Timeline of the Gaza War (13 July–26 September 2024)

Ceasefire diplomacy entering this period centered on a framework for halting fighting and releasing hostages and detainees, based on principles President Joe Biden outlined on 31 May and endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2735.[7] In July, Hamas dropped its demand that Israel commit in advance to a permanent end to hostilities, while Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor became a central obstacle in the negotiations.[2] The corridor ran along Gaza’s border with Egypt; Netanyahu’s demand to retain control had not appeared in Israel’s 27 May proposal.[2]

The hostages whose recovery became a recurring feature of operations during this period had been abducted in the 7 October 2023 attack.[4] Mohammed Deif, a principal target of the opening strike in this timeline, had commanded Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades since approximately 2002 and had been based principally in Gaza.[8] Ismail Haniyeh served as Hamas’s political chief abroad and led its delegation in ceasefire negotiations.[2]

Public-health conditions also shaped the coming months: a vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 outbreak was detected in June 2024, with six positive environmental samples and an eventual confirmed case in a ten-month-old child.[9] Damage to the health system and population displacement complicated the vaccination response, while reported polio vaccination coverage fell from 99 percent before the war to 86 percent in late July.[4]

On 13 July, Israeli aircraft struck a compound near al-Mawasi and Khan Younis, targeting Deif and Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade commander, Rafa’a Salameh.[1] The IDF described a fenced compound containing open ground, small structures, and shelters, rather than the nearby tents housing displaced Palestinians.[1] Its initial assessment did not confirm Deif’s death, although Salameh was assessed as likely killed.[10]

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reported changing casualty figures during the day, first giving figures including 71 killed and 289 wounded and later reporting 90 killed and 300 wounded.[10] Hamas denied that its leaders had been struck, while a spokesman maintained that only civilians had been killed.[1] Israeli officials described the operation as intelligence-based and directed against senior Hamas commanders and other terrorists.[11]

On the same day, health officials at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis said the hospital could no longer function adequately.[12] Doctors cited intense fighting, the influx of casualties, and acute shortages of medical supplies as reasons they could not provide sufficient care.[12]

By 14 July, the IDF had reportedly concluded its larger operations in Shejaia and Gaza City.[13] The Shejaia operation had continued for several weeks, while the Gaza City operation had begun the preceding Monday and lasted less than a week.[13] Airstrikes and smaller ground operations continued elsewhere, including central Gaza and Rafah.[13]

Following the 13 July strike, Hamas official Izzat El-Reshiq said ceasefire and hostage negotiations would continue, while accusing Israel of trying to derail Egyptian and Qatari mediation through intensified attacks.[14] A report the next day said Hamas acknowledged Salameh’s death, while Khalil al-Hayya denied that Deif had been harmed.[15] Israeli intelligence maintained that Deif had been present, but confirmation of his death came later.[15]

On 22 July, the IDF launched another ground operation in eastern Khan Younis after intelligence indicated the presence of Hamas operatives and infrastructure.[16] Residents of eastern neighborhoods and parts of the designated humanitarian area were instructed to move to an adjusted area in al-Mawasi.[16] Israeli aircraft and artillery struck approximately 30 sites belonging to terrorist groups that day.[16] The military said Hamas had used areas previously designated for humanitarian purposes to launch rockets and position forces.[17]

By 23 July, Israeli forces had struck more than 50 sites in Khan Younis, including weapons-storage facilities, observation posts, structures, and tunnels.[18] The Hamas-run health ministry reported at least 70 Palestinians killed and 200 injured during the raid, without distinguishing combatants from noncombatants.[18] Palestinian officials said residents had not received enough time to evacuate.[18] Approximately 182,000 people were displaced from central and eastern Khan Younis between 22 and 25 July, and hundreds remained stranded in eastern neighborhoods.[19]

On 24 July, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of five people abducted on 7 October from a tunnel in the al-Mawasi humanitarian area of Khan Younis.[4] The tunnel was approximately 20 meters deep and 200 meters long and contained several rooms.[4] The recovery formed part of the operation that had begun two days earlier.[4]

Also on 24 July, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the US Congress amid continuing calls for a ceasefire and unsuccessful efforts to secure one.[20] His speech emphasized Iran as the central cause of anti-Israeli and antisemitic actions in the region.[20]

Operations during 23–30 July concentrated on Khan Younis and Rafah, including Shaboura and Tel al-Sultan, with ground and air attacks on terrorists and infrastructure, destruction of rocket launchers, and discoveries of tunnels and weapons.[4] In northern Gaza, Israeli forces destroyed an attack tunnel in Beit Lahia extending more than one kilometer.[4] Evacuation orders also affected parts of central Gaza.[4]

