Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict in 2022

A period of relative quiet in Gaza preceded the March–May wave of attacks in Israeli cities and the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[2] The spring attacks involved both Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians from the West Bank, rather than a single established organization directing every incident.[2] Several attackers operated individually or through small local networks; the Be’er Sheva and Hadera attackers had Islamic State connections or inspiration, distinguishing their motivations from those associated with Palestinian organizations.[2]

In Jerusalem, preparations for Ramadan included measures against radical Jewish groups at the Temple Mount/al-Aqsa compound.[5] Ramadan and Passover coincided in April with repeated confrontations in the Old City and at the compound, alongside large Muslim prayer gatherings.[6] These religious-calendar pressures formed part of the setting for the April clashes, while the attacks in Israeli cities prompted expanded Israeli arrest operations around Jenin.[2][6]

On January 12, soldiers from the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion detained Palestinian-American Omar Assad, 78, after removing him from his car as he traveled home.[4] Reports described soldiers blindfolding, gagging, and binding him; he was found dead shortly after they left.[4] The IDF called the incident “a grave and unfortunate event” resulting from “a moral failure and poor decision-making,” and said the obligation to protect human life had been violated.[4] By year’s end, the military was preparing to indict two officers over misconduct, although the status of any indictment was not known.[7]

March included stabbings in and near Jerusalem’s Old City before the escalation to lethal attacks in Be’er Sheva, Hadera, and Bnei Brak.[8] On March 22, Mohammed Abu al-Kiyan, an Israeli citizen from Hura, ran into a cyclist and stabbed passersby in Be’er Sheva, killing four civilians and wounding two before he was shot dead.[2] The attack involved a gas station and a nearby shopping center.[9] Abu al-Kiyan had previously served a prison sentence related to support for the Islamic State and was inspired by the organization.[2]

On March 27, two Israeli citizens from Umm al-Fahm opened fire on Herbert Samuel Street in Hadera, killing two Border Police officers.[2][10] Border Police officers at the scene killed the attackers, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.[2] Civilians and police personnel were also wounded in the shooting and firefight.[10] The attack was distinct from incidents linked to Palestinian organizations because of the perpetrators’ Islamic State allegiance.[2]

On March 29, Dia Hamarsha, a Palestinian from Ya’bad in the Jenin district, killed four passersby and a police officer in Bnei Brak before police shot him dead.[2] The five victims included three Israelis and two Ukrainian nationals.[11] Hamarsha was 27 and had previously been imprisoned for offenses including membership in a terrorist organization and weapons trafficking.[8] Together, the Be’er Sheva, Hadera, and Bnei Brak attacks killed 11 people.[8]

On March 31, Israeli forces entered Jenin to arrest suspects connected to the Bnei Brak attack and other incidents, as the joint security operation received the name Break the Wave.[12] Palestinians fired at the forces and threw explosive devices during the operation.[13] One Israeli soldier was lightly wounded in the gunfight.[12] That same day, an assailant critically wounded a civilian in a stabbing on a bus near Elazar; an armed civilian aboard the bus killed the attacker.[12]

On April 2, three Palestinian Islamic Jihad members were killed in a gunfight during an Israeli arrest operation near Jenin.[14] On April 7, Ra’ad Hazem, a Palestinian from Jenin, opened fire on people on Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Street, killing three civilians and wounding six.[2] Security forces killed him in Jaffa the next morning after a manhunt.[2] The Israel Security Agency assessed that he had “no clear organizational affiliation” and considered the possibility that he was a copycat attacker.[2] The Be’er Sheva, Hadera, Bnei Brak, and Tel Aviv attacks ultimately took 14 lives.[11]

On April 15, Israeli forces entered the Temple Mount/al-Aqsa compound after morning Ramadan prayers, with thousands of worshippers gathered at the site.[4] Police said they were responding to Palestinians throwing stones and firecrackers toward officers and a nearby Jewish prayer area.[4] Video showed police firing tear gas and stun grenades.[4] The Palestinian Red Crescent reported at least 158 Palestinians injured and estimated that 300–400 people were detained, while Israeli police reported three officers injured.[4] Other reporting included allegations that officers beat worshippers and hindered ambulances.[7]

Further clashes occurred on April 17, while tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers also attended prayers after police cleared rioters from the area.[11] Participation in the prayer gatherings was distinct from participation in the clashes.[11] During the second half of April, police operations at the compound included efforts to protect Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall.[2]

