Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict in 2023

The year opened against a backdrop of profound domestic upheaval inside Israel. On January 4, Justice Minister Yariv Levin presented the Netanyahu government's judicial-reform plan to the Knesset, proposing to limit courts' ability to strike down legislation as unreasonable, create an override clause, restructure the Judicial Selection Committee so the elected government would control appointments, and reduce the attorney general's office to an advisory body.[3] The Jewish Review of Books argues that the reform crisis became directly relevant to the year's security trajectory because reserve officers — including air-force reservists — refused or threatened to refuse military service in protest.[3]

Demonstrations against the reforms began almost immediately and grew throughout the year. On January 14, approximately 80,000 people protested in Tel Aviv in what became known as the "protest of the umbrellas," so called because it took place in heavy rain; subsequent demonstrations drew reported crowds of 100,000, 150,000, and 200,000.[3] In July, the government abandoned plans to pass the full package during the Knesset's summer session and put only the proposal revoking the "reasonableness" criterion to a vote, ultimately passing a narrower version applying to cabinet ministers rather than lower-level officials. The Jewish Review of Books attributes the government's retreat to the combination of mass protests, business warnings of economic damage, capital flight, a falling shekel, concern about a possible credit-rating downgrade, U.S. concern, and some Likud voters turning against the coalition.[3]

Also on January 3, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif shortly after taking office. The visit prompted condemnation or concern from Palestinians and several regional and international governments; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to maintain the existing status quo at the site.[4]

January set the tone for a year of intense back-and-forth violence. On January 19, Israeli troops raided the Jenin refugee camp to arrest wanted Palestinians; Palestinian health officials reported that two Palestinians were killed, including a Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighter and a teacher, while the Israel Defense Forces said its troops had encountered "massive gunfire" during the operation.[5]

A second and far deadlier Jenin operation followed on January 26, when Israeli forces entered the camp to detain a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist operative whose cell the IDF said was planning imminent attacks. The operation developed into a three-hour firefight in which nine to ten Palestinians were killed — including at least one woman — and more than 20 were wounded.[6][7] Palestinian sources disputed the characterization of those killed, saying some were unarmed, while Israeli security forces maintained that no fire had been directed at unarmed people.[8] The Palestinian president's office condemned the incident as a massacre and declared three days of mourning.[7] The Palestinian death toll for 2023 stood at 29 following the raid, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.[6]

On January 26–27, Israel's Iron Dome intercepted two rockets fired from Gaza toward Ashkelon; Israeli forces then struck an underground rocket-production facility and a Hamas military camp in central and northern Gaza, during which five additional rockets were fired toward Israel.[9]

The following evening, January 27, a 21-year-old Palestinian gunman from East Jerusalem opened fire near the Ateret Avraham synagogue in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Jerusalem as worshippers were departing after Sabbath prayers, killing seven people and wounding at least three others before being shot dead by police.[10][11] The attack was the deadliest Palestinian terrorist attack since 2008.[10] The day's violence — a major Israeli counterterrorism raid followed within hours by a massacre of Jewish worshippers — encapsulated the spiral of violence that would define the first three quarters of the year.

On February 10, a vehicle-ramming attack at a bus stop on Golda Meir Boulevard in Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood killed three people.[11] On February 22, Israeli forces raided Nablus to arrest suspected terrorist operatives; Palestinian officials reported 11 Palestinians killed and more than 100 wounded, with Palestinian armed groups saying at least seven of those killed were their operatives and three others confirmed as civilians.[12] The raid occurred shortly before the high-level Israeli-Palestinian meeting planned in Aqaba.

