After the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out the worst attack in Israeli history on October 7, 2023, Israel launched a devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

The air and ground operation has killed at least 46,707 people, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

LIVE: Qatar PM confirms Israel-Hamas ceasefire, hostage deal

Here is a roundup of key moments in the war.

Hamas attacks

At dawn on October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters infiltrate Israel. They kill civilians in the streets, in their homes and at a desert music festival, as well as attack troops in army bases. They seize 251 hostages and take them back to Gaza. Currently 94 are still held there, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

The attacks result in the deaths of more than 1,200 people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to destroy Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, European Union and Israel.

Ground offensive

Israel begins bombing and besieging Gaza. On October 13, it calls on civilians in northern Gaza to move south.

The vast majority of Gazans have been displaced during the war, according to the UN.

On October 27, Israel launches a ground offensive.

Truce and hostage swap

On November 24, a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas goes into effect. Hamas releases 105 hostages in return for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. When the war resumes, Israel expands its actions into southern Gaza.

Deadly food stampede

On February 29, 2024 Israeli forces fire on residents of northern Gaza who rush towards a convoy of food aid trucks, killing 120 people and wounding hundreds.

From early March several countries, including the United States, drop aid over Gaza which the United Nations says faces famine.

On April 1, seven aid workers from the US charity World Central Kitchen are killed in an Israeli strike, which the military says was a “tragic mistake”.

Iran attacks Israel

On April 13, Iran pounds Israel with drones and missiles in retaliation for a deadly April 1 strike on its Damascus consulate, blamed on Israel. On July 20, Israel bombards Yemen’s port of Hodeida, after a drone attack on Tel Aviv by Iran-backed Huthi rebels who have been attacking shipping in the Gulf since November 2023 in solidarity with Gaza.

Hamas political leader killed

At the Israeli-Lebanon border, almost daily exchanges of gunfire since October 2023 between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah, intensify in July. Israel retaliates with several strikes, including one that kills Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander.

On July 31, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh is killed in a strike in Iran. Israel accepts responsibility months later.

Spill over into Lebanon

On September 17 and 18, hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah explode in an Israeli operation. It kills 39 and wounds thousands, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel steps up its air campaign in Lebanon and on September 27 kills Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a suburb of Beirut.

Days later, Israel launches a ground offensive in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah strongholds while carrying out heavy bombing across the country.

Iran launches a barrage of 200 missiles at Israel in response to the killing of Nasrallah and Haniyeh.

New Hamas chief killed

On October 16, new Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, accused by Israel of masterminding the October 7, 2023 attack, is killed during an Israeli operation in southern Gaza.

On the 26, Israel carries out airstrikes on military targets in Iran in response to its October 1 missile attack.

On November 14, a UN Committee says Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of “genocide”. Israel accuses the UN of bias.

The International Criminal Court on November 21 issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif, who the Israeli military says it killed in Gaza.

Lebanon truce

A truce comes into force on November 27, after two months of open war between Israel and Hezbollah which has left more than 4,000 dead on the Lebanese side since October 2023, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

This fragile truce is breached on several occasions with both sides trading blame.

Both sides accuse the other of breaching the fragile truce.

Since the ousting of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has also conducted hundreds of strikes on Syria’s military sites, which they say are to prevent the country’s weapons from falling into the hands of the interim government.

It has also seized the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

Since late 2024 Yemen’s Huthi rebels have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Israel which responds with new attacks on Yemen.

New truce

After days of intense diplomatic efforts in Doha, mediator Qatar says on January 15, 2024 that Israel and Hamas have reached a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza starting on January 19 and an exchange of hostages and prisoners, in a move hailed by world leaders.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse violent demonstrators in Rome as tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets in major European cities and around the globe on Saturday (October 5, 2024) to call for a cease-fire as the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel approached.

Huge rallies were held in several European cities, with gatherings expected to continue over the weekend and peak on Monday (October 7, 2024) the date of the anniversary.

In Rome, several thousands demonstrated peacefully on Saturday (October 5, 2024) afternoon until a smaller group tried to push the rally toward the center of the city, in spite of a ban by local authorities who refused to authorize protests, citing security concerns.

Some protesters, dressed in black and with their faces covered threw stones, bottles and paper bombs at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons, eventually dispersing the crowd. At least 30 law enforcement officers and three demonstrators were injured in the clashes, local media reported.

The rally in Rome had been calm earlier, with people chanting “Free Palestine, Free Lebanon,” waving Palestinian flags and holding banners calling for an immediate stop to the conflict.

