Gaza War Timeline: 7 May – 12 July 2024

On 5 May 2024, Hamas fired mortars and rockets toward the Kerem Shalom crossing, killing four Israeli soldiers.[1] The attack closed the crossing, then the main route for goods entering Gaza from Israel; the United Nations and the White House called for both Kerem Shalom and the Rafah Crossing to reopen without delay, warning that their closure was cutting Gaza off from outside supplies.[1] The UN also noted that Rafah served as the only exit point for Gazans requiring medical treatment unavailable in the territory.[1]

Israel's War Cabinet had already been considering plans for a ground operation in Rafah, where more than 1.3 million people were sheltering, many after being displaced from other parts of Gaza.[1] On the night of 5–6 May, the cabinet authorized those plans, deciding that continued military pressure on Hamas was necessary to advance the war's objectives and secure the release of the hostages still held in Gaza.[8] Hamas's rejection of a proposed hostage deal and the killing of the four soldiers at Kerem Shalom were cited by Israel's defense minister as precipitating factors for beginning operations.[9]

On 7 May, Israeli forces moved into limited areas of eastern Rafah and established operational control of the Gaza side of the Rafah Crossing.[1][2] Tanks from the 401st Armored Brigade reached the crossing, and the Crossing Points Authority announced a complete halt to passenger traffic and aid through that route.[8] The IDF simultaneously reported strikes on more than 100 Hamas sites in Rafah and said approximately 20 gunmen had been killed overnight.[8] Israel said the move had been coordinated with Egypt, was limited in scope, and included measures intended to prevent population movement toward the Egyptian border.[2]

Before the ground advance, the IDF had issued evacuation orders directing residents of eastern Rafah toward an expanded humanitarian zone in al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis, relying on leaflets, text messages, phone calls, and broadcasts.[9][2] The military described al-Mawasi as equipped with field hospitals, tents, food, water, medicine, and other supplies.[9] At the time of the operation, more than 1.3 million Palestinians were in the Rafah area, many of whom had been displaced from northern and central Gaza during earlier phases of the war.[1]

With Israeli forces in control of the Gazan side of the Rafah Crossing, Egypt declined to allow aid shipped through its territory to pass through that point.[10] Aid was rerouted through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing after U.S. pressure led to the crossing's reopening.[11] On 24 May, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi agreed during a call with President Joe Biden to allow Egyptian humanitarian aid to enter Gaza through Kerem Shalom on a provisional basis, with Cairo indicating the arrangement would continue until a legal mechanism was found to reopen Rafah from the Palestinian side.[12]

By the time UNRWA issued its estimate on 19 May, approximately 800,000 people had left Rafah since 6 May—nearly half of the city's wartime population of more than 1.5 million.[13] UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini described this as a massive displacement and said the designated safe zones lacked adequate safe water and sanitation.[13] IDF figures reported by The Jerusalem Post on 20 May placed the number of evacuees at approximately 950,000, with around 30–40 percent of the city under Israeli control.[14] By 20 May, a separate UNRWA estimate put the total who had left at 810,000, though the source noted this figure was an attributed estimate rather than an independently verified count.[15]

By late May, Israel acknowledged that some forces had advanced into central Rafah.[10] The UN reported that the flow of humanitarian supplies into Gaza had fallen 67 percent since 7 May as of 29 May, and a World Food Programme spokesperson warned that humanitarian operations were near collapse.[10]

On 20 May 2024, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Muhammad Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh.[9] The alleged crimes cited against the Israeli officials included intentionally targeting civilians and using starvation as a method of war; the Hamas leaders faced allegations including murder, sexual violence, and hostage-taking.[9] The prosecutor's announcement was a request for warrants, not a court ruling. Israeli leaders and President Biden rejected the comparison between Israel and Hamas.[9]

