaced during the war, according to the UN.
On October 27, Israel launched a ground offensive.
Israel-Hamas truce and hostage swap
On November 24, a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas went into effect.
Hamas released 105 hostages in return for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
When the war resumed, Israel expanded its actions into southern Gaza.
People watch the live television broadcast of a press conference being addressed by Qatars Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, along a street in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 15, 2025, amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages in the first phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange that follows 15 months of war in Gaza, Qatar’s prime minister said on January 15. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / Agence France-Presse)
READ: What are the details of the ceasefire deal in Gaza?
Deadly food stampede
On February 29, 2024 Israeli forces fired on residents of northern Gaza who rushed towards a convoy of food aid trucks, killing 120 people and wounding hundreds.
From early March that year, several countries, including the United States, dropped aid over Gaza which the United Nations said faces famine.
On April 1, seven aid workers from the US charity World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli strike, which the military said was a “tragic mistake.”
Iran attacks Israel
On April 13, Iran pounded Israel with drones and missiles in retaliation for a deadly April 1 strike on its Damascus consulate, blamed on Israel.
On July 20, Israel bombarded Yemen’s port of Hodeida, after a drone attack on Tel Aviv by Iran-backed Houthi rebels who have been attacking shipping in the Gulf since November 2023 in solidarity with Gaza.
Hamas political leader killed
At the Israeli-Lebanon border, the almost daily exchanges of gunfire since October 2023 between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah, intensified in July.
Israel retaliated with several strikes, including one that killed Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander.
On July 31, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a strike in Iran. Israel accepted responsibility months later.
Israel-Hamas war spillover into Lebanon
On September 17 and 18, hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded in an Israeli operation. It killed 39 and wounded thousands, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israel stepped up its air campaign in Lebanon and on September 27 killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a suburb of Beirut.
READ: 10 key developments since the October 7 attacks on Israel
Days later, Israel launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah strongholds while carrying out heavy bombing across the country.
Iran launched a barrage of 200 missiles at Israel in response to the killing of Nasrallah and Haniyeh.
FILE PHOTO: Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Taybeh on September 16, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Ammar Ammar / Agence France-Presse)
New Hamas chief killed
On October 16, new Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, accused by Israel of masterminding the October 7, 2023 attack, was killed during an Israeli operation in southern Gaza.
On the 26th, Israel carried out airstrikes on military targets in Iran in response to its October 1 missile attack.
On November 14, a UN Committee said Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of “genocide.” Israel accused the UN of bias.
The International Criminal Court on November 21 issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas’ military chief Mohammed Deif, who the Israeli military says it killed in Gaza.
Lebanon truce
A truce came into force on November 27, after two months of open war between Israel and Hezbollah that has left more than 4,000 dead on the Lebanese side since October 2023, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
This fragile truce was breached on several occasions with both sides trading blame.
READ: Gaza truce bittersweet for Biden as Trump takes credit
Since the ousting of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has also conducted hundreds of strikes on Syria’s military sites, which they say are to prevent the country’s weapons from falling into the hands of the interim government.
It has also seized the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights.
Since late 2024 Yemen’s Houthi rebels have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Israel, which responded with new attacks on Yemen.
New Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal
After days of intense diplomatic efforts in Doha, mediator Qatar said on January 15, 2024, that Israel and Hamas have reached a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza starting on January 19 and an exchange of hostages and prisoners, in a move hailed by world leaders.