Protest held in London, Germany, New York

In London, thousands marched through the capital to Downing Street amid a heavy police presence. The atmosphere was tense as pro-Palestinian protesters and counterdemonstrators, some holding Israeli flags, passed one another. Scuffles broke out as police officers pushed back activists trying to get past a cordon. At least 17 people were arrested on suspicion of public order offenses, supporting a proscribed organization and assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said.

In the northern German city of Hamburg, about 950 people staged a peaceful demonstration with many waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags or chanting “Stop the Genocide,” the DPA news agency reported, citing a count by police. Two smaller pro-Israeli counterdemonstrations took place without incident, it said.

Several thousands protesters gathered peacefully at Paris’ Republique Plaza in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people. Many were waving Palestinian flags while holding posters reading ”stop the genocide,” “free Palestine,” and “hands off Lebanon.”

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators also gathered at New York’s Times Square to call for a cease-fire, chanting “Gaza!” to a drumbeat. Some wore keffiyeh scarfs, waved Palestinian and Lebanese flags and held a large cardboard image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with red paint symbolizing blood across his face.

Rallies were also planned in several other cities in the United States as well as in other parts of the world, including Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa and India. In the Philippines, dozens of left-wing activists protested near the U.S. Embassy in Manila, where police prevented them from getting closer to the seaside compound.

In Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched to the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy on Sunday. Authorities blocked roads leading to the embassy with razor wire and concrete barriers as more than 1,000 police were deployed around the compound.

Pro-Israeli demonstrations are expected to be held on Sunday (October 6, 2024) because Jews across the world are still observing Rosh Hashana, or the Jewish new year.

Demand of immediate cease-fire

Security forces in several countries warned of heightened levels of alert in major cities, amid concerns that the escalating conflict in the Middle East could inspire new terror attacks in Europe or that the protests could turn violent.

Pro-Palestinian protests calling for an immediate cease-fire have repeatedly taken place across Europe and around the globe in the past year and have often turned violent, with confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement officers.

Italian authorities believed that the timing of Saturday’s rally in Rome risked the October 7 attack being “glorified,” local media reported.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi also stressed that, ahead of the key anniversary, Europe is on high alert for potential terror attacks.

“This is not a normal situation. … We are already in a condition of maximum prevention,” he said.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Britain, said he and others will keep organizing marches until action against Israel is taken.

“We need to be out on the streets in even bigger numbers to stop this carnage and stop Britain being drawn into it,” Jamal said.

In Berlin, a march is scheduled from the Brandenburg Gate to Bebelplatz on Sunday (October 6, 2024) . Local media reported that security forces have warned of potential overload because of the scale of protests. German authorities pointed to increasing antisemitic and violent incidents in recent days.

Earlier this week in France, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau warned the country’s regional prefects, expressing concern about possible tensions and saying that the terrorist threat was high.

About 3,000 people demonstrated within sight of the White House.

Amid a heavy police presence, the protesters gathered at Lafayette Park, the same site as 2020 protests against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd. “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” they chanted.

One speaker on stage called October. 7, 2023, “the day that Gazans finally broke out of their prison.”

On October 7 last year, Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 people hostage and setting off a war with Israel that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.

Nearly 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive. Israelis have experienced attacks — missiles from Iran and Hezbollah, explosive drones from Yemen, fatal shootings and stabbings — as the region braces for further escalation.

In late September, Israel shifted some of its focus to Hezbollah, which it seeks to push back from its border in parts of south Lebanon where the group is entrenched.

Jerusalem:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to “settle the score” with Hamas after the military had recovered the bodies of six hostages from a Gaza tunnel.

“Those who kill hostages do not want an agreement” for a Gaza truce, Netanyahu said in a statement, telling Hamas leaders that “we will hunt you down, we will catch you and we will settle the score”.

Netanyahu said that Israel was “fighting on all fronts against a cruel enemy who wants to murder us all”, mentioning a shooting attack near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank earlier on Sunday that killed three police officers.

Hamas has not claimed the attack but in a statement called it a “heroic operation by the resistance”.

According to Netanyahu, “the fact that Hamas continues to commit atrocities such as those it committed on October 7 obliges us to do everything we can to ensure that it can no longer do so”, referring to the Palestinian group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel that triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

A senior Hamas official said that several of the six hostages found dead had been “approved” for release in the event of a truce deal, which has yet to be finalised despite months of mediation efforts.

“Some of the names of the captives announced as found by the (Israeli) occupier… were part of the list of hostages to be released that Hamas had approved” in a proposed exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly on the issue.

Israeli media reported that US-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin and two others whose bodies had been recovered from Gaza — Carmel Gat and Eden Yerushalmi — had been approved by Hamas to be released in the event of a truce deal.