Four days later, on 24 May, the International Court of Justice issued a provisional-measures order in the case brought by South Africa under the Genocide Convention.[3] The court ordered Israel to halt its military offensive and any other action in Rafah that "may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction, in whole or in part."[3] The order did not require a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza or prohibit military action in other parts of the territory; it also stressed that the Rafah Crossing should remain open at a scale sufficient for urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.[3] The measures passed 13 votes to 2, with Israeli-nominated judge Aharon Barak among those opposing.[16] Israel disputed the characterization that its operations risked the destruction of Gaza's civilian population and rejected the demand to halt the Rafah operation, continuing military activities there.[9]

The ICJ has no enforcement mechanism, and the order formed part of the ongoing South Africa case rather than constituting a final judgment on the genocide allegations.[10] In May, the Biden administration paused a shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs over concerns about their potential use in Rafah. By July, the administration was still reviewing the suspended 2,000-pound bomb shipment but had permitted delivery of the 500-pound bombs.[10]

Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity party and a member of Israel's emergency war cabinet, issued an ultimatum on 19 May, threatening to leave the government unless Netanyahu presented a comprehensive strategic plan for Gaza by 8 June.[17] Gantz's plan called for decisions on the hostages, Hamas demilitarization, Israeli security control, a proposed international civilian administration, the return of northern Israeli residents displaced by Hezbollah fire, and normalization with Saudi Arabia.[17] Defense Minister Yoav Gallant separately and publicly opposed Israeli military rule in Gaza, calling it a "dangerous and bad alternative."[17]

On 26 May, the IDF carried out an airstrike in western Rafah targeting two senior Hamas officials, Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar.[18] The IDF said the strike was conducted outside a designated humanitarian area and that reduced-size warheads were used to limit civilian harm.[18] A fire broke out at a nearby tent camp following the strike. Palestinian claims reported at the time said more than 40 people had been killed at a displaced-persons camp; a separate account by the Jewish Virtual Library said the Hamas-run health ministry reported 45 people killed and dozens wounded.[9] Netanyahu called the incident a "tragic mistake" and the government opened an investigation.[9]

The IDF presented its investigation results on 28 May. Its account stated that the aircraft used rockets carrying 17 kilograms of explosives each—a notably reduced munition—that the two targets were located in an area of tin sheds approximately 1.7 kilometers from a displaced-persons camp, and that secondary explosions followed because ammunition was stored in the vicinity.[19] The IDF disputed that the strike had occurred in a designated safe zone.[19] The incident drew increased international criticism of Israel's Rafah operation.[10]

Simultaneous with the Rafah offensive, Israeli forces conducted a major operation in Jabalya in northern Gaza. On 23 May, the IDF announced that its underground-warfare unit Yahalom had killed Hussein Fiad, identified as the commander of Hamas's Beit Hanoun Battalion, in a subterranean engagement.[20] The operation used intelligence provided by the Shin Bet. The same Yahalom unit had, on 16 May, helped recover the bodies of four hostages from a tunnel in Jabalya.[20]

On 31 May, the IDF announced that its approximately 20-day operation in Jabalya had concluded.[19] The military reported that its forces had killed approximately 500 terrorist operatives, conducted more than 200 airstrikes, destroyed 10 kilometers of tunnels, and recovered the bodies of seven Israeli hostages.[19] Six Israeli soldiers had been killed in fighting in the northern and southern Gaza Strip during the reporting week.[19]

On 1 June, Israeli forces began operating in the al-Sabra and Zeitoun neighborhoods in southern Gaza City, with the stated purpose of securing the Netzarim Corridor—the east-west axis IDF forces had established across the central Strip.[19] Troops found a warehouse containing rocket components, destroyed facilities, and killed a terrorist squad that had fired rocket-propelled grenades at them.[19]

By 17–25 June, IDF activity in central Gaza focused on both sides of the Netzarim Corridor, where forces killed dozens of operatives, found improvised explosive devices and tunnel shafts, and raided a university the IDF said was being used as a Hamas headquarters.[21] Two Israeli soldiers were killed by mortar fire on 20 June.[21] A separate airstrike on 22 June struck two Hamas military facilities in Gaza City; Israeli media reported the strike was an attempt to kill Hamas operations chief Ra'ad Saad.[21] The Hamas government information office said 38 bodies were brought to a Gaza City hospital, 14 people were missing under rubble, and 50 were wounded in attacks across several city neighborhoods—figures reported by the office and not independently verified.[21]