On 27 July, an Israeli strike hit the Khadijah school in Deir al-Balah.[4] The IDF identified the target as a Hamas command-and-control facility, said terrorists were killed and weapons destroyed, and stated that precautions had been taken to reduce civilian harm.[4] The Hamas government media office reported at least 36 deaths, including women and children.[4]

Negotiating-team leaders from Israel, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt met in Rome on 28 July.[4] Hamas accused Israel of adding or maintaining conditions involving prisoner releases, Israeli forces in the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors, and screening people returning to northern Gaza.[4] On 30 July, the IDF announced the end of the Khan Younis operation, reporting more than 150 terrorists killed and the dismantling of tunnels, weapons-storage sites, and other infrastructure.[17]

Late-July humanitarian initiatives included plans to send more than one million polio vaccine doses into Gaza.[4] A separate, World Bank-financed agreement worth $7 million supported water containers, fuel for water and sanitation facilities, and hygiene kits through cooperation between UNICEF and the Palestinian water commission.[4] During July, the IDF also announced that poliovirus had been found in sewage, offered vaccination to soldiers, and coordinated with international organizations on risks to Gaza’s population and vaccine administration.[2]

On 31 July, Haniyeh was killed in Tehran, where he had attended the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.[21] Hamas and Iran blamed Israel; Israel had not commented publicly in the contemporary account.[21] One account described a remotely detonated bomb, while Hamas initially described an airstrike at his residence; an aide was also killed.[21][22]

On 1 August, the IDF confirmed that Deif had been killed in the 13 July strike, saying additional intelligence had established his death.[23][24] It had confirmed Salameh’s death the day after the attack.[23]

Hamas announced on 6 August that Yahya Sinwar would succeed Haniyeh as chairman of its political bureau.[25] On 7 August, a US State Department spokesperson said Sinwar had remained Hamas’s decisive authority on accepting a ceasefire both before and after Haniyeh’s death.[26]

On 8 August, the leaders of the United States, Egypt, and Qatar called for urgent discussions on 15 August in Doha or Cairo to close remaining gaps in the ceasefire and hostage-release framework.[7] They said an agreement was on the table and called on both sides to resume negotiations.[7]

Also on 8 August, the IDF issued evacuation instructions for areas of Khan Younis, including al-Qarara, Bani Suheila, parts of Abasan, and Khuza’a, directing residents toward the designated humanitarian zone.[27] On 9 August, it confirmed a new ground operation intended to prevent terrorist groups from regrouping.[28] The 98th Division operated above and below ground, and more than 30 airstrikes had been conducted over the preceding day.[28]

On 10 August, an Israeli strike hit the men’s section of a mosque in the Tabeen school complex in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people.[29] The IDF said approximately 20 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists used the location for operational planning and subsequently named 19 terrorists it said had been killed.[29] Hamas officials reported between 60 and 100 civilian deaths, a figure the Israeli military rejected.[29]

On 13 August, Hamas launched two rockets from the Khan Younis area toward central Israel; one fell into the sea and the other failed to cross into Israeli territory.[30] Negotiations were being prepared for Doha that week, although Hamas had said it would not attend and subsequent reports suggested possible participation.[30] Netanyahu denied reports that Israel had added new conditions to its proposal.[30]

On 14 August, US officials said negotiations would proceed and that Qatar had assured them there would be Hamas representation.[31] Talks took place in Doha on 15–16 August, and the United States, supported by Egypt and Qatar, presented a bridging proposal.[32] The mediators described the discussions as serious and constructive and said technical work would continue on implementation, humanitarian provisions, hostages, and detainees before officials reconvened in Cairo.[32]

Operations reported during 13–20 August covered Rafah, Khan Younis, central Gaza, and the Netzarim Corridor.[33] Israeli forces found weapons, destroyed rocket launchers, and dismantled a tunnel approximately 1.5 kilometers long containing a Hamas compound.[33] Two Israeli soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device near the Netzarim Corridor, and another was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis.[33]

On 16 August, the Hamas-run health ministry announced an active polio case in a ten-month-old child from Deir al-Balah.[34] UN officials called for a humanitarian ceasefire to permit vaccination.[34] The case was the first confirmed in Gaza in 25 years.[5]

On 19 August, Blinken said Netanyahu had told him Israel accepted the US bridging proposal.[35] He said Hamas should accept it next and negotiators then needed to clarify implementation, while Israeli troop deployments in the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors remained unresolved.[35]

