Gaza War

Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force of arms in 2007.[8] Rather than moderating in response to the responsibilities of governance, Hamas subsequently invested in radicalization and the construction of militant infrastructure, with the stated purpose of eventually launching an attack that could contribute to Israel's destruction.[8] In subsequent years, Hamas fired more than 30,000 rockets into Israel, creating a persistent security threat along the country's southern border.[9]

Iran helped enable Hamas's buildup. It provided Hamas and Hezbollah with material, political, and financial support — including weapons, training, equipment, and assistance beginning in 2014 to develop certain long-range rocket capabilities — as part of a broader strategy of using regional proxy groups to apply sustained pressure against Israel.[8] Hamas official Ali Baraka later stated that Hamas planned the October 7 attack over a period of two years.[1]

Israel's relationship with Gaza had been shaped decisively by its 2005 disengagement, when Israel unilaterally dismantled 21 Israeli settlements, relocated more than 8,000 Israeli residents, and redeployed the Israeli military to the border.[9] After Hamas's 2007 takeover, Gaza's legal status became a matter of international dispute: Israel maintained that it no longer occupied Gaza, while several international bodies disputed this position on the grounds that Israel retained effective control over Gaza's borders, airspace, and coastline.[9]

The assault began at approximately 6:29–6:30 a.m. on October 7, 2023 — a Saturday that coincided with the Jewish holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.[10][9] Hamas called the operation "Al-Aqsa Flood."[1] Thousands of armed Hamas terrorists entered Israel by land, air, and sea after sections of the Gaza security fence were breached with tractors, RPGs, and explosives.[11] A later IDF investigation reported that approximately 6,000 people entered Israel through 119 fence breaches, including approximately 3,800 members of Hamas's Nukhba special forces and an additional 2,200 Palestinians described as terrorists and looters.[1] A detailed Jerusalem Post timeline records three organized waves of infiltration: approximately 1,175 invaders between 6:29 and 7:00 a.m., 660 between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m., and 435 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., with attacks and battles occurring across 41 areas.[10]

Simultaneously, more than 4,300 rockets were fired toward Israeli communities by the end of the day.[1] The attackers struck communities and military positions across southern Israel, including Nahal Oz, Sderot, Be'eri, Kissufim, Ofakim, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, and areas near the Erez crossing.[3] The assault involved Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terrorist groups.[12] Civilians also joined the infiltration.[13] Twenty-two civilian communities, approximately a dozen IDF bases and posts, and the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re'im were attacked.[2]

The Nova festival, where approximately 3,500 people had gathered, became one of the bloodiest sites of the massacre. Of those present, 364 civilians — Israelis and foreign nationals — were killed there.[3][11] The assault killed approximately 1,200 people in total, at least 843 of whom have been identified as civilians, including 36 children.[12] More than 1,800 wounded people were evacuated to Israeli hospitals, overwhelming the trauma system during the first 24 hours.[14] Forty-four Americans were among those killed.[4] Approximately 251–253 people were abducted and taken into Gaza as hostages, among them Israeli civilians, soldiers, and foreign nationals.[2][12] Community-level casualty records documented the concentrated devastation: 134 residents of Be'eri were killed and 33 taken hostage; 64 Kfar Aza residents were killed and 19 taken hostage; and 31 Nir Oz residents were killed while 86 were taken hostage.[10]

Israeli military leadership only fully grasped the scale of the assault by approximately 1:00 p.m.[1] The IDF began striking Hamas targets in Gaza at approximately 8:20 a.m., and at 10:25 a.m. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari formally announced "Operation Swords of Iron" and stated that tens of thousands of reservists would be mobilized.[3] By noon, most Hamas invaders and hostages had returned to Gaza, while approximately 1,000 Gazan fighters remained inside Israel at 27 locations.[10] The IDF conducted localized battles against remaining Hamas cells between October 8 and October 10, achieving general operational control of the border corridor by that period, with limited searches continuing through October 12.[10] Israel regained operational control of the border areas by the night of October 9.[1]

The Israeli government's legal and political response unfolded in rapid stages. Israel's defense minister declared a special home-front situation in the Gaza-border region at 8:00 a.m. on October 7; by 6:00 p.m., the national-security minister declared a civil emergency throughout Israel except within 80 kilometers of Gaza; and by 8:00 p.m., the special home-front situation had been extended nationwide.[15] On October 8, the cabinet formally confirmed a state of war effective from 6:00 a.m. on October 7, invoking section 40 of Israel's Basic Law: The Government.[15] The cabinet's statement characterized the conflict as beginning with "a murderous terrorist assault from the Gaza Strip."[15]