On February 26, Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli brothers, Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, in a point-blank shooting in the Palestinian town of Huwara.[11][13] That night, approximately 400 Israeli settlers attacked the town in response, burning Palestinian-owned cars, businesses, and approximately 30 homes; one Palestinian was killed.[14][13] The IDF commander for the West Bank characterized the settler rampage as a pogrom, and an IDF inquiry subsequently found that the military had failed to deploy enough soldiers to prevent the violence.[14] The following day, February 27, Israeli-American Ilan Ganeles was killed in a shooting attack near Jericho.[9]

Also on February 26, senior Jordanian, Egyptian, Israeli, Palestinian, and U.S. officials convened in Aqaba, Jordan, for the first high-level political-security meeting of its kind in years.[15][16] The joint communiqué reaffirmed existing agreements, committed the parties to de-escalation and restraint from unilateral measures, and included an Israeli commitment to halt discussion of new settlement units for four months and authorization of West Bank outposts for six months; the parties agreed to meet again in Sharm el-Sheikh in March.[16] Israeli officials subsequently disputed the scope or meaning of parts of the settlement commitment.[15] On March 19, a follow-up summit in Sharm el-Sheikh again called for de-escalation, established proposed mechanisms to counter violence and incitement, and emphasized the Palestinian Authority's stated legal responsibility for security in Area A.[17]

On March 7, Israeli forces conducted a targeted raid in Jenin seeking the suspected assailant in the Huwara shooting, killing six Palestinians, including Hamas member Abdul Fattah Kharushah, and wounding three Israelis.[9] Two days later, on March 9, a Hamas-affiliated gunman opened fire at a Tel Aviv café, wounding at least three people.[9]

By mid-March, at least 15 Israelis and 87 Palestinians had been killed in attacks, clashes, and related violence since the start of the year, reflecting the severity of what the Congressional Research Service described as a broader early-2023 escalation.[13]

Tensions sharpened in early April when Israeli police entered the al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Ramadan, both to remove Palestinians who had, according to Israeli accounts, stockpiled rocks, cudgels, and improvised explosives inside the compound and to disperse worshippers on April 4–5.[18][14] Reports described arrests, beatings with batons, smashed doors and windows, stun grenades, and metal-tipped rubber bullets, with dozens of Palestinians and two Israeli police officers wounded.[14] The operations drew international condemnation and prompted rocket fire: nearly three dozen rockets were fired by Palestinian armed groups from Lebanon and Gaza in the days that followed.[18]

On April 7, a car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv killed an Italian tourist and wounded five people, while two Israeli-British sisters were killed in a shooting attack near Hamra Junction in northern Judea and Samaria.[18]

May brought the year's most intense pre-October military exchange. On May 2, Palestinian Islamic Jihad political leader Khader Adnan died in Israeli custody after an 87-day hunger strike; Palestinian armed groups responded by firing at least 25 rockets from Gaza, wounding at least three people, and by May 2–3 the total had grown to at least 100 rockets.[9] Qatar, Egypt, and the United Nations mediated a brief ceasefire, but the lull was temporary.

On May 9, Israel launched Operation Shield and Arrow against Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza after more than 100 rockets had been fired toward Israel during the preceding week.[9] The opening strike killed three senior PIJ commanders simultaneously: Jihad Ghannam, Tareq Izzeldeen, and Khalil al-Bahtini.[9] Israeli military accounts cited by Ynet report that nine uninvolved civilians were killed in the opening strike.[19] Over the following five days, the Israeli Air Force carried out hundreds of attacks, dropped approximately 400 bombs, and struck around 289 to 371 targets in Gaza.[19][9]

PIJ's response was extensive: between May 9 and May 14, it launched more than 1,234 to 1,468 rockets — figures vary by source — of which approximately 1,100 to 1,139 crossed into Israeli territory, 221 to 290 fell inside Gaza, and 39 landed in the sea.[9][1][14] Israeli missile-defense systems intercepted more than 95 percent of the rockets that entered Israeli airspace.[1] At least 34 Palestinians were killed in the exchange, including at least 12 civilians and six children, with three Palestinian casualties attributed to errant PIJ rockets; two people in Israel were killed, one Israeli and one Palestinian worker from Gaza.[14] An Egypt-mediated ceasefire took effect on May 13, after approximately 116 hours of fighting.[19]

