Israel - Gaza war updates: Is it genocide and elimination of Palestinians or state-sponsored terrorism in Israel? What is the permanent peace and resettlement plan? Try to find out here. (02 April 2025):

 

History of Palestine and Israel conflicts:

November 1947: The UN General Assembly passes Resolution 181 calling for the partition of the Palestinian territories into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The resolution also envisions an international, UN-run body to administer Jerusalem. The Palestinian territories had been under the military and administrative control of the United Kingdom (known as a mandate) since 1917, after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Jews celebrated the Partition Plan in Jerusalem on November 29, 1947. Civil strife and violence between the Jewish and Arab communities of the Palestinian territories intensified.

The years 1948 to 1967: In 1948 the State of Israel was created on land inhabited by both Jews and Arab Palestinians. Hostilities between the two communities that year led to a mass displacement of Palestinians. Many of them became refugees in the Gaza Strip, a narrow swath of land roughly the size of Philadelphia that had come under the control of Egyptian forces in the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli war. Israel declares its independence as the British rule ends. Sparked by Israel’s declaration of independence, the first Arab-Israeli War began. Egypt (supported by Saudi Arabian, Sudanese, and Yemeni troops), Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria invaded Israel. The fighting continued until 1949, when Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria signed armistice agreements. Throughout the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli War, at least seven hundred thousand Palestinian refugees fled their homes in an exodus known to Palestinians as the nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”). Israel won the war, retaining the territory provided to it by the United Nations and capturing some of the areas designated for the imagined future Palestinian state. Israel gains control of West Jerusalem, Egypt gains the Gaza Strip, and Jordan gains the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the Old City and its historic Jewish quarter. The status of the Palestinians remained unresolved as the protracted Arab-Israeli conflict brought recurrent violence to the region, and the fate of the Gaza Strip fell into the hands of Israel when it occupied the territory in the Six-Day War of 1967. UN Addresses Palestinian Displacement: In 1948, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194, which calls for the repatriation of Palestinian refugees. The Palestinians will later point to Resolution 194 as having established a “right of return” for Palestinian refugees and their descendants. The specific parameters of that return are debated in the decades that follow, including among many descendants from the 1948 refugees and the three hundred thousand Palestinians who fled their homes during the June 1967 war. The Six-Day War (June 5, 1967 to June 10, 1967): Israel and several of its Arab neighbors fought the Six-Day War. Israel got a decisive victory: it suffered seven hundred casualties; its adversaries suffered nearly twenty thousand. Israel emerges with control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip—areas inhabited primarily by Palestinians—as well as all of East Jerusalem. Israel also took control of Syria’s Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula. In April 1982,  Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt under a peace treaty.   November 1967: UN Security Council Resolution Called for Israeli Withdrawal: The UN Security Council passed Resolution 242 calling for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in the recent conflict and for the termination of “states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of every state in the area and the right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries.” The resolution established the concept of land for peace.

October 1973 : The Yom Kippur War: Another Arab-Israeli war, known variously as the Yom Kippur War, the Ramadan War, and the October War, was fought when Egypt and Syria attempted to retake the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights. Cold War tensions spiked as the Soviet Union aided Egypt and Syria and the United States aided Israel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries began an oil embargo on countries that support Israel, and the price of oil skyrocketed.  The fighting ended after a UN-sponsored cease-fire (negotiated by the United States and the Soviet Union) took hold. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 338, which calls for implementing UN Security Council Resolution 242.

September, 1978: The Camp David Accords: Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David Accords, which established a basis for a peace treaty between the two countries. The accords also committed the Israeli and Egyptian governments, along with other parties, to negotiate the disposition of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

1979: Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula: Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty, the first between Israel and one of its Arab neighbors. The treaty committed Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and evacuate its settlements there. The termination of the state of war between Egypt and Israel led to the normalization of diplomatic and commercial relations between the two countries. Israel’s prime minister and Egypt’s president exchanged letters reaffirming their commitment, outlined in the Camp David Accords, to negotiate the disposition of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

December, 1987: First Intifada & Emergence of Hamas: An Israeli driver killed four Palestinians in a car accident that sparked the first intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. The image of Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli tanks became the enduring image of the intifada. Over the next six years, roughly 200 Israelis and 1,300 Palestinians were killed.  A Palestinian cleric named Sheikh Ahmed Yassin established the militant group Hamas as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas endorsed jihad as a way to regain territory for Muslims.

July, 1988: Jordan surrendered claims on the West Bank and East Jerusalem: King Hussein of Jordan relinquished his country’s claims to the West Bank and East Jerusalem in favor of the claims of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). December 1988: PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat denounced violence, recognized Israel’s right to exist, and acknowledged UN Security Council Resolution 242 and the concept of land for peace. The United States responded to Arafat’s announcement by beginning direct talks with him, though it suspended the talks following a Palestinian terrorist attack against Israel.