Rocket fire from Gaza accompanied the Jerusalem tensions.[6] A rocket fired toward the Eshkol region on April 18 was intercepted, after which Israel struck Hamas targets in Gaza.[6] On April 20, a rocket hit the Sderot area, and Israeli forces subsequently struck a Hamas position and a tunnel entrance.[6]

On April 29, security guard Vyacheslav, or Vladi, Golev, 23, was shot dead at the entrance to Ariel while shielding his fiancée, Victoria Fligelman.[15] The two assailants were apprehended in a nearby Palestinian village.[15] They were identified as Youssef Sameeh Assi and Yahya Marei; both Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility.[2] Golev was the fifteenth victim in the sequence of attacks tracked from March 22.[15]

On May 4, Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously dismissed petitions by Masafer Yatta residents challenging eviction from a restricted military zone in the South Hebron Hills.[4] The court accepted the government’s position that Firing Zone 918 remained in military use for exercises and rejected the residents’ residency and forcible-transfer claims.[4] On October 2, the court denied a request for an expanded-panel appeal.[4]

On May 5, two attackers armed with an axe and a knife killed three people and wounded four in Elad.[16] The dead were Oren Ben Yiftah, Boaz Goll, and Yonatan Havakuk.[16] The attackers, As’ad al-Rifa’i and Subhi Sbeihat, were arrested after a 60-hour manhunt.[2] Following the attack, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel was “at the beginning of a new stage in the war on terror.”[2] By early May, the spring wave comprised six attacks, and more than a dozen additional plots had been thwarted.[2]

On May 11, Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed while covering an Israeli raid in Jenin; Palestinian journalist Ali Samoudi was also shot and injured.[4] Abu Akleh was wearing protective equipment marked “PRESS.”[17] Her killing occurred during an Israeli operation involving exchanges of fire with Palestinian gunmen.[18]

At Abu Akleh’s funeral in Jerusalem on May 13, Israeli police in riot gear entered hospital grounds and used batons and tear gas.[4] Police later beat pallbearers carrying her coffin, which nearly fell, and removed Palestinian flags from the coffin, hearse, and mourners.[4] The police commissioner described the funeral as a “complex event” and said it was “impossible to remain indifferent to the harsh images.”[4] No officers or commanders were penalized over the incident.[4]

On May 29, at least 20,000 Israelis participated in the Jerusalem Day Flags March through the Old City, entering through Damascus Gate.[4] Reports described participants chanting “death to Arabs,” while police blocked surrounding streets and forcibly removed Palestinian protesters from the route.[4] The Palestinian Red Crescent reported 79 Palestinians injured and 28 hospitalized, and police detained more than 60 suspects.[4]

On June 21, Palestinian Ali Hassan Harb was fatally stabbed during a confrontation near Ariel, where settlers had reportedly arrived to establish an outpost on agricultural land belonging to his family.[4][7] Police arrested a suspect the following day.[4] In August, prosecutors indicated that the investigation would be closed without an indictment because self-defense could not be ruled out, and police announced closure of the case on August 25 for lack of evidence.[4][7]

An overnight Israeli operation took place in Nablus on July 23–24.[19] The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs characterized the two Palestinians killed as planning an attack at Joseph’s Tomb and argued that the raid intensified Palestinian anger toward Mahmoud Abbas over continued security coordination with Israel.[19]

On August 1, Israeli security forces arrested senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad official Bassam al-Saadi in Jenin.[4] In the following days, Israel restricted activity in communities near the Gaza border because of concern about an imminent Islamic Jihad attack.[20] Israel began Operation Breaking Dawn on August 5 with strikes on Islamic Jihad positions in Gaza, and the organization responded with rocket fire.[1][20]

The operation lasted from August 5 to August 7 and remained a confrontation between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad; Hamas did not join the fighting.[3] Israeli strikes killed senior Islamic Jihad commanders Tayseer al-Jabari and Khaled Mansour.[3] Israeli forces struck approximately 170 targets during the operation.[3] Homes and factories in Sderot, Ashkelon, and surrounding communities sustained damage.[21]