On May 30, Meir Tamari, a 32-year-old resident of the Israeli settlement of Hermesh and father of two, was killed when Palestinian gunmen in a passing vehicle fired approximately seven rounds from an M16 rifle at his car.[11]

On June 19, Israeli forces raided Jenin to arrest Palestinians suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks. The fighting included the detonation of an explosive charge against an Israeli armored vehicle; seven Israeli soldiers were wounded, and Palestinian reports cited five Palestinians killed and 28 wounded.[20]

The following day, June 20, two gunmen attacked a restaurant and gas station near the West Bank settlement of Eli, killing four Israelis and wounding four others. Hamas claimed responsibility, describing the attack as a response to the Jenin operation.[18] In the aftermath, Jewish vigilantes rioted in Palestinian towns in the northern West Bank and further violence occurred near Ramallah.[18]

The largest Israeli military operation in the West Bank in two decades began on July 3, when Israel launched Operation Home and Garden in the Jenin refugee camp. The operation had been planned for months and included a near-exact rehearsal at an Israeli military base approximately two weeks beforehand.[21] About 1,000 soldiers entered the camp after strikes by drones and helicopters; the IDF said the operation targeted terrorist infrastructure, weapons stores, and bomb-making sites.[22]

Over approximately 48 hours, Israeli forces located six explosive laboratories containing more than 300 devices, ten roadside explosive charges, 24 M16 rifles, eight pistols, ammunition, chemical materials, six underground shafts, and two weapons caches, as well as 14 wanted-person apartments and war rooms.[23] More than 300 suspects were questioned and 30 were arrested.[23] The United Nations said approximately 3,500 Palestinians were temporarily displaced.[22]

Contemporaneous casualty totals differed. The Jerusalem Post reported 12 Palestinians killed and at least 120 wounded and said the IDF characterized all 12 dead as combatants; Ynet later reported an IDF total of 18 Palestinian fatalities, all characterized by the military as terrorists who had fired at Israeli forces.[22][21] Israeli career soldier David Yehuda Yitzhak, 23, was killed by gunfire as forces began withdrawing on the night of July 4–5; the circumstances, including possible friendly fire, were under investigation.[23]

On July 4, shortly after the Jenin operation, a Palestinian from the West Bank carried out a vehicle-ramming and stabbing attack outside a Tel Aviv mall, wounding nine people before being shot by an armed civilian. Hamas claimed responsibility.[24] Five rockets were fired from Gaza overnight and were intercepted by Israel; Israel then struck Hamas weapons and rocket sites in Gaza.[24]

Violence in Judea and Samaria continued through the summer. On August 1, six Israelis were wounded in a shooting attack at a shopping center in Ma'ale Adumim.[18] On August 21, Palestinian terrorists killed Israeli woman Batsheva Nigri in a drive-by shooting near Hebron and seriously wounded another Israeli settler.[14] In mid-August, an Israeli father and son were also shot dead in Huwara.[18]

On July 30, Hamas security forces attacked several hundred Palestinians who were protesting Hamas rule and humanitarian conditions in Gaza, detaining 43 people and seriously injuring 15; journalists were assaulted and had equipment confiscated.[14] In late August, hundreds of Palestinians protested near the Gaza border over economic conditions; the Hamas-run health ministry reported that at least eight Palestinians were wounded after explosives were thrown toward the security barrier.[18]

In September, Israeli forces arrested three Hamas members in Jenin, and Israeli security services announced the discovery of explosive material hidden in a clothing shipment from Gaza that they said was intended for an attack in the West Bank.[9] On September 12, Palestinian armed factions held a joint military exercise in Gaza.[9] On September 13, an explosion during a Gaza border demonstration killed at least five Palestinians and wounded 20; on September 19, renewed border violence left one Palestinian dead and nine wounded according to the Hamas-run health ministry.[9]

