Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict in 2025

The January ceasefire negotiations followed approximately 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.[1] The hostage crisis originated in the taking of 251 people from Israel into Gaza on October 7, 2023; during the ensuing period, some were rescued alive, some were returned dead, and the majority were returned through exchange agreements.[6] Securing the remaining hostages’ release and dismantling Hamas’s infrastructure remained stated Israeli objectives during the 2025 campaign.[7]

Qatar and Egypt mediated extensive negotiations before the January agreement, with participation by both the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration in the United States.[1] The agreement’s initial exchange mechanism linked the release of Israeli hostages to the release of Palestinians held by Israel, while also providing for military redeployments, displaced civilians’ return, and expanded humanitarian assistance.[1] Implementation of later phases depended on further indirect negotiations and unresolved questions about the conflict’s conclusion.[1]

On January 19, a 42-day ceasefire took effect. Its first stage provided for 33 hostages to be released, an increase in humanitarian aid, and Israeli military redeployments within Gaza.[8][9] Hamas released three Israeli women on the first day, while subsequent negotiations were intended to address the remaining hostages and a broader settlement.[8]

January 19: Ceasefire and first exchange. The ceasefire took effect on January 19, beginning a planned 42-day initial phase.[10] Hamas released Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher, the first three Israeli women designated for return.[8] They were handed to the International Committee of the Red Cross, while Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners, comprising 69 women and 21 teenage boys.[3] The opening phase also provided for increased aid, Israeli redeployment within Gaza, and the return of displaced Palestinians to the north.[10]

January 21: Operation Iron Wall. Israeli forces launched Operation Iron Wall in Jenin and its refugee camp two days after the Gaza ceasefire began.[11] Palestinian Authority security forces, which had been operating in the area for more than a month, withdrew when Israeli forces entered.[12] The operation opened with a drone strike against what the IDF identified as terrorist infrastructure, followed by ground forces and engineering equipment.[13] Bulldozers were used to locate and clear explosives from roads, and firefights occurred with Palestinian Islamic Jihad personnel.[13]

The operation subsequently expanded to Tulkarm, the Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, and the Tubas and Tamun areas of the northern Jordan Valley.[11] By January 31, the IDF’s operational tally included at least 35 terrorist operatives killed, more than 100 wanted people detained, and hundreds of explosive devices destroyed.[11] Its stated objectives included dismantling armed-group infrastructure, addressing immediate threats, and preserving Israeli operational freedom.[13]

January 25–30: Further hostage releases. Four female Israeli soldiers returned on January 25 after 477 days in captivity.[2] Agam Berger and Arbel Yehoud were released on January 30, and Yehoud and fellow hostage Gadi Moses passed through a crowd before reaching the Red Cross.[2] The releases included staged Hamas ceremonies.[2] Weekly exchanges continued during the initial ceasefire phase.[3]

February: Exchanges and expanded northern operations. By the end of the first phase, 33 Israeli hostages had been released, eight of them deceased, while five Thai hostages were freed outside the formal agreement.[3][9] Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners during the phase.[3] Qatar, Egypt, and the United States continued efforts to sustain the arrangement.[14]

In the West Bank, reports described Israeli operations focusing particularly on Jenin and Tulkarm, where tanks were deployed for the first time in decades and residents were ordered or forced from refugee camps.[3][4] February operations included raids, aerial strikes, arrests, and demolitions in Tulkarm, Tamun, and Nur Shams.[13] The IDF described 23 buildings demolished in Jenin’s refugee camp as having been used by terror operatives.[13] Camp residents received evacuation orders, and UNRWA estimated that approximately 40,000 people had been displaced across the affected camps.[4]

January–Early March: Humanitarian deliveries. Approximately 25,200 aid trucks entered Gaza between January 19 and March 2, carrying 447,538 tons of humanitarian supplies.[15] The deliveries included food, water, medical supplies, shelter materials, fuel, and gas.[15] Restrictions on internal aid movement eased, allowing access to areas previously difficult to reach, although movement between northern and southern Gaza remained partly restricted.[15]

March 1–2: First phase ends and aid is halted. The first phase ended in early March without an agreement on what would follow; the cited accounts differ on its precise expiration date.[3][9] Negotiations on the second phase, originally due to begin by February 3, had not taken place, and an informal truce continued into mid-March.[3] On March 2, Israel halted the entry of goods and humanitarian supplies into Gaza, while the parties initially stopped short of declaring that the ceasefire itself had ended.[16]