On October 11, Israel established a national emergency government that included ministers from Benny Gantz's National Camp party and created a war-management cabinet to oversee the campaign.[15] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel's objectives were to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, return the hostages, and prevent future terrorist threats from Gaza.[4] Israel called up approximately 350,000 reservists and began an intensive air campaign against Hamas targets across Gaza.[2]

Israel's security cabinet first convened at 2:00 p.m. on October 7 — seven and a half hours after the invasion began — a delay that, alongside the broader failure of the army to function as a quick-reaction force, became the subject of intense institutional scrutiny.[3] Former intelligence officer Yossi Alpher stated that "the army completely failed as a quick-reaction force," a verdict that captured the severity of the command, intelligence, preparedness, and communications failures documented in subsequent IDF investigations.[1] Israel launched its ground offensive into Gaza on October 27, 2023, following weeks of intensive airstrikes.[2]

Israel conducted aerial, naval, and ground operations throughout Gaza from late October 2023 onward. By the end of 2023, the U.S. State Department reported that the campaign had disrupted Hamas's control over much of Gaza, though Hamas and other armed groups retained pockets of control in southern Gaza.[4] The Congressional Research Service reported in October 2024 that Israel claimed to have killed approximately 17,000 of an estimated 25,000–30,000 Hamas fighters, including roughly half of the military wing's leadership, though these figures were attributed to Israel and not independently verified.[16] Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in September 2024 that Hamas no longer existed as a military formation but had shifted to guerrilla warfare, while U.S. officials and Israeli analysts described Hamas's control as weakened rather than eliminated.[16]

A key milestone in the campaign came on October 16, 2024, when Yahya Sinwar — widely described as the principal planner of the October 7 attack — was killed by Israeli forces during a firefight in southern Gaza.[2] Sinwar had previously been released from Israeli prison as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.[2] The ICC later issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant for alleged war crimes; its prosecutor had also requested warrants for Hamas leaders in May 2024.[2][5]

Through the COGAT coordination mechanism, the Israeli government stated that it facilitated humanitarian aid during the conflict's early phase, reporting that more than 70,000 tons of aid entered Gaza — including food, medical equipment, bottled water, and shelter equipment — along with more than 6,500 tons of medical supplies from 18 countries.[11] The government also reported that more than 750 patients left Gaza with more than 490 escorts and that approximately 9,500 people were evacuated from Gaza with Israeli assistance; all aid was subject to security inspections to prevent military supplies from reaching Hamas.[11]

Israel's military campaign drew on the full range of available resources but carried a significant human cost. At least 346 Israeli soldiers died in battle after ground operations began through October 2024.[16] The campaign produced extensive destruction across Gaza and led to enormous civilian displacement.[5]

The war rapidly expanded beyond its initial Gaza theater. Hezbollah began firing rockets and missiles at northern Israel on October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas attack, leading to sustained exchanges of fire that displaced approximately 60,000 Israelis from northern communities.[2] The Houthis in Yemen began launching drones and missiles toward Israel on October 19, 2023, later expanding their campaign to attack commercial and naval shipping in the Red Sea.[2]

On April 13–14, 2024, Iran launched an unprecedented direct assault on Israel, firing 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles, and more than 120 ballistic missiles. Israel, the United States, France, Jordan, and other countries cooperated in intercepting the attack; 99 percent of the projectiles were intercepted by Israel's Arrow 3 and David's Sling missile-defense systems.[2] This marked Iran's first direct military attack on Israel.

The conflict's regional dimension intensified further in 2025. Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Iraq increased their activity, and Houthi forces continued to target Israeli and Western-linked shipping in the Red Sea.[5] In June 2025, Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities and infrastructure with U.S. support, and Iran responded by launching hundreds of ballistic-missile and drone attacks against Israel — bringing the two countries into direct, open hostilities for the first time.[5] Earlier diplomatic efforts led by the United States and involving Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries had, by late 2024, prevented a full regional war but had not ended the fighting or resolved the hostage crisis.[9]

The fate of the hostages taken on October 7 became one of the war's defining moral and political issues. Four hostages were released through Qatari mediation on October 20 and October 23, 2023.[2] Israeli soldier Ori Megidish was rescued by the IDF on October 30.[2] A temporary ceasefire that began on November 24, 2023, produced the largest single exchange of the war's first year: 105 hostages — mostly women and children — were released in exchange for approximately 240 Palestinian prisoners, with humanitarian supplies entering Gaza increasing during the pause.[2][16] The ceasefire expired in early December after Hamas fired a barrage of more than 200 rockets toward Israel; the Israeli government press kit recorded that 110 hostages were released during the operational pause.[2][11]

At the end of 2023, 136 Israelis and foreigners were reported to remain held in Gaza, including 132 abducted on October 7 and four held before that date. At least 23 were believed to have died in captivity, and the International Committee of the Red Cross had received no proof of life for the remaining hostages.[12]