During an operation on 19–20 August, Israeli forces recovered six hostage bodies from a tunnel in the Khan Younis area.[33][36] The hostages were Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, Yagev Buchshtav, Chaim Peri, and Alex Dancyg, all abducted on 7 October.[36] The recovery followed an intelligence-informed operation by Israeli security forces.[36]

A 19 August analysis reported the discovery of 184 tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor over preceding weeks, including ten said to connect Egypt and Gaza, and offered an estimate of at least 250 tunnels in the region.[37] The analysis said dozens had been destroyed and connected the military activity to the dispute between Netanyahu’s insistence on retaining forces and Hamas’s demand for withdrawal.[37]

A separate analysis reported that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad jointly claimed the 18 August Tel Aviv bombing and announced a return to suicide attacks.[38] It described an eight-kilogram device that failed to detonate as intended, killing the bomber but nobody else, and said Israeli security officials were assessing whether the announcement reflected operational intent or propaganda.[38]

On 23 August, a UN humanitarian official said successive evacuation orders had displaced approximately 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents since the war began.[39] Twelve evacuation orders had been issued in August alone, and the World Food Program had lost access to its last operational warehouse in Deir al-Balah.[39]

By 25 August, approximately 1.2 million polio vaccine doses had entered Gaza, with a campaign planned for more than 640,000 children under ten.[34] COGAT said humanitarian breaks would facilitate medical access.[34]

On 27 August, Israeli forces rescued Qaid Farhan al-Qadi, a 52-year-old Bedouin Israeli from Rahat, from a tunnel in southern Gaza.[40] He had spent 326 days in captivity and returned in stable condition.[3] He was found in an unguarded tunnel room approximately 20 meters underground.[40]

On 28 August, Netanyahu agreed to permit a vaccination campaign in selected areas following US pressure.[2] On 29 August, preliminary commitments by Israel and Hamas to geographically and temporally defined humanitarian pauses were announced, separately from the broader ceasefire negotiations.[41]

A report published on 30 August said Israel’s security cabinet had voted eight to one, with one abstention, to approve maps retaining troops on the Gaza side of the Philadelphi Corridor in a possible hostage agreement.[42] Gallant opposed the decision, Mossad chief David Barnea reportedly criticized it, and the military chief said the IDF could return after a six-week ceasefire.[42] A Hamas official described the Doha meetings as unsuccessful and negotiations as nearing collapse.[42]

Also on 30 August, the IDF announced that the 98th Division had completed approximately a month of operations in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah.[42] It reported more than 250 terrorists killed, dozens of infrastructure sites destroyed, and six tunnels with a combined length of approximately six kilometers found and destroyed.[42]

Overnight on 31 August–1 September, Israeli forces recovered six more hostage bodies from a tunnel in Rafah: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino.[43] Israel’s Health Ministry reported multiple gunshot wounds and estimated that they had died 48–72 hours before autopsy; the IDF said their captors had killed them shortly before troops reached them.[43] The tunnel lay approximately one kilometer from al-Qadi’s rescue location.[44]

On 1 September, the polio vaccination campaign began in central Gaza, with a plan to proceed southward and then northward.[45] More than 161,000 doses were administered in its first two days, exceeding the initial target for that phase.[45] The campaign aimed to reach more than 640,000 children and involved coordination among international health agencies and the IDF.[45]

The vaccination plan provided approximately 1.2 million doses for roughly 600,000 children, with a second dose envisaged about a month later.[46] Local volunteers worked through UNRWA and Gaza’s health ministry, while the IDF announced humanitarian pauses to facilitate the campaign.[46]

The recovery of the six Rafah hostages prompted protests across Israel, with hundreds of thousands demanding a hostage-release agreement.[2] Autopsies indicated execution one to two days before discovery, and three of the six had been included for release in a July ceasefire proposal.[2] On 2 September, Histadrut joined the protests with a general strike, which a court ruled illegal and ordered to end that afternoon.[2]

At a press conference that day, Netanyahu reaffirmed his demand for Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor, calling it “the oxygen of Hamas.”[2] On 4 September, he reiterated that Israel should retain a presence during the first phase of a prospective agreement, while Hamas continued to demand a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.[47]

On 8 September, two rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel; one was intercepted and the other fell into the sea.[48] Israeli strikes also killed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures on 3, 5, and 9 September.[48]

On 10 September, the IDF struck what it identified as a Hamas command-and-control center inside a designated humanitarian zone in the Khan Younis area.[49] Gaza authorities initially reported 40 killed and 60 wounded; the Hamas-run health ministry subsequently revised the reported death toll to 19.[49] The IDF rejected the initial figure and said senior Hamas commanders had been targeted.[49]