Israel’s government said Hamas had rejected a US proposal to extend the truce and release additional hostages.[16] The aid suspension was intended to pressure Hamas in hostage negotiations and cut the group off from supplies.[15] Israel also cut electricity to Gaza while demanding the immediate release of hostages designated for the second phase.[3] Reports of diminishing food and aid stocks followed, without greater negotiating flexibility from Hamas.[15]

Early March: Israeli public priorities. A survey conducted during the ceasefire found that 66% of respondents favored releasing the hostages by any means over eliminating Hamas by any means.[17] Support for prioritizing hostage release was 54% among coalition voters and 87% among opposition voters.[17] The survey took place approximately a week before renewed hostilities.[17]

March 18–19: Large-scale fighting resumes. Israel resumed major airstrikes on March 18 after negotiations reached an impasse.[9] The Israeli government cited Hamas’s refusal to release additional hostages and rejection of proposals from US envoy Steve Witkoff and other mediators.[18] The bombardments killed more than 400 people.[3]

The renewed campaign was named Operation Strength and Sword, and its initial targets included Hamas commanders, political leaders, and infrastructure.[19] On March 19, Israeli forces moved to retake the Netzarim Corridor south of Gaza City, which they had left under the ceasefire.[3] The Hostages and Missing Families Forum accused the government of abandoning those still captive.[20]

March 25–April 1: Protests and evacuation orders. Protests against the war and Hamas rule began in Beit Lahia on March 25 and spread to other areas over the next two days.[21] Hamas attributed the demonstrations to Israel, while allegations emerged of violence and threats against protesters.[21] Israeli ground and air operations continued in northern, central, and southern Gaza.[21] On March 31, evacuation orders covered all of Rafah and three neighborhoods south of Khan Yunis.[21]

April: Intensified operations and unresolved governance. Defense Minister Israel Katz announced an intensified offensive on April 2, with additional forces assigned to clear infrastructure and take territory for security purposes.[19] Operations included strikes in Rafah and Khan Yunis and activity in Jabalia.[19] On April 16, the IDF said it had not yet begun a major offensive and characterized its ongoing operations as pressure for a hostage-release agreement.[19] Questions about responsibility for Gaza’s reconstruction, security, and governance remained unresolved in mid-April.[22]

Early May: Approval of an expanded campaign. Israel’s security cabinet approved the expanded operation known as Gideon’s Chariots on May 4.[23] The plan envisaged gradual seizure of territory, attacks on Hamas infrastructure, and relocation of Gaza’s population toward a designated southern humanitarian area.[19] Unlike operations based on raids followed by withdrawal, the expanded campaign was intended to hold captured areas.[23] The government presented defeating Hamas and securing the hostages’ return as its objectives.[24]

The associated aid proposal envisaged distribution at a limited number of southern sites through the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private organization operating under US and Israeli supervision.[3] At the time, humanitarian projections indicated that more than half of Gaza’s population faced emergency food insecurity and one-fifth faced catastrophe or famine.[3]

May 12–13: Edan Alexander’s release and a Hamas leadership strike. Hamas released Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander on May 12 in a US-brokered stand-down.[14] He was the last American hostage then believed to be alive.[14] On May 13, an Israeli airstrike on an underground command center beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis killed Muhammad Sinwar, who had succeeded his brother in Hamas’s leadership, and senior figures including Rafah Brigade commander Mohammad Shabana.[19]

May 16–19: Gideon’s Chariots and renewed aid entry. Israel announced opening stages of Gideon’s Chariots on May 16, while the IDF formally described the ground operation as underway on May 18; reports varied over which date marked the operation’s launch or formal start.[25][23] Continuing hostage negotiations accompanied the military escalation.[23]

Aid deliveries resumed on May 19 after the suspension that had begun in early March. The established UN and international-aid-organization system initially handled deliveries, before the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operating its separate mechanism later in the month.[15]

May 27–29: A new aid mechanism and another ceasefire proposal. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation opened a distribution site in Rafah on May 27.[26] Thousands of Palestinians entered within hours, and US security personnel temporarily withdrew when crowds surged.[26] The foundation subsequently said distribution had resumed and that it had distributed 8,000 boxes containing enough food for more than 460,000 meals.[26] Its mechanism and the established international aid system operated in parallel, with different delivery and distribution arrangements.[15]

On May 29, the White House said Israel had accepted a proposed 60-day ceasefire package.[14] It envisaged the release of 10 living hostages and 18 deceased hostages’ bodies, the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian convicts and detainees, humanitarian assistance, and Israeli redeployments.[14] Hamas reviewed and rejected the package.[14]