From January 1 through October 6, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported 237 Palestinians killed by Israelis — 199 in the West Bank, 34 in Gaza, and four inside the Green Line — and 9,378 Palestinians injured by Israeli security forces and settlers.[1] The State Department reported 30 Israelis killed by Palestinians and 213 Israelis injured in attacks by Palestinian armed groups over the same period.[1] UNOCHA also recorded an average of three settler-related incidents per day in the West Bank during the first eight months of 2023, up from two per day in 2022 and the highest rate since records began in 2006.[25]

At 06:29 on October 7, during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah and the Sabbath, Hamas began a large-scale attack on Israel with a massive rocket barrage while thousands of armed terrorists breached the Gaza security fence.[26] Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif announced that the initial strike involved more than 5,000 rockets and mortar shells; the Israeli military reported more than 3,200 rockets had been fired by the morning of October 8, and the N12 chronology recorded approximately 2,200 rockets launched by 10:46 and more than 3,000 by 12:58.[24][26] Israeli naval forces also foiled an attempted infiltration near Zikim.[24]

Approximately 3,000 to 6,000 armed members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other groups crossed into Israel using white pickup trucks, motorized hang gliders, boats, motorcycles, and on foot.[2][26] The attackers entered 31 southern communities, struck military bases and outposts, and assaulted the Supernova (Nova) music festival near Kibbutz Re'im, where at least 270 people were murdered.[26][14] The IDF's announcement of Operation Swords of Iron came at 10:32; by 21:48, the military reported it had regained control of most southern communities, though fighting continued in some locations.[26]

The scale of the carnage was unprecedented in Israel's modern history. The State Department reports an estimated 1,200 people killed — including at least 843 civilians, at least 42 U.S. citizens, and at least 36 children — more than 5,400 injured, and 253 hostages abducted.[1][14] More than 100 residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz alone were murdered or abducted.[26] Israel estimated at that stage that 239 hostages were held in Gaza, including 38 minors and ten children under age six.[26] The Government of Israel press kit reports 364 civilians killed at the Nova festival alone.[27]

Israel's emergency response escalated through the day in formal legal steps. At 8:00 a.m., the defense minister declared a special home-front situation in the Gaza-border region; at 6:00 p.m., a nationwide civil emergency was declared outside that area; at 8:00 p.m., the special home-front situation was expanded to the entire country. On October 8, the cabinet confirmed a state of war effective from 6:00 a.m. on October 7.[28] On October 11, a national emergency government and war cabinet including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and opposition leader Benny Gantz were formally established.[28]

In the weeks that followed, a New York Times investigation — summarized in December — identified at least seven locations where Israeli women and girls appeared to have been sexually assaulted or mutilated during the October 7 attack, based on video footage, photographs, mobile-phone GPS data, and interviews with more than 150 people, including witnesses, medical personnel, soldiers, and rape counselors.[29]

Israel's military response began with an air campaign of unprecedented scale. By October 17, the IDF had bombed more than 13,000 Hamas targets since the war began, according to the N12 chronology.[26] The Israeli military called up approximately 300,000 to 360,000 reservists in the days following October 7.[2][27]

On October 8, Hezbollah fired mortars and other weapons from Lebanon toward northern Israel, opening a second front connected to the Gaza war. The Hezbollah-related fighting displaced approximately 60,000 Israelis from northern communities.[2] On October 19, Houthi forces began launching drones and missiles toward Israel and subsequently expanded attacks to commercial and naval shipping in the Red Sea.[2]