During 10–12 September, Israeli strikes also targeted command-and-control sites including the al-Ja’ouni school in Nuseirat.[48] The IDF said at least nine Hamas terrorists were killed there, including three UNRWA employees.[48] UNRWA reported six employees killed in two attacks on and near the school, while Palestinian media reported 15 deaths in the school attack.[48]

On 10 September, Blinken said a ceasefire agreement remained the quickest route to ending the conflict, returning hostages, and delivering substantial assistance.[50] He emphasized that humanitarian work should not await an agreement and cited the vaccination campaign as an example.[50]

On 12 September, Israeli military officials declared Hamas’s Rafah Brigade defeated, its four battalions destroyed, and the urban area under Israeli operational control.[51] They reported 2,308 terrorists killed and 203 interconnected tunnels located in the Philadelphi Corridor, including nine that had crossed into Egypt and had already been blocked.[51] The same day, health officials expressed confidence that more than 90 percent of children under ten had received a first polio dose, reporting at least 552,451 children reached and respect for the campaign’s humanitarian pauses.[52]

On 14 September, two rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel; one was intercepted and the other fell into the sea.[48] Israeli strikes also killed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures on 16 September.[48]

By mid-September, Gaza’s humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate amid bombardment and restrictions on incoming aid.[2] Meanwhile, disagreement within Israel’s leadership focused on whether retaining the Philadelphi Corridor should take precedence in negotiations.[53] Netanyahu maintained that Israel needed control, while Gallant reportedly described prioritizing it “at the cost of the lives of the hostages” as a “moral disgrace.”[53]

On 25–26 September, reported Israeli operations concentrated on Rafah and the Netzarim Corridor, alongside targeted raids in Beit Lahia.[54] On 26 September, an Israeli strike targeted Hamas terrorists at a command-and-control complex the IDF identified with the al-Fallujah School in northern Gaza.[54] Gaza civil defense reported 14 deaths at a displaced-persons shelter it called Hafsa School in the al-Fallujah area of Jabalia.[54]

Also on 26 September, Islam Hejazi, director of the Shafa’ Palestine humanitarian aid association, was killed in a shooting in central Khan Younis.[54] Accounts described more than 90 bullets fired at her vehicle.[54] Her family rejected Hamas authorities’ initial explanation of mistaken identity and demanded accountability, while the interior ministry announced an investigative committee.[54]

That day, hostage families urged that any potential ceasefire with Hezbollah also address Gaza and the release of hostages held there.[55] Gil Dickmann, cousin of Carmel Gat, expressed concern that attention would shift away from Gaza as the northern conflict escalated.[55] In an interview the same day, Blinken said 15 of 18 paragraphs in a ceasefire document were fully agreed, with three still under discussion, and questioned whether Hamas was serious about completing an agreement.[6]

By the 26 September cutoff, ceasefire negotiations had not produced a completed agreement despite the Rome and Doha meetings, the August bridging proposal, and continuing technical work.[4][6] Hostage recoveries, the rescue of al-Qadi, and the discovery of the six murdered hostages in Rafah placed hostage policy at the center of Israeli public protest and cabinet disagreements.[2][42]

The vaccination campaign produced a substantial immediate public-health result: approximately 560,000 children received first-round vaccinations.[9][53] Blinken described the campaign on 26 September as successful and placed the number vaccinated at roughly 500,000–600,000.[6] A subsequent academic review identified logistical difficulties, vaccine hesitancy, health-worker safety risks, and violence delaying later rounds, particularly in northern Gaza.[9]

Accounts of several major strikes differed over civilian casualties, combatant status, and the use of schools or humanitarian areas for military purposes.[4][29] The July al-Mawasi strike, the Khadijah and Tabeen school strikes, and the September school attacks generated different Israeli and Gaza-authority descriptions; those accounts should not be combined into a single verified casualty narrative.[10][54]

The six Rafah hostages’ deaths also generated competing claims: a Hamas official blamed an Israeli airstrike, while Israeli forensic examinations reported multiple gunshot wounds and Israeli officials attributed the killings to Hamas captors.[43][56] Contemporary estimates of the precise time of death varied, although the reported forensic findings placed the deaths shortly before recovery.[43]

A July estimate of combined direct and indirect war deaths reached 186,000, using approximately four indirect deaths for every direct death and linking indirect mortality to damaged health care and shortages of food, water, and safe shelter.[2] This was an estimate, equivalent to roughly eight percent of Gaza’s prewar population, rather than an individually documented death count.[2] Military declarations about defeated formations and tunnel totals likewise represented operational assessments, including figures produced at different dates and for differently described areas.[37][51]