By late May, Israeli forces had advanced into central Rafah and asserted operational control of the Philadelphia Axis, also known as the Philadelphi or Salah al-Din Corridor, a roughly nine-mile border strip running along Gaza's frontier with Egypt.[10] The IDF said control of the axis was essential to prevent weapons and contraband from being smuggled into Gaza through tunnels beneath it.[10]

Between 28 May and 3 June, IDF forces located dozens of tunnel shafts, while reports placed the number of tunnels extending beneath the border into Egyptian territory at approximately 20.[19] Troops found weapons and destroyed facilities along the corridor.[19] Israeli authorities asserted that the tunnels had been actively used to smuggle arms; Egyptian officials maintained that their forces had already severed smuggling routes before the Israeli advance.[10]

Israel found more than 50 cross-border tunnels in the weeks after seizing the Rafah Crossing, according to one account.[22] On 12 July, Netanyahu's office denied a report that Israel was open to withdrawing from the corridor, while media reports described possible discussions with Egypt about withdrawal in exchange for anti-smuggling guarantees.[10]

On 31 May, President Biden publicly outlined a three-phase ceasefire and hostage-release proposal, describing it as an Israeli offer transmitted to Hamas through Egyptian, Qatari, and U.S. mediators.[23] Phase one called for an immediate six-week full ceasefire; Israeli withdrawal from populated areas; the release of some hostages—including women, older people, and the wounded—in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners; the return of some hostage remains; and daily delivery of 600 trucks of aid into Gaza.[23] Phase two envisaged the release of all remaining living hostages and a permanent end to hostilities, with Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, contingent on Hamas fulfilling its commitments.[23] Phase three provided for Gaza's reconstruction and the return of deceased hostages' remains.[23]

Netanyahu's office confirmed Israel had approved the proposal but stressed that the transition between phases was conditional and that Israel would continue fighting until its objectives—including the destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities and the return of all hostages—were achieved.[23] Hamas said it viewed the proposal positively and welcomed the prospect of a permanent ceasefire, full Israeli withdrawal, reconstruction, and a prisoner exchange, but simultaneously demanded written guarantees and accused Israel of continuing the war.[19] The proposal's terms and the parties' stated positions were sharply contested.

On 10 June, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2735, a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing the three-phase framework Biden had presented.[24][4] The vote was 14 in favor, none against, with Russia abstaining.[24][4] The resolution welcomed the ceasefire proposal and called on Hamas to accept it.[4] Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas accepted the proposal and was ready to negotiate details, while also describing it as biased and demanding a formula for a full Israeli withdrawal.[25] Despite that statement, Hamas had not formally accepted the proposal.[26]

Negotiations continued into July without a concluded agreement. On 12 July, a senior Israeli official involved in the talks said Netanyahu was insisting on an enforcement mechanism to prevent armed Hamas operatives from returning to northern Gaza—a demand not contained in Israel's original 27 May proposal—and that this was delaying progress.[27] Hamas, meanwhile, continued to seek written guarantees that Israel would not resume fighting after the first hostages were released.[27] On the same day, Biden said Israel and Hamas had agreed to a framework, while adding that more work remained and gaps persisted; neither side immediately confirmed acceptance.[7]

On 8 June, Israeli forces carried out a daylight rescue operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, retrieving four hostages—Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv—from two buildings a few hundred meters apart.[5][28] All four had been abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 and had spent 246 days in captivity.[5] According to the IDF account reported by FDD's Long War Journal, they were held in civilian homes.[6] The hostages were recovered alive and in reportedly good condition and were evacuated by helicopter to Sheba Medical Center.[6]