October, 1991: The Madrid Peace Conference: The Madrid Peace Conference began, sponsored jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union. Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, and Syrian delegates attended the first negotiations among those parties. The talks proceeded along bilateral tracks between Israel and its neighbors, though the Lebanese joined the Syrian delegation and the Jordanian team included Palestinian representatives. A multilateral track includes the wider Arab world and addresses regional issues.  The talks lasted for two years without any breakthroughs.

Year 1993-1994: The Oslo Accords & Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994: Secret negotiations in Norway resulted in the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, also known as the Oslo Accords. Before the accords were signed, Israel and the PLO recognized each other in an exchange of letters. Israel and the PLO agreed to the creation of the Palestinian Authority to temporarily administer the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Israel also agreed to begin withdrawing from parts of the West Bank, though large swaths of land and Israeli settlements remain under the Israeli military’s exclusive control. The Oslo Accords envisioned a peace agreement by 1999. Palestinian leader Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for their efforts in the Oslo Accords. Arafat, president of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) shook hands with Israeli Premier Rabin at the signing of the Gaza-Jericho Agreement on May 4, 1994. The Gaza-Jericho Agreement: The Israelis and the Palestinians signed the Gaza-Jericho Agreement, which began the implementation of the Oslo Accords. The agreement provided for an Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza and Jericho, a town in the West Bank, and for a transfer of authority from Israeli administration to the newly formed Palestinian Authority. The agreement also established the structure and composition of the Palestinian Authority, its jurisdiction and legislative powers, a Palestinian police force, and relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israel and Jordan Signed a Peace Treaty: The Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty ceremony took place at the Arava Terminal at the southern end of the two countries' border in 1994. Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, settling their territorial dispute and agreeing to future cooperation in sectors such as trade and tourism. This is Israel’s second peace treaty with an Arab state. It accorded special administrative responsibilities for Jerusalem’s Muslim holy places to Jordan. In 1993 there was a glimmer of hope for a peaceful resolution when the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) reached an agreement on the creation of a Palestinian state alongside an Israeli state. However, Hamas, a militant Palestinian group founded in 1987 and opposed to the more conciliatory stance taken by the PLO, rejected the plan, which included Palestinian recognition of the State of Israel, and carried out a terror campaign in an attempt to disrupt it.

Year 1995: On September 28, 1995, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Rabin, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Hussein, and Arafat signed the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement at the White House. Oslo II Accord: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators signed the Interim Agreement, sometimes called Oslo II. It gives the Palestinians control over additional areas of the West Bank and defines the security, electoral, public administration, and economic arrangements that will govern those areas until a final peace agreement in 1999. The plan was ultimately derailed amid suicide bombings by Hamas and the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish extremist.

Year 1997: The United States designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization.

Year 2000: U.S. President Clinton met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Arafat at Camp David in Maryland on July 25, 2000. Camp David Summit: President Bill Clinton hosted Israeli and Palestinian leaders for talks at Camp David. Reports indicated that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is prepared to accept, among other things, Palestinian sovereignty over some 91 percent of the West Bank and certain parts of Jerusalem. The deal would include a land swap in which some Israeli land would go to the Palestinians in compensation for the remaining 9 percent of the West Bank, which would go to Israel. Two weeks of intensive discussion, however, failed to produce an agreement. President Clinton blamed Arafat for the failure. Before leaving office several months later, Clinton laid out proposals for both sides. Talks between them continued but without success.   September, 2000: The Second Intifada: Israeli politicians including a right-wing political leader, Ariel Sharon, and a controversial retired Israeli general visited the Temple Mount (known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, one of Islam's holiest sites) on September 28, 2000. The Palestinians viewed the visit as an effort to change the status quo at the holy site. The ensuing demonstrations turned violent, marking the beginning of a second intifada. It was more violent than the first intifada. Four thousand Palestinians and one thousand Israelis died.

Year 2002: The Passover Massacre: A terrorist attack killed thirty people at a Passover celebration at a hotel in the Israeli city of Netanya. As a result, the Israeli military reoccupied portions of the West Bank, including the city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is located and where Arafat had his West Bank headquarters.   Israeli West Bank Barrier-Building Began: Israel began building a security barrier in the West Bank to protect Israeli cities and towns from terrorist attacks. The barrier, which was a wall in some stretches and a fence in others, is controversial because in places it cuts deep into West Bank territory to protect settlements. The Palestinians were cut off from Jerusalem, some Palestinian villages were sliced in half, and some Palestinians were unable to get to work or school as a result of the security barrier’s path. Israel’s Supreme Court forced changes in the barrier’s route, but the barrier continued to impede Palestinian movement and commerce in certain areas.