Rescue operations punctuated the war's subsequent months. On February 12, 2024, Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har were rescued in Rafah.[2] The Nuseirat operation on June 8, 2024, freed Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv, though Israeli special-forces officer Arnon Zmora was killed during the mission.[2] As of October 2024, approximately 117 hostages had returned alive, 37 had been recovered dead or killed in encounters, and approximately 97 remained in Gaza — with at least 33 presumed dead.[16]

The January 2025 ceasefire framework's first phase produced the release of 33 hostages — 25 living and 8 deceased — alongside approximately 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and five Thai nationals.[17] When fighting resumed in March 2025, Israeli officials estimated that fewer than half of the remaining 59 hostages were still alive.[18] The October 2025 ceasefire ultimately secured the release of the last 20 living hostages on October 13, 2025, in exchange for approximately 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.[2] The last deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, was recovered and returned to Israel on January 26, 2026 — 843 days after the October 7 attack.[2]

Multiple ceasefire efforts punctuated the conflict. The first significant pause, beginning on November 24, 2023, lasted approximately seven days before collapsing after a Hamas rocket barrage.[2][11] Negotiations continued throughout 2024, with the United States, Qatar, Egypt, and other regional powers acting as intermediaries.

On January 19, 2025, Israel and Hamas began a first phase of a possible three-phase ceasefire framework after approximately fifteen months of active war.[19] The first phase, lasting 42 days, involved the release of 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli military pullback to border areas within Gaza, increased humanitarian aid, and permission for displaced civilians to return to northern Gaza subject to vehicle inspections.[19] The first phase formally expired on March 1, 2025, without agreement on the terms of a second phase.[17]

Israel resumed extensive strikes in Gaza on March 18, 2025, after Hamas rejected proposals to extend the ceasefire in exchange for further hostage releases.[17] Israeli officials said that 59 hostages remained and that fewer than half were believed to be alive.[18] U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Dorothy Shea stated that "blame for the resumption of hostilities lies solely with Hamas."[17] The resumption generated legal dispute, with some parties arguing that Israeli airstrikes constituted violations of the agreement and international law, while others, including UN Watch, argued that phase one had already expired and Israel's operations therefore did not violate the ceasefire.[17]

During the January–March 2025 ceasefire period, Israel sent more than 450,000 tons of humanitarian aid into Gaza.[17] A U.S.-backed ceasefire ultimately took effect in October 2025, under which the remaining living hostages were released and a framework for phased Hamas disarmament and Israeli withdrawal was established.[2][6] The plan moved to a new phase in mid-January 2026.[6]

The humanitarian consequences in Gaza were severe and worsened over the course of the war. By the end of 2023, Israeli military operations had killed more than 21,000 Palestinians in Gaza and injured more than 56,000, based on United Nations reporting relying on information from the Hamas-led Gaza Ministry of Health.[12] Up to 1.9 million people — more than 85 percent of Gaza's population — had been displaced, with estimates indicating that 50–70 percent of buildings had been damaged or destroyed.[12] Approximately 7,000 Palestinians were believed to be buried under rubble or decomposing in streets as of the end of 2023.[12]

After Defense Minister Gallant announced a "complete siege" on October 9, 2023, Israel imposed restrictions on electricity, food, water, fuel, and other goods.[12] Between October 7 and December 31, Israel allowed an average of fewer than 100 trucks per day into Gaza, compared with approximately 500 trucks per day before the war.[12] By October 25, only 2 percent of the food that would have entered before the October 9 closure had entered Gaza, according to Oxfam.[12] Limited humanitarian aid later entered through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, and Israeli officials attributed delays to security and distribution problems.[12]

The humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate through 2024 and 2025. The ADL reported persistent shortages of food and other supplies and the repeated displacement of nearly 2 million people as Israeli operations expanded.[2] The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported more than 67,000 Palestinian deaths, though this figure did not distinguish between combatants and civilians and was disputed by Israeli authorities.[2] The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared famine in northern Gaza in August 2025 and expected it to expand southward; Israeli authorities disputed the methodology and conclusions.[2]

In March 2025, Israel cut off humanitarian aid to Gaza, stating that the measure was intended to pressure Hamas to release hostages.[5] NGOs, governments, and media outlets widely condemned the cutoff as collective punishment. Israel denied that characterization, arguing that UN agencies had been infiltrated by Hamas, that Hamas diverted or sold aid, and that aid revenues supported Hamas's military capacity.[5] The Israeli government press kit also stated that Hamas appropriated a significant portion of aid for military purposes, including paying fighters.[17]

The October 2025 ceasefire did not immediately resolve the underlying political and security questions. Under the agreement, Israeli forces retained control over approximately half of Gaza, while Hamas reasserted control over and consolidated power in the portion it controlled.[6] Low-level clashes, Israeli operations, and alleged violations continued through the ceasefire's early months.[6]