On October 9, Israel announced a complete siege of Gaza, cutting off food, water, fuel, and electricity.[30] On October 13, the IDF called for civilians in Gaza City to evacuate southward beyond Wadi Gaza; United Nations officials warned of the humanitarian consequences of moving approximately 1.1 to 1.2 million people within 24 hours, and human-rights organizations and the International Committee of the Red Cross questioned whether the order could constitute forced displacement.[4][14] By October 19, more than one million people had been displaced in Gaza, including approximately 527,500 sheltering in UNRWA schools.[4]

Also on October 17, an explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza was contested: Hamas-run authorities attributed it to an Israeli strike, while Israel attributed it to a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired. The N12 chronology records Hamas's high casualty claim alongside an Israeli attribution of the explosion to a failed PIJ rocket.[26]

Hostage diplomacy produced the conflict's first releases even before the ground invasion began. On October 20, Hamas released American-Israeli hostages Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Raanan; on October 23, it released Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper.[31][2] These releases, mediated by Qatar, were followed on October 30 — or October 29 by the IDF's account — by the rescue of Israeli soldier Ori Megidish, a lookout abducted from Nahal Oz, in a joint Shin Bet–IDF operation; she was identified as the first successful hostage rescue of the war.[2][26]

On October 27, after three weeks of airstrikes, raids, and limited incursions, Israeli armored, infantry, and engineering forces began a ground maneuver into northern Gaza.[26] In the following week, Israeli forces encircled Gaza City and intensified attacks on what the IDF identified as Hamas command centers.[26]

On November 1, the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt opened under arrangements involving Egypt, Hamas, and Israel, allowing a limited number of foreign nationals and wounded Palestinians to leave.[30]

On November 15, Israeli forces entered Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest medical facility. The IDF said it discovered weapons caches, stone-and-concrete tunnel shafts, and facilities it identified as the headquarters of Hamas company and battalion commanders. The source presents these Israeli claims as part of the military operation without independent verification of the stated findings.[32]

On November 28–29, during the ceasefire pause, Israeli forces conducted raids in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. On November 28, Adam Samer al-Ghoul, age eight, and Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa, age 15, were killed; on November 29, four Palestinians, including another eight-year-old boy, were killed. Israeli military officials said suspects had thrown explosive devices and that soldiers responded with live fire; Palestinian sources reported that Israeli forces prevented paramedics from reaching wounded people.[14]

On November 22, Israel and Hamas agreed to a Qatar- and Egypt-mediated prisoner and hostage exchange.[33] A temporary ceasefire began at 7:00 a.m. on November 24, linking a halt in fighting and increased humanitarian aid to the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners.[33]

The initial arrangement provided for 50 Israeli women and children to be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners.[33] The four-day pause was extended first by two days and then by one additional day.[33] During the resulting seven-day period, a total of 105 civilian hostages were released: 81 Israelis, 23 Thai nationals, and one Filipino; Israel released approximately 240 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.[2][33] By the night between November 30 and December 1, 81 Israeli hostages and 25 hostages holding foreign citizenship had been released, according to the N12 chronology.[34]

Sapir Journal's account describes Hamas rebuilding civilian routes, tunnels, and scouting posts during the pause, and notes that one elderly Israeli hostage had been abducted shortly after open-heart surgery and had reportedly gone without proper care or medication for the duration of her captivity.[35]

Fighting resumed on December 1 after Hamas did not provide the next list of hostages for release and resumed rocket fire toward Israel; the Israeli government reported that the pause ended at 5:42 a.m. after a barrage of more than 200 rockets.[27][34] By December 26–27, Israeli operations were being reported across northern, central, and southern Gaza, including Zeitoun, Shejaiya, Rimal, the Shati refugee camp, al-Bureij, Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Khan Yunis.[36]

On December 13, Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected a proposal for Mossad chief David Barnea to travel to Qatar; on December 21, he instructed the negotiating team only to listen to mediators' proposals; on December 24, he rejected an Egyptian three-stage ceasefire initiative intended to end the war.[34]

On December 15, Israeli forces mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages — Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samer Talalka — in Gaza's Shejaiya neighborhood, after identifying them as threats during combat. The three had been abducted on October 7 and were waving a white flag when they were shot.[37]