The Hamas official said the six captives were “killed by the occupation’s fire and bombing”, an accusation denied by the Israeli military.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani in an online briefing with journalists that “according to our initial assessment, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists”.

“We do know they were murdered by Hamas terrorists. We do know — I can tell you — there was no real-time fire engagement in the tunnel,” Shoshani said.

Claims by Hamas that the hostages were killed by Israeli forces were “psychological warfare”, he said.

The bodies were found in a tunnel in the southern city of Rafah, around one kilometre (0.6 miles) away from where troops had rescued alive another hostage, Kaid Farhan Alkadi, on Tuesday, according to Shoshani.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The United States will continue dropping essential aid from the air into the Gaza Strip, the White House said Tuesday, after Palestinian militant group Hamas called for them to end following fatal drownings and stampedes.

“Air drops are one of the many ways that we are helping to provide desperately needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza, and we will continue to do so,” the National Security Council said in a statement, after Hamas said that 18 people had died, 12 of them by drowning while trying to recover dropped food supplies.

The NSC said the United States was working “around the clock” to increase the flow of aid into Gaza by land, adding that efforts were also underway to establish a maritime corridor to reach the territory.

“Let’s be clear, Hamas started this war and has refused to agree to a hostage deal that would create the conditions to facilitate a surge in humanitarian assistance,” the statement said.

Hamas urged Tuesday for an end to airdrops — whereby aid packages are dropped with parachutes from a plane — saying they were too risky.

In a statement, Hamas called for “an immediate end to airdrop operations” and “the immediate and rapid opening of land crossings to allow humanitarian aid to reach our Palestinian people.”

The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, has said vastly more aid must be rushed into Gaza by road, rather than air or sea, to avert an “imminent famine.”

US defence leaders met with Israel’s minister of defence on Tuesday as the United States warns against a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but rising tensions between the two allies put any progress in question.

In remarks at the start of the Pentagon meeting, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said they would discuss alternative ways to target Hamas in Rafah, and he described civilian casualties in Gaza as “far too high” and aid deliveries as “far too low”.

But he also repeated the belief that Israel has the right to defend itself and the US would always be there to help.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, meanwhile, emphasised the ongoing threats to Israel, and said the meeting would address ways to destroy Hamas and get the Israeli hostages released, as well as plans to return displaced residents to their homes.

Austin made no mention of threats to limit or condition future military aid to Israel on humanitarian gains, a growing sentiment among members of Congress and others. And Gallant only said that the meeting would include discussions about the important cooperation between the two countries to “ensure Israel’s military edge and capabilities”.

The meeting, which also included Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, comes as tensions have spiked between the US and Israel, stemming from the widespread global frustration over the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and political discord surrounding efforts to achieve a cease-fire.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cancelled a high-level visit to Washington this week in protest over the UN Security Council decision to call for an immediate cease-fire. The US abstained, deciding not to use its veto power, and the resolution passed 14-0.

Israel says it cannot defeat Hamas without going into Rafah, where it says the group has four battalions composed of thousands of fighters. But US officials are pressing Israel to forego a ground invasion and consider other ways to defeat Hamas.

“There are ways to go about addressing the threat of Hamas, while also taking into account civilian safety. A lot of those are from lessons, our own lessons, conducting operations in urban environments,” Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said on Monday. “I would expect the conversations to cover those kinds of things.” Israel’s offensive has killed over 32,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and driven a third of Gaza’s population to the brink of starvation. It was launched in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, which killed some 1,200 people.

Hamas-led militants also took around 250 people hostage. They are still holding around 100 hostages, and the remains of around 30 others, after most of the rest were freed during a cease-fire last year in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

The Security Council resolution calls for a cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Netanyahu accused the US of “retreating” from a “principled position” by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the cease-fire on the release of hostages.

The dispute signals an erosion in the US-Israel relationship that has been under a microscope for months as the military assault on Hamas continues, escalating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the US was disappointed in the decision to cancel the delegation’s visit this week. He said the talks with Gallant would likely include some of what the US had planned to discuss with the Israeli delegation on the possible Rafah invasion.

Gallant met Monday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Kirby said those meetings, however, had not been intended as a replacement for the delegation meetings.

French President Emmanuel Macron. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that any forced transfer of people from the southern Gaza city of Rafah would constitute “a war crime”.

In a telephone call between the two leaders, Mr. Macron also “strongly condemned” Israel’s announcement Friday of the seizure of 800 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank for new settlements, said his office.

Activists say Israel’s declaration that the land in the northern Jordan Valley was now “state land” was the single largest such seizure in decades.

Mr. Macron also repeated his opposition to any Israeli military operation to fight Hamas in Rafah, where most of Gaza’s population has taken shelter after months of fierce fighting in the besieged territory.