June: Continued mediation and regional escalation. Ceasefire efforts continued in late June without a breakthrough.[27] A proposal associated with Witkoff envisaged a 60-day ceasefire, phased releases of living and deceased hostages, and negotiations to end the war.[27] COGAT’s figures recorded 29,783 tons of aid entering Gaza during June, compared with 20,910 tons in May.[27]

Direct Israel–Iran hostilities also began in June, alongside rather than as a direct engagement in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[7] Israel conducted major strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities and infrastructure with US support, while Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones against Israeli civilian, military, energy, and government sites.[7]

July 26–30: Humanitarian measures and a diplomatic roadmap. On July 26, the IDF announced renewed airdrops, humanitarian corridors for UN aid movements, and planned pauses in fighting in densely populated areas.[28] Daily local pauses began on July 27 in some areas between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.[28] Israel also announced a new campaign against Gaza City during July 28–30, describing it as Hamas’s last major urban stronghold.[14]

On July 29, a France- and Saudi Arabia-led UN initiative produced the New York Declaration, calling for Palestinian Authority reform and two states living alongside one another in peace.[14] Israel and the United States rejected the roadmap.[14]

August 8: Gaza City plan approved. Israel’s security cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to take control of Gaza City.[29] The cabinet adopted five principles for ending the war: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarizing Gaza, maintaining Israeli security control, and establishing a civilian government controlled by neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.[29] The plan envisaged encircling the city and relocating approximately one million residents south.[29]

Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir objected to the plan, raising concerns about humanitarian consequences and its relationship to securing the hostages’ release.[29] Additional concerns involved military capacity and risks to hostages and Israeli forces.[19] The announced evacuation plan envisaged moving Gaza City’s population by October 7 before imposing a siege on Hamas personnel remaining there.[30]

August 18–22: A proposal, military preparations, and famine findings. Egypt announced on August 18 that Hamas and other Palestinian factions had accepted an updated Egypt–Qatar proposal based on a US outline for a 60-day truce.[31] The proposal included phased hostage exchanges and humanitarian aid; acceptance by the factions did not constitute a concluded ceasefire agreement.[31] Israel’s response remained pending in an August 19 account.[32]

The reported two-stage arrangement envisaged releasing 10 living hostages and 15 deceased hostages’ bodies initially, followed after 60 days by the remaining living hostages and bodies if Israel halted military operations.[32] Questions about Hamas disarmament, exile for its leaders, and the release of Hamas personnel held by Israel were left for later discussion.[32] Opening Israeli maneuvers for the Gaza City offensive began on August 19.[33] On August 22, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification reported famine in Gaza Governorate.[2]

September 9: Strike in Doha. Israel struck Hamas leaders meeting in Doha, Qatar, to discuss a US-sponsored ceasefire proposal.[2] The intended senior targets survived; five Hamas members and a Qatari internal-security-force member were killed.[2] The strike drew widespread condemnation and affected subsequent diplomatic pressure for a ceasefire.[2]

September 12: UN General Assembly vote. The General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution endorsing the New York Declaration by 142 votes to 10, with 12 abstentions.[34] The resolution outlined steps toward a two-state solution, excluded Hamas from a proposed future political role, demanded release of all hostages, and condemned the October 7, 2023 attack.[35] Israel and the United States opposed it.[35]

September 16: Major Gaza City ground operation. Israeli forces expanded ground operations inside Gaza City following heavy airstrikes.[19] Two divisions were already operating in the city, and the stated objectives included dismantling Hamas’s remaining stronghold, tunnels, and urban defenses.[19] By late September, the IDF said more than 750,000 residents had moved to humanitarian areas in the south.[36]

September 21–22: Palestinian state recognition. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Portugal announced recognition of a Palestinian state on September 21.[37] France and several other countries announced recognition at a French- and Saudi-hosted UN conference the following day.[37] Recognizing governments said they sought to encourage an end to the Gaza war and preserve prospects for a two-state solution.[5] The Palestinian Authority welcomed the announcements, while Netanyahu characterized them as rewarding terror.[37]

September 29: Trump’s 20-point plan. President Donald Trump presented a plan alongside Netanyahu covering the release of all remaining hostages, Hamas demilitarization, and reconstruction under international oversight.[2] Its proposed arrangements included a Trump-led Board of Peace, an international stabilization force during a transition, and rebuilding without displacing Gazans.[3] It offered amnesty and safe passage to Hamas members who disarmed and described a possible path to Palestinian statehood through Israeli–Palestinian dialogue.[3]