On December 22, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution calling for expedited humanitarian aid delivery to Gaza through all available routes, demanding the immediate release of all hostages, calling for the appointment of a UN humanitarian coordinator, and establishing a UN mechanism to facilitate and monitor aid delivery.[38]

By December 26–27, Israeli operations were continuing across northern, central, and southern Gaza. The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reported an unofficial estimate of approximately 1,300 Israeli civilians and security personnel killed since October 7, including 498 soldiers and officers; 129 civilian and military hostages remained in Gaza, with 121 hostages having been returned.[36]

The State Department reports that Israel's sustained military operation had killed more than 21,000 Palestinians and injured more than 56,000 by the end of 2023, citing figures from the Hamas-led Gaza Ministry of Health as used by the United Nations, with approximately 40 percent of those killed reported as children.[14] An estimated 50–70 percent of Gaza's buildings were destroyed or damaged, and up to 1.9 million of Gaza's approximately 2.3 million people were displaced by year's end.[14] Only one-third of Gaza's hospitals remained operational, with none functioning in northern Gaza; 144 UN staff, 312 health workers, and 40 civil-defense workers had been killed between October 7 and December 31.[14]

At year's end, 136 hostages remained in Gaza — 132 abducted on October 7 and four held there before that attack — with at least 23 believed to have died in captivity. The International Committee of the Red Cross had received no proof of life for the remaining hostages.[1][14]

In the West Bank, the year's violence left 509 Palestinians, including at least 121 children, killed by Israeli forces and settlers, according to the human-rights report.[14] UNOCHA recorded 1,227 incidents of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians during the reporting period — 911 involving property damage, 163 resulting in casualties, and 153 involving both — with 15 Palestinian fatalities from settler attacks; the frequency rose from an average of 21 incidents per week before October 7 to 30 per week afterward.[14] A total of 1,442 Palestinians were displaced by settler violence and access restrictions, with 87 percent displaced after October 7.[14]

By proposals discussed in late November and into December, Gaza's postwar future was already under debate, with proposals circulating for demilitarization, destruction or sealing of rocket infrastructure and tunnels, a security buffer separating Gaza from Israel, international reconstruction, and changes to Palestinian governance. Estimates cited in contemporaneous analysis placed Hamas's tunnel network at approximately 300 miles, while more than one million Palestinians had fled toward southern Gaza during the fighting.[35]

Sources converge on an October 7 death toll of approximately 1,200 but differ on the number abducted: the Anti-Defamation League reports 251 hostages, while the State Department reports 253.[2][1] Rocket counts for the opening assault also vary by timeframe and source, from more than 3,000 in Israeli reporting to Mohammed Deif's claim of more than 5,000 rockets and mortar shells in the initial strike.[24][26]

The number of hostages released during the November ceasefire also varies by counting method. The Jerusalem Post reports 105 civilian hostages released, the Government of Israel press kit states 110, and N12 records 81 Israeli hostages and 25 hostages holding foreign citizenship released by the end of the pause.[33][27][34] The number remaining afterward was reported as either 136 or approximately 137 depending on the source and reporting date.[1][39]

Casualty figures from Gaza rest substantially on data from the Hamas-led Gaza Ministry of Health, which international sources including the United Nations use but which does not independently distinguish combatants from civilians.[1][14] Palestinian pre-October 7 casualty totals differ similarly: UNOCHA recorded 237 Palestinians killed by Israelis from January through October 6, while the Congressional Research Service summarized approximately 190 West Bank Palestinians killed over roughly the same period.[1][13] Classifications of casualties in the Jenin operations were disputed by Israeli and Palestinian sources throughout the year, most pointedly after the July operation, when Israeli military accounts characterized the Palestinian fatalities as combatants while other reporting did not independently confirm that classification.[22][21]