In the call, Mr. Macron told Mr. Netanyahu he intended to bring a draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for “an immediate and lasting ceasefire”.

He urged Israel to immediately open all crossing points into Gaza.

Mr. Macron also had talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, during which they discussed the “unjustifiable humanitarian situation in Gaza”, said the Elysee Palace.

Forcing civilians to run the risk of famine was “unjustifiable”, the two leaders said.

They also agreed on the need for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one that “implied the creation of a Palestinian state including Gaza”.

The planned Rafah ground offensive has faced growing international opposition, with warnings it would cause mass civilian casualties and worsen the humanitarian crisis.

Israel has insisted it is necessary in its campaign to destroy Hamas.

The Gaza war was sparked by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel has vowed to destroy the militants, who also seized about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes around 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 presumed dead.

Almost six months of fighting have killed 32,070 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli strikes had killed 7,703 people, mainly civilians, including more than 3,500 children

October 29, 2023 07:46 am | Updated 08:09 am IST

Israel’s army relentlessly hammered the territory on October 28 after fierce overnight bombardment that rescuers said destroyed hundreds of buildings three weeks into a war sparked by the deadliest attack in the country’s history.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that there was a potential for thousands more civilians to die if Israel presses a major ground offensive in Gaza. The U.N. rights chief also condemned the Internet and telecommunications blackout that has hit the Palestinian enclave since Friday.

The Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli strikes had killed 7,703 people, mainly civilians, including more than 3,500 children.

Also Read | Israel-Hamas war Day 22 updates

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that fighting inside the Gaza Strip would be “long and difficult”, as Israeli ground forces operate in the Palestinian territory for more than 24 hours. The Israeli military spokesman said the country is expanding its ground operation in Gaza with infantry and armoured vehicles backed by “massive” strikes from the air and sea.

Israel unleashed its bombing campaign after Hamas gunmen stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing more than 220 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Meanwhile, the United Nations on Friday overwhelmingly called for an immediate humanitarian truce and demanded aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip and protection of civilians. India was among the 45 countries who abstained from voting.

(With inputs from agencies)

Follow the live updates here:

The Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli strikes had killed 7,703 people, mainly civilians, including more than 3,500 children

October 29, 2023 07:46 am | Updated 10:37 am IST

Israel’s army relentlessly hammered the territory on October 28 after fierce overnight bombardment that rescuers said destroyed hundreds of buildings three weeks into a war sparked by the deadliest attack in the country’s history.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that there was a potential for thousands more civilians to die if Israel presses a major ground offensive in Gaza. The U.N. rights chief also condemned the Internet and telecommunications blackout that has hit the Palestinian enclave since Friday.

The Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli strikes had killed 7,703 people, mainly civilians, including more than 3,500 children.

Also Read | Israel-Hamas war Day 22 updates

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that fighting inside the Gaza Strip would be “long and difficult”, as Israeli ground forces operate in the Palestinian territory for more than 24 hours. The Israeli military spokesman said the country is expanding its ground operation in Gaza with infantry and armoured vehicles backed by “massive” strikes from the air and sea.

Israel unleashed its bombing campaign after Hamas gunmen stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing more than 220 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Meanwhile, the United Nations on Friday overwhelmingly called for an immediate humanitarian truce and demanded aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip and protection of civilians. India was among the 45 countries who abstained from voting.

(With inputs from agencies)

Follow the live updates here:

The near-total telecommunications blackout in Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the Palestinian territory risks providing cover for mass atrocities, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Friday.

Internet access and the phone network were completely cut across the Gaza Strip on Friday, nearly three weeks after Israel began bombarding the enclave following an armed attack by Hamas militants that Israeli officials say killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

“Widespread phone and internet outages occurred in Gaza on October 27, 2023, amid a concerted Israeli bombardment, almost entirely cutting off the 2.2 million residents from the outside world,” HRW said in a statement.

“This information blackout risks providing cover for mass atrocities and contributing to impunity for human rights violations,” Deborah Brown, the group’s senior technology and human rights researcher, said in the statement.

A number of international agencies and NGOs said they had lost touch with their staff in Gaza on Friday, including the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA.

– AFP

The U.S. military launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pentagon said, in retaliation for a slew of drone and missile attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in the region that began early last week.

The U.S. strikes reflect the Biden administration’s determination to maintain a delicate balance. The U.S. wants to hit Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the U.S. as strongly as possible to deter future aggression, possibly fueled by Israel’s war against Hamas, while also working to avoid inflaming the region and provoking a wider conflict.

According to the Pentagon, there have been at least 12 attacks on U.S. bases and personnel in Iraq and four in Syria since October 17.

– AP