October 3–10: Initial agreement and ceasefire. Hamas accepted the plan with conditions on October 3, after which Israel halted offensive airstrikes in preparation for implementing its initial phase.[19] The Israeli cabinet approved the arrangement on October 9, and the ceasefire took effect on October 10.[19][34] The ceasefire did not settle whether Hamas would disarm or how Gaza would ultimately be governed.[34]

Israel withdrew from about half of Gaza within 24 hours.[3] Israeli forces’ resulting positions controlled approximately 53% of the territory.[34]

October 13: Final living hostages return. Hamas released the remaining 20 living hostages, while Israel released approximately 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.[3] The Israeli releases included 250 prisoners serving life sentences and 1,716 detainees from Gaza.[38] The exchange also included approximately 360 Palestinian bodies.[3] Hamas initially returned four of the 28 deceased hostages whose remains were covered by the agreement.[3]

Trump traveled to Israel and then to Sharm el-Sheikh for a summit on ending the war.[38] The United States, Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt signed the Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity, a general declaration of commitment rather than a treaty or the Israel–Hamas agreement itself.[34] The United States also announced plans to deploy 200 troops to the region as part of an international ceasefire-monitoring force.[3]

The October ceasefire returned the final living hostages but did not settle questions about Hamas disarmament and Gaza’s future governance.[34] Recovery and return of deceased hostages continued after the initial exchange.[3] By the end of October, 17 of the 28 bodies covered by the agreement had been returned.[39] Further returns continued into December, and the final hostage body was returned to Israel on January 26, 2026.[6]

Violence continued despite the ceasefire.[39] On October 19, an attack on Israeli troops in Rafah killed two soldiers and wounded three; Israel blamed Hamas and responded with strikes.[40] Israel subsequently announced that it was resuming enforcement of the ceasefire rather than ending it.[40] Another Israeli soldier was killed in the Rafah area on October 28, followed by a day-long Israeli bombardment that killed 104 Palestinians.[3] Hamas also conducted gunfights and executions against rivals as it sought to reassert control in Gaza.[3]

On November 17, the UN Security Council adopted US-initiated Resolution 2803, derived from the September 20-point plan.[41] The resolution endorsed the plan and authorized a transitional authority and international civil and security presences through the end of 2027.[5] These measures extended the diplomatic framework beyond the immediate hostage exchange and ceasefire arrangements.[5]

A November survey found support for negotiations with the Palestinian Authority among Jewish respondents at 30%, unchanged from July despite the Gaza ceasefire and hostage releases.[42] Support among Arab respondents was 78%.[42] Only 12% of Jewish respondents believed peace with the Palestinians could be achieved in the coming years.[42]

The two major ceasefire periods combined hostage-prisoner exchanges with Israeli redeployments and humanitarian provisions, but their wider political objectives extended beyond those initial steps.[1][34] The January arrangement envisaged further negotiations toward ending the war, whereas the October ceasefire formed part of a broader framework for transitional governance, international security participation, and reconstruction.[3][5] The return of the last 20 living hostages on October 13 marked the culmination of exchange efforts involving hostages taken two years earlier.[6]

Hostage releases also became subjects of academic analysis as public performances.[43] A peer-reviewed study examined Hamas’s release ceremonies as political messaging and coercion, rather than merely logistical transfers.[43] The staging of the January releases and the crowd surrounding Yehoud and Moses formed part of the year’s documented hostage-release experiences.[2]

Responsibility for the March breakdown remained a major dispute: Israel cited Hamas’s refusal to release more hostages and accept extension proposals, while Hamas maintained that the January agreement required progression to a second phase involving full Israeli withdrawal and a permanent end to the war.[18] Israeli debate also concerned whether intensified military pressure or a negotiated agreement offered the better route to recovering hostages.[24] Aid restrictions drew accusations of collective punishment, which Israel rejected while alleging Hamas diversion of supplies.[7]

Humanitarian assessments and displacement totals were likewise subjects of significant disagreement.[2][36] Israeli authorities rejected the methodology and findings of the August famine designation, while the Hamas government media office gave substantially lower Gaza City departure figures than the IDF.[2][36] Allegations of disproportionate force, international-law violations, and aid obstruction were disputed by Israel; a UN commission’s genocide conclusion was vehemently rejected by Israel and the United States.[7] September state recognition also divided governments: supporters argued that it preserved a two-state prospect, while Israel and the United States argued that recognition rewarded Hamas and discouraged hostage release.[7]