Smoke rises after Israeli attacks in Gaza (Reuters)
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas launched its biggest attack on Israel in years early on Saturday, firing a barrage of rockets from Gaza and sending fighters across the border.
Israel said it was on a war footing and began its own attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza, with Israeli media reporting gun battles between gangs of Palestinian fighters and security forces in southern Israel.
The following timeline, which begins with Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, details the major flare-ups in conflict between Israel and Palestinian groups in the densely populated coastal enclave, home to 2.3 million people.
August 2005 – Israeli forces unilaterally withdraw from Gaza, 38 years after capturing the country from Egypt during the Middle East war, abandoning settlements and leaving the enclave under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
January 25, 2006 – The Islamist group Hamas wins a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliamentary elections. Israel and the US have stopped aid to the Palestinians because Hamas refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel.
June 25, 2006 – Hamas militants arrest Israeli conscript Gilad Shalit in a cross-border attack from Gaza, prompting Israeli airstrikes and raids. Shalit is finally released more than five years later through a prisoner exchange.
June 14, 2007 – Hamas takes over Gaza in a brief civil war, driving out Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the West Bank.
December 27, 2008 – Israel launches a 22-day military offensive in Gaza after Palestinians fire rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot. About 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were reportedly killed before a ceasefire was agreed.
November 14, 2012 – Israel assassinates Hamas military chief of staff Ahmad Jabari. Eight days of Palestinian militant rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes follow.
July–August 2014 – The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers by Hamas sparks a seven-week war in which more than 2,100 Palestinians are said to have been killed in Gaza and 73 Israelis have been killed, 67 of them soldiers.
March 2018 – Palestinian protests begin at Gaza’s fenced border with Israel. Israeli forces open fire to stop demonstrators. More than 170 Palestinians have reportedly been killed during the months-long protests, which have also sparked fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces.
May 2021 – After weeks of tension during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, hundreds of Palestinians are injured in clashes with Israeli security forces at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa complex, Islam’s third holiest site.
After demanding that Israel withdraw security forces from the compound, Hamas fires a barrage of rockets into Israel from Gaza. Israel hits back with air strikes on Gaza. The fighting lasts eleven days, killing at least 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel.
August 2022 – At least 44 people, including 15 children, are killed during three days of violence that begins when Israeli airstrikes hit a senior Islamic Jihad commander.
Israel says the strikes were a pre-emptive operation against an impending attack by the Iran-backed militant movement targeting commanders and weapons depots. In response, Islamic Jihad fires more than 1,000 rockets into Israel. Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system prevents serious damage or casualties.
Jan 2023 – Islamic Jihad in Gaza fires two rockets into Israel after Israeli forces raid a refugee camp and kill seven Palestinian gunmen and two civilians. The rockets set off alarms in Israeli communities near the border but caused no casualties. Israel responds with air strikes on Gaza.
October 2023 – Hamas launches its largest attack on Israel in years from the Gaza Strip, with a surprise attack that sees gunmen crossing the border with a heavy barrage of rockets. Islamic Jihad says its fighters joined the attack.
The Israeli army said it was on a war footing, adding that it had launched attacks on Hamas in Gaza and called up reservists.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