A total of 1,175 rockets and mortars were fired during the fighting.[4] Around 200 projectiles fell inside Gaza or into the sea, and Iron Dome intercepted incoming rockets.[3] Seventy Israelis were injured, mostly superficially, and no Israeli fatalities were reported.[4] The fighting also caused Palestinian deaths and injuries in Gaza, with the final humanitarian accounting recording 49 deaths, including 17 children, and 360 injured.[4]

An Egyptian-mediated ceasefire took effect at 23:30 on August 7.[20] Rocket launches and Israeli strikes continued in the minutes before the truce began.[20] The agreement ended nearly three days of fighting following the border restrictions and Israeli preemptive strikes.[20] Only three rockets were reported launched from Gaza in the months after the operation.[22]

Operation Break the Wave continued through the year, focusing especially on Jenin and Nablus in northern Samaria and seeking to disrupt terrorist networks and prevent further attacks.[23] Almost daily raids in the West Bank formed part of the campaign after the March–May attacks killed 21 Israelis.[1] Locally organized terrorist networks included the Jenin Battalion and Nablus-based Lion’s Den.[23] Lion’s Den rose rapidly during the second half of the year and claimed numerous shootings around Nablus.[24][25]

The group’s members had varied or unclear affiliations with established Palestinian factions.[26] It adopted a practice of responding with gunfire when Israeli forces entered Nablus and also carried out shootings outside the city.[26] Not every attack during this period was attributable to Lion’s Den.[26]

On September 5, the IDF announced that its investigation into Abu Akleh’s death found a high possibility that she had accidentally been hit by Israeli gunfire.[4] The Military Advocate General found no suspicion of a criminal offense and declined to open a criminal investigation.[4] Independent investigations had attributed the fatal shot to an Israeli soldier.[17]

On October 8, Udai Tamimi shot and killed Israeli soldier Noa Lazar at the Shuafat checkpoint in East Jerusalem and wounded two others.[27][28] Israeli authorities restricted movement into and out of the neighborhood for 11 days during the search for him, impeding work, school attendance, and, in some cases, medical treatment.[28] On October 19, Tamimi attacked a checkpoint near Ma’ale Adumim, wounded a security guard, and was shot dead.[28]

On October 11, Israeli soldier Ido Baruch was shot and killed near Nablus, and Lion’s Den claimed responsibility.[24] Israel imposed a general closure on the city after his death.[24] Checkpoints and earth mounds blocked vehicle access points, surveillance drones operated overhead, and reported commercial activity fell by 70 percent.[4] Some residents also had difficulty reaching olive fields during the harvest.[4]

During the Tishrei holidays, police attempted to prevent certain Jewish rituals at the Temple Mount/al-Aqsa compound, including public prayer and prostration during Sukkot, although these efforts were not always successful.[5] Elsewhere, the olive harvest was accompanied by settler attacks: on October 12, settlers set fire to three Palestinian-owned chicken coops, killing an estimated 30,000 chickens.[4] On October 19, approximately 50 settlers attacked Palestinians and Israeli activists near Kisan, injuring a 70-year-old Israeli woman.[4]

On October 25, Israeli forces conducted a three-hour operation in Nablus’s Old City and destroyed an explosives laboratory identified by the IDF as belonging to Lion’s Den.[29] Five Palestinians were killed, including senior Lion’s Den figure Wadee al-Houh.[30] Participating Israeli forces included the IDF, Shin Bet, and the police counterterrorism unit Yamam.[30] Senior group member Mahmoud al-Bana surrendered to Palestinian Authority security forces the following day.[25]

Between October 26 and 31, five attacks were recorded, including a double vehicle-ramming at Nebi Musa and Almog Junction that wounded five Israeli soldiers.[31] A shooting near Kiryat Arba killed one civilian and wounded three.[31] On October 29, Muhammad al-Jabari killed Ronen Hanania in Hebron; al-Jabari wrote in a letter that he was not acting for an organization.[27]

Israel held a Knesset election on November 1, its fifth in less than four years.[32] Parties supporting Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu won 64 of the legislature’s 120 seats, and President Isaac Herzog assigned Netanyahu to form a government on November 13.[32] This political transition occurred during the continuing escalation in the West Bank.[32]

The general closure of Nablus was lifted on November 3 after Israeli gains against Lion’s Den.[24] On November 5, around 40 settlers assaulted three Palestinians, including a 13-year-old, near Kafr ad Dik and took harvested olives and a harvesting machine.[4]

