Qatar and the United States announced on Wednesday a truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which includes freeing hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist movement, after more than 15 months of a war that has left tens of thousands of dead.
Next, AFP collects 10 key moments of the war in the Gaza Strip triggered by the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The assault caused more than 1,200 deaths in Israel, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data.
The retaliatory military offensive launched by Israel against Gaza has left at least 46,707 Palestinians dead, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health of this Hamas-ruled territory, which the UN considers reliable.
Hamas attack
In the early hours of October 7, 2023, hundreds of Hamas commandos infiltrate Israel and commit massacres in numerous border towns and at a music festival.
They also kidnap 251 people and take them to the Gaza Strip. More than a year later, 97 are still there, although the Israeli army considers 34 of them dead.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to annihilate Hamasan organization considered “terrorist” by its country, USA and the European Union.
Ground offensive
After a bombing campaign in the south of the Strip, subject to a total siege, Israel on October 13 urges the inhabitants of Gaza City, in the north, to evacuate to the south. The vast majority of the territory’s 2.4 million inhabitants will be forced to move at least once during the conflict.
The Israeli army begins a ground campaign on October 27.
seven day truce
On November 24, a one week truce between Israel and Hamas. This agreement allows the release of 105 Israeli and binational hostages, in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli prisons.
The truce also establishes the entry, from Egypt, of more humanitarian aid, although insufficient according to the UN.
When hostilities resume, the Israeli army enters southern Gaza on December 4 with tanks, where it multiplies aerial bombardments and ground combat.
Deaths during aid delivery
On February 29, 2024, 120 people were killed by Israeli gunfire, according to Hamas, during the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza City. Israel claims that the convoy was attacked by the crowd and that soldiers “shot several suspects.”
At the beginning of March, several countries, including the United States, began air deliveries of aid to the Palestinian territory, threatened by hunger according to the UN. The first shipload of aid arrives from Cyprus on March 15.
Israel-Iran tensions
Iran, support of Hamasattacks Israeli territory with drones and missiles on April 13, in retaliation for a bombing against its consulate in Damascus on April 1, attributed to Israel.
On July 20, Israel bombs the Yemeni port of Hodeidah in response to a drone attack on Tel Aviv launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Hamas political chief dies in explosion in Tehran
Hostilities between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, pro-Iran and supported by Hamas, intensify.
Hezbollah’s military chief, Fouad Chokr, is killed on July 30 near Beirut in an Israeli bombing.
The next day the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, dies in an explosion in Tehran. Israel will take over the attack several months later.
Climbing in Lebanon
In Lebanon, Israel explodes pagers and walkie-talkies used by members of Hezbollah, causing 39 deaths and nearly 3,000 injuries on September 17 and 18.
A few days later, the Israeli army launches massive bombings that kill Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah on September 27 near Beirut.
On October 1, Iran launches 200 missiles against Israel, in retaliation for the deaths of Haniyeh and Nasrallah. The Jewish State began a ground offensive in southern Lebanon a day earlier.
New Hamas chief dies
The new leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwuar, Considered by Israel to be the mastermind of the October 7 attack, he is in turn assassinated on October 16 in Gaza by Israeli soldiers.
On the 26th, Israel attacks military targets in Iran in retaliation for the October 1 missile attack.
On November 14, a UN committee sees “characteristics of genocide” in the methods of warfare used by Israel in Gaza.
On the 21st, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the head of Hamas’s armed wing, Mohamed Deif, whom Israel claimed in July to have killed in Gaza. Israel appeals the decision.
Ceasefire in Lebanon
A fragile ceasefire agreement comes into force in Lebanon on November 27, after two months of open war between Israel and Hezbollah. Both sides accuse each other of violating the agreement.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, more than 4,000 people have died in Lebanon since October 2023.
After the fall of President Bashar al Assad on December 8 in Syria, Israel launches massive attacks against military depots in that country.
The objective, indicates the Israeli executive, is to prevent them from falling into the hands of the new Islamist authorities. Israel is also strengthening its presence in the annexed part of the Syrian Golan.
New truce in Gaza
After days of intense diplomatic efforts in Doha, Israel and Hamas agree on January 15 an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages.