The operation was conducted jointly by the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the police counterterrorism unit Yamam, with the Paratrooper Reconnaissance Unit and other forces providing ground support and air cover.[6][28] IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari described it as a daylight raid under fire and said the intelligence preparation had been complex.[28] During the rescue, Yamam squad commander Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora was mortally wounded while entering one of the buildings where hostages were held; he died in hospital.[6][28] The IDF subsequently named the operation "Arnon" in his honor.[5]

The rescue's military and political dimensions intertwined directly. Benny Gantz had set 8 June as his deadline for Netanyahu to present a postwar Gaza plan, and his party had threatened to leave the war cabinet if he did not comply. Following news of the rescue, Gantz cancelled a scheduled press conference at which he had planned to announce his resignation; Netanyahu urged him to stay.[28] Gantz welcomed the operation but said Israel's broader challenges—external and internal—remained.[28] Ultimately, Gantz resigned from the war cabinet on 9 June.[6]

Benny Gantz formally resigned from the emergency war cabinet on 9 June 2024, having announced weeks earlier that he would do so if Netanyahu did not present a comprehensive strategic plan addressing the postwar governance of Gaza, the hostages, demilitarization, and normalization with Saudi Arabia.[17][6] Gadi Eisenkot and Chili Tropper also departed the government at the same time.[9] The departures did not change Israel's military plans or its operational pace.[9]

Throughout this period, the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza was a source of intense international dispute. Between 26 May and 1 June, COGAT reported that 1,858 aid trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Erez-West crossings, including 764 trucks from Egypt, 124 from Jordan, 312 carrying World Food Programme flour, and 13 fuel tankers carrying more than 500,000 liters.[19] On 1 July, COGAT said 311 trucks had entered the previous day and more than 5,000 had entered during the entire month of June.[29]

The U.S.-constructed floating pier received its first aid shipment on 17 May.[30] Distribution through it was repeatedly disrupted by safety concerns and weather damage; the pier operated for only 20 days in total before its use was abandoned in mid-July.[30] The total amount of aid delivered through the pier did not reach what was needed to sustain Gaza's population for even a single day.[30]

On 16 June, the IDF announced a daily, local tactical pause from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. along the route from Kerem Shalom to Salah al-Din Road and northward, explicitly intended to facilitate aid deliveries.[31] The announcement prompted political confusion in Israel, and the military subsequently clarified that the measure applied only to the humanitarian transport route and that combat in Rafah was continuing.[31] Israel continued implementing a daily pause on this route through at least early July.[11] On 24 June, six Gazan children with cancer were transferred from al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis and then through Kerem Shalom to Egypt for treatment—described as the first such transfer since Israeli forces took control of the Rafah Crossing.[21] On 27 June, Israel agreed to evacuate 68 Gazans requiring medical care to Egypt through Kerem Shalom.[11]

As of 8 July, approximately 1,150 trucks were reported waiting at Kerem Shalom.[11] The IPC food-security organization published a report on 25 June finding that available evidence did not indicate that famine was then occurring in Gaza, while warning that a high and sustained risk of famine persisted across the Strip.[32] The report updated its estimates of the population in the two highest food-insecurity categories downward—the Catastrophe share from 30 percent to 15 percent—while cautioning against complacency after late-May and early-June data showed a reversal in improving food-consumption trends.[32] A parallel UN Famine Review Committee report on 4 June had similarly found insufficient supporting evidence to confirm famine in northern Gaza; a subsequent committee report on 25 June said earlier projections of food entering Gaza had been incorrect and that supplies had increased.[11]

On 4 June, the IDF launched a ground operation in the Bureij area of central Gaza, directing airstrikes and intelligence-guided ground raids at Hamas targets there.[33]

On 1 July, the IDF reported that its 98th Division was operating in Shejaiya, a densely built neighborhood of Gaza City, where soldiers killed several terrorists in close combat and found weapons.[29] The Israeli Air Force said it carried out dozens of strikes, killing dozens of terrorists and destroying sites used for weapons production and storage.[29] On the same day, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said the military had killed at least 900 terrorist operatives in the Rafah area; these were IDF figures, not independently verified by the reporting.[34]