On November 15, a Palestinian attacker stabbed a security guard and others in and near Ariel Industrial Park, stole a vehicle, and ran over a bystander before he was shot dead.[1] Three people were killed: Tamir Avihai, Michael Ladygin, and Motti Ashkenazi.[33] The attack took place on the day the twenty-fifth Knesset was scheduled to be sworn in.[34]

On November 23, two bombs exploded near Jerusalem bus stops about half an hour apart.[35] The first detonated at approximately 7 a.m. near the city’s exit toward Tel Aviv, and the second at Ramot Junction.[35] The attacks killed Aryeh Shechopek, 15, and Tadese Tashume Ben Ma’ada, 50, and injured 22 people.[33] One of the fatalities occurred later from injuries sustained in the first explosion.[35] No organization claimed responsibility; Israeli security assessments indicated that the devices were remotely detonated and probably placed by the same organized squad.[35]

On December 5, Israeli security forces entered an UNRWA school compound during an arrest operation in Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem and attempted to enter another school.[4] Clashes outside the compound and the use of live ammunition killed one Palestinian refugee and injured others.[4] UNRWA canceled local classes for the day and protested the entry to Israeli authorities.[4]

Netanyahu formed a government in December and was sworn in as prime minister on December 29.[36] The transition closed a year in which sustained West Bank operations, attacks on Israeli civilians and security personnel, and August’s Gaza fighting had continued alongside the electoral process.[1][36]

Israel’s year-end military review recorded 2,672 Palestinian arrests by security forces and 257 Israeli strikes on targets in Gaza, most during Operation Breaking Dawn.[22] It counted 285 shooting attacks in the West Bank, compared with 61 in 2021 and 31 in 2020, and 31 Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks, including 24 civilians.[22] Gaza was comparatively quiet after the August ceasefire, with only three rocket launches reported in the following months.[22]

A separate annual accounting classified 86 significant Palestinian attacks in 2022, up from 54 in 2021.[23] That category included shootings, stabbings, vehicle-ramming attacks, improvised explosive devices, and combined attacks, but excluded rock-throwing, Molotov cocktails, and shootings at Israeli forces during counterterrorism activity.[23] Its breakdown included 46 shootings, 25 stabbings, seven vehicle-ramming attacks, and four combined attacks.[23]

By November, Israeli operations and cooperation with Palestinian security forces had weakened Lion’s Den and the Jenin Brigade.[27] Members of Lion’s Den had been killed or surrendered to Palestinian Authority forces, although the group’s model and terrorist ethos continued to appeal to young people.[27] These developments left the year’s security picture characterized both by pressure on particular networks and by the continuing attraction of locally organized terrorist activity.[27]

The humanitarian accounting recorded 152 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, the highest annual figure since UN recording began in 2005.[7] It also recorded 36 Palestinian children killed, compared with 17 in 2021.[7] Settler-related violence reached 849 incidents in another annual accounting, including 621 involving property damage and 228 resulting in casualties.[37] That was the highest reported level since the relevant UN series began in 2005.[37]

Annual statistics describe different geographic areas, reporting periods, and categories rather than one interchangeable tally.[1][22] The terrorism accounting recorded 305 shooting attacks, including many during Israeli arrest operations, while the military year-end review recorded 285 West Bank shooting attacks.[1][22] Palestinian fatality figures likewise included 154 West Bank deaths in one annual report and 152 in another.[1][7] The corresponding settler-violence totals were 850 and 849 incidents, with differing category breakdowns.[1][37]

Accounts of Palestinian deaths during the August fighting differed: one later humanitarian accounting recorded 49, while other accounts gave lower totals or different attributions.[3][4] Responsibility for individual deaths remained disputed, particularly where failed Palestinian rockets were implicated.[3][4] These figures should not be combined with preliminary counts or treated as independent confirmation of responsibility for every death.[3][4]

Abu Akleh’s killing generated a major dispute over responsibility and accountability.[17][18] The UN Human Rights Office attributed the fatal shots to Israeli forces in June; Israel initially rejected that conclusion and later assessed accidental Israeli fire as highly likely while retaining uncertainty about the shot’s source.[18] Human-rights organizations criticized the military inquiry and called for a criminal investigation.[4] Other notable disputes concerned the Masafer Yatta judgment, which UN and NGO observers said authorized the forcible transfer of more than 1,000 residents, and movement restrictions in Shuafat and Nablus that residents described as collective punishment.[4][28]