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An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023. Clashes have also occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and with Hezbollah along the Israel–Lebanon–Golan Heights border. The fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, it is part of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War 50 years earlier. The war began when Hamas-led militant groups launched a surprise attack on Israel on 7 October, involving a barrage of several thousand rockets concurrent to an estimated 3,000 militants breaching the Gaza–Israel barrier and attacking Israeli civilian communities and military bases. During this attack, 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals including 766 civilians and 373 security personnel were killed, while 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive to the Gaza Strip. Hamas said its attack was in response to Israel's expansion of settlements, persisting blockade, and threats to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. After clearing militants from its territory, Israel tightened its blockade and launched one of the most destructive bombing campaigns in modern history, before commencing a large-scale ground invasion on 27 October with the stated objectives of destroying Hamas and releasing the hostages. Since the start of the Israeli operation, more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, of which the UN estimates at least 56% are women and children. 10,000 others are missing and presumed trapped under rubble. Nearly all of the strip's 2.3 million Palestinian population has been forcibly displaced, and over one hundred thousand Israelis remain internally displaced. Israel's tightened blockade cut off basic necessities and its attacks on infrastructure have led to a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, including a collapse of the healthcare system and an impending famine. By early 2024, Israeli forces had damaged or destroyed more than half of Gaza's houses, at least a third of its tree cover and farmland, most of its schools and universities, hundreds of cultural landmarks, and dozens of cemeteries. Israel's ground invasion initially focused on northern Gaza, which it had reoccupied by January 2024. After a seven-day truce involving exchange of captives, Israel moved south to attack Khan Yunis on 3 December. On 24 May, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must immediately halt its Rafah offensive. The war has had significant international repercussions. Large protests have occurred across the world, primarily pro-Palestinian ones calling for a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation. Israel's actions have been denounced in the Islamic world and much of the Global South. In December 2023, South Africa launched proceedings at the International Court of Justice alleging that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has received significant support from its traditional Western allies, most notably the United States, which has provided Israel extensive military aid throughout the war and has vetoed multiple UN Security Council ceasefire resolutions. Meanwhile, the Axis of Resistance, an alliance between Iran and several non-state actors, has attacked American military bases in the Middle East, and the Yemeni Houthi movement started attacks on commercial ships they alleged were linked to Israel, incurring a US-led military response. Background In 1967, following the Six-Day War fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan), Israel occupied the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip which had formerly been occupied by Egypt. A process of Arab-Israeli normalization began in the 1970s, with the fourth and final war between Arab states and Israel ending in 1973 and an Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty signed in 1979. In 1987, the First Intifada, a popular uprising by the Palestinians against the Israeli occupation, began. The conflict lasted five years and ended with the Oslo Accords, creating the Palestinian National Authority and dividing the West Bank into three administrative areas. Following the failure of the subsequent peace talks at the Camp David Summits in 2000, violence once again escalated during the Second Intifada, which ended with the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and subsequent blockade. Hamas, an Islamist militant group, won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and a subsequent battle in the Gaza Strip between it and Fatah, which led to Hamas taking over governance of Gaza, and further escalating tensions with Israel. Israel, along with Egypt, imposed a blockade that significantly damaged Gaza's economy, citing security concerns as the justification. International rights groups have characterized the blockade as a form of collective punishment, while Israel defended it as necessary to prevent weapons and dual-use goods from entering the territory. The Palestinian Authority has not held national elections since 2006. Since the imposition of the blockade, Israel has been involved in numerous military confrontations with Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza. There have been four previous major hostilities between Israel and Hamas: in 2008–2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021. Hamas's tactics included tunnel warfare and firing rockets into Israeli territory, whereas Israel generally conducted airstrikes in Gaza. Israel also conducted ground invasions of Gaza in the 2008–2009 and 2014 wars. In 2018–2019, there were weekly organized protests near the Gaza-Israel border involving thousands of Gazan participants. The protests were met with violence by Israel, with hundreds killed and thousands injured by sniper fire. Surveys in 2023 of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank before the war indicated that a majority supported the use of "armed struggle", the creation of "militant groups", and an intifada ("uprising") against the Israeli occupation. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported roughly 6,400 Palestinians and 300 Israelis were killed in the wider Israeli–Palestinian conflict from 2008 through September 2023 before the start of this war. The Gaza Strip's economy declined greatly due to the blockade, with a 30% drop in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) within a year. By 2015, the unemployment rate had risen to 45% (compared to the pre-blockade level of 10%). In 2023, UNRWA statistics for Gaza reported 81% of people living below the poverty level, and 63% being food insecure and dependent on international assistance. According to an analysis in The Independent, the Gaza blockade created hopelessness among Palestinians, which was exploited by Hamas, convincing young Palestinian men that violence was their only solution. Daoud Kuttab wrote that Palestinian attempts to solve the conflict via negotiations or non-violent boycotts have be.... Discover the Nina Laurin popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Nina Laurin books.