Also on 1 July, the IDF ordered residents to leave parts of Khan Younis and Rafah after a barrage of 20 rockets was fired toward southern Israel.[34] The UN described the evacuation order as the largest issued in Gaza since the October 2023 evacuation of the north and estimated that approximately 250,000 people might have been living in the affected area.[34] By 2 July, the IDF estimated that approximately 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.3 million residents were within its designated humanitarian zone, while about 20,000 Palestinians remained in the Rafah area.[34] IDF Chief of Staff Halevi said the Rafah campaign would take time because the military did not intend to leave while Hamas tunnels and infrastructure remained there.[34]

On 7 and 8 July, the IDF issued evacuation orders for several Gaza City neighborhoods, naming Tuffah, Daraj, the Old City, Sabra, Rimal, and Tel al-Hawa, and directing residents toward the designated humanitarian zone.[35] On 8 July, the IDF launched a new operation in Gaza City led by the 99th Division, citing intelligence indicating Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad infrastructure, operatives, weapons, and detention or investigation rooms in the area, including at UNRWA headquarters.[36] Residents were told to move south toward al-Mawasi, and an evacuation route across the Netzarim Corridor was to be opened.[36]

On 10 July, the IDF raided UNRWA's Gaza City headquarters.[37] The IDF said the facility was being used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad as a base for attacks and reported finding drone parts, rockets, mortars, machine guns, grenades, and a command room.[37][38] On 12 July, the IDF reported that commando forces, including soldiers from the Egoz and Maglan units, had fought Hamas operatives inside the compound and detained people attempting to flee.[38] Troops also raided a nearby university where the IDF said it found an underground facility for producing weapons and explosives.[38] These claims about Hamas's use of UNRWA facilities are attributed to Israeli military statements and were not independently confirmed by the reporting.

By 12 July, the period had ended without a final ceasefire or hostage-release agreement. Biden said the parties had agreed to the framework of a deal, but Israel and Hamas did not immediately confirm acceptance, and U.S. officials said significant gaps remained.[7] Israeli operations continued in Gaza City and Rafah, while Netanyahu's office denied reports that Israel was prepared to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor without enforceable anti-smuggling arrangements.[10][38]

The period also left Israel's wartime political structure altered. Gantz's resignation removed the principal centrist opposition figure from the emergency war cabinet, but it did not halt Israel's military campaign.[6] The unresolved questions of Hamas's remaining military infrastructure, Israeli control of the Gaza–Egypt border, the return of the hostages, and the terms of a permanent ceasefire carried into the subsequent phase of the war.

Casualty figures throughout this period were consistently reported by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health and were not independently verified. At 2 p.m. on 3 June, the ministry reported that 36,479 Palestinians had been killed and 82,777 injured since the war began in October 2023.[19] These figures were attributed to the ministry and were not independently verified in the cited reporting.

Several specific incidents generated contested casualty claims during this period. The 26 May Rafah strike produced competing accounts: Palestinian claims reported more than 40 people killed in a displaced-persons camp; the Jewish Virtual Library account placed the Hamas ministry's stated death toll at 45 killed and dozens wounded.[9][19] The IDF disputed that the strike occurred in a safe zone and said secondary explosions from stored ammunition contributed to the fire.[19] The 6 June airstrike on a compound inside a UNRWA school in Nuseirat also produced divergent figures: the Hamas health ministry claimed at least 27 Palestinians were killed, while the IDF released names of nine members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad it said had died there; the IDF said the compound held 20–30 operatives, some of whom had participated in the 7 October attacks.[39]

The 8 June Nuseirat hostage-rescue operation generated the most sharply disputed civilian-casualty claims of the period. Britannica reported that more than 270 Palestinians in the vicinity were killed by airstrikes intended to shield the rescuing forces.[30] A State Department briefing on 13 June expressed condolences for civilians killed or injured during the intense firefight but did not confirm a specific death toll.[40] Hamas claimed that large numbers of non-combatants were killed or injured; the cited reporting did not independently establish that claim.[28]