The post-ceasefire process centered on Hamas disarmament and Gaza's future governance. A Board of Peace roadmap envisioned phased Hamas demilitarization linked to phased Israeli withdrawal, with weapons transferred through the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza for decommissioning and destruction.[7] In August 2026, Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected withdrawing from Israel's current lines before Hamas was completely disarmed; U.S. and Board of Peace officials subsequently pursued a step-by-step process requiring visible and verifiable Hamas compliance before Israeli concessions.[7]

Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups violated the ceasefire 16 times between August 1 and 18, 2026, according to Israeli reports.[7] Israel carried out multiple operations against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine personnel during this period, including strikes on commanders, weapons-storage facilities, and alleged attack planners — though these operational claims were attributed to the IDF and Shin Bet and were not independently verified.[7]

The Gaza War generated major proceedings at the international level. South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice on December 29, 2023, alleging violations of the Genocide Convention; Israel characterized its campaign as legitimate self-defense following the October 7 attack.[2] On May 20, 2024, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant, as well as for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif.[2] The United States and Israel rejected ICC jurisdiction over their citizens or allies.[2] The ICC subsequently issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes.[5]

The conflict also implicated broader disputes regarding the laws of armed conflict. The State Department reported that Hamas used civilian population centers and medical facilities to launch rockets, store weapons, and hold hostages.[12] The same report described allegations by human-rights organizations, detainees, and media outlets of Israeli abuses against Palestinians held in detention, including beatings, forced nudity, sexual harassment, threats, and other mistreatment; it noted that several investigations were ongoing and that final adjudications had not been made.[12] Israel maintained that it took measures to avoid civilian harm in the context of complex urban warfare.[2]

Two years after October 7, a Pew Research Center survey of 3,445 U.S. adults found that 39 percent of Americans said Israel was going too far in its military operation — up from 31 percent a year earlier and 27 percent in late 2023 — while 16 percent said Israel was taking about the right approach and 10 percent said it was not going far enough.[20] Eight in ten Americans expressed at least some concern about starvation among Palestinians in Gaza, Israeli strikes killing Palestinian civilians, and Israeli hostages not being returned.[20]

The October 7 attack itself left deep and lasting scars on Israeli society. Jewish Policy Research described the attack as involving the killing, mutilation, rape, and incineration of approximately 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals — an act of violence whose scale and savagery shocked people worldwide and reshaped Israeli strategic thinking about the threat posed by Hamas.[9] The war killed at least 346 Israeli soldiers in ground operations through October 2024.[16]

For Israel, the war exposed profound failures of intelligence and military preparedness and raised fundamental questions about the strategic assumptions that had shaped Gaza policy for years.[1] At the same time, the campaign demonstrated the capacity of the Israeli military and its missile-defense architecture — particularly Arrow 3 and David's Sling — to absorb and repel attacks of unprecedented scale and geographic range, including Iran's April 2024 mass-missile barrage.[2]

The war's longer-term political consequences remained unresolved at the time the sources in this article were produced. Hamas had not been fully dismantled, the governance and reconstruction of Gaza remained open questions, and the broader regional order — including Israel's relationship with Iran and the pace of Arab-Israeli normalization — had been significantly disrupted. The conflict's final chapter, including the post-ceasefire disarmament process and the future of Gaza, continued to unfold as of mid-2026.[6][7]

Several significant factual and legal disputes run through the historical record of the Gaza War. Reported totals for the number of people who entered Israel on October 7 differ across sources: the Jewish Virtual Library cites a later IDF investigation finding approximately 6,000 entrants, while the Jerusalem Post reports approximately 5,400–5,600 Hamas invaders plus additional non-Hamas participants. The Jewish Virtual Library also records an earlier estimate of about 3,000 terrorists and civilians.[1][10] Rocket counts differ by time-point and source, ranging from approximately 2,200 by mid-morning to more than 4,300 by the end of the day.[1][3] Total Palestinian casualty figures rely primarily on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health and do not distinguish combatants from civilians; these figures are disputed by Israeli authorities and are not independently verified.[2]

The legal characterization of Israel's conduct in Gaza — including the ICJ genocide proceedings, ICC arrest warrants, the aid siege, and allegations of disproportionate force — remained the subject of live litigation and intense international debate at the time of writing. Israel rejected the genocide characterization and maintained that its actions constituted lawful self-defense in an extraordinarily difficult urban warfare environment.[2][12] Responsibility for the March 2025 resumption of fighting is similarly disputed: U.S. officials placed the blame squarely on Hamas's refusal to extend the ceasefire, while critics argued that Israeli actions constituted violations of the agreement.[17]