Year 2003: Road Map for Peace: The Quartet, an informal group created to pursue Middle East peace comprising the United States, Russia, the United Nations, and the European Union, put forth a Road Map for Peace based on the outline President George W. Bush offered in his 2002 speech. The road map laid out a plan for peace based on Palestinian reforms and a cessation of terrorism in return for an end to Israeli settlements and a new Palestinian state.

Year 2005: Israeli Disengagement With Gaza: In 2005, in the wake of the collapse of the peace process,  Israel unilaterally withdrew from the settlements it had constructed in the Gaza Strip after 1967, The Israeli military remained in control of Gaza’s borders (except the Gaza-Egypt border, which is controlled by Egypt), airspace, and coastline. After Israel’s withdrawal, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other smaller militant groups fired rockets from Gaza into southern Israel.

Year 2006 to 2008: Hamas Expanded Power in Gaza: In Palestinian elections, Hamas defeated Fatah, a Palestinian political faction founded in the 1950s, which was a long-dominant faction within the PLO. The United States and other countries suspend their aid to the Palestinian Authority because they consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization. Fatah and Hamas made a deal to govern the West Bank and Gaza Strip together. The deal quickly failed, and Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007. In 2007, after factional conflict within the Palestinian Authority (PA), Hamas emerged as the de facto ruler in the Gaza Strip. The takeover by Hamas prompted a blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt and set the stage for the next decade and a half of continued unrest. Gilad Shalit Taken Hostage: In 2008, people in Jerusalem attended a rally marking two years since Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants. Hamas operatives kidnaped an Israeli soldier named Gilad Shalit on Israeli soil near the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military tried and failed to free him. He was held captive in Gaza until Israel, with the help of Egypt and the United States—negotiated his release in 2012. Israel attacked the Gaza Strip following nearly eight hundred rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli towns in November and December. The war lasts less than a month but kills hundreds of civilians, in addition to hundreds of combatants, and sparks international criticism. The first major conflict between Israel and Hamas, which included Israeli air strikes and a ground invasion, took place at the end of 2008.

Year 2013: Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and Israel's Justice Minister Tzipi Livni shook hands at the end of negotiations in Washington DC, on July 30, 2013.

Year 2014: Negotiations Faced Continued Hurdles - Secretary of State John Kerry sought to restart final status negotiations. The process began with the Israeli’s agreement to release 104 Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinians’ agreement not to use their new observer state status at the United Nations to advance the cause of statehood. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority collapsed in April 2014 over such issues as Israeli settlement growth, the status of a final round of prisoners, and Palestinian attempts to join several international organizations. Tensions Between the PLO and Hamas - The PLO and Hamas signed an agreement to form a unity government. However, tensions between the factions remained, and no unity government was formed. Gaza and the West Bank remain disconnected and under the control of rival Palestinian leadership. Operation Protective Edge: After tit-for-tat attacks on Israeli and Palestinian civilians by extremists on both sides, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip. The operation, code-named Protective Edge, lasted for fifty days, killing about two thousand Gazans, sixty-six Israeli soldiers, and five Israeli civilians. Unlike the conflicts from 2008 to 2009 and in 2012, Palestinian rocket fire targeted major Israeli cities. The war ended after the United States, in consultation with Egypt, Israel, and other regional powers, brokered a cease-fire.

Year 2017: On December 29, 2017, people in Amman, Jordan protested U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The U.S. Formally Recognized Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel: Changing long-standing U.S. policy, U.S. President Donald Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He also pledged to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to that city, though the move was not set to occur immediately. Numerous foreign leaders, including those of Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, along with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, criticized the policy change. It also sparked protests and violence throughout East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank, as well as in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Jordan.

Year 2018: In January 2018, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declined to meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence during Pence’s trip to the region.

Year 2019: President Trump held a proclamation recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights as he was applauded by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others during a ceremony at the White House in Washington DC, on March 25, 2019. Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights from Syria in 1981. The United States is the first country other than Israel to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the territory.

Year 2020: Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Parliament, took part in a protest against Trump's Middle East peace plan in Baqa al-Gharbiyye, Israel on February 1, 2020. Trump Administration Launched Proposed Peace Plan -  Trump unveiled his administration’s proposed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, crafted by U.S. and Israeli diplomats without Palestinian input. The plan called for a two-state solution with significant economic aid to the Palestinians. Many analysts criticized the plan as being one-sided, stipulating impossible requirements for Palestinian statehood and paving the way for Israeli annexation of the West Bank. Palestinian authorities rejected the plan immediately. Following the plan’s announcement,  Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel’s plan to annex portions of the West Bank as outlined in Trump’s proposal. Netanyahu and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed signed agreements in the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords at the White House on September 15, 2020. Relations between Some Arab Countries and Israel Normalized - Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel, becoming the first Arab countries to do so in over twenty-five years. In return, Israel announced the suspension of its plans to annex territory in the West Bank. Morocco and Sudan subsequently also signed on to the agreement and normalized relations with Israel.

Year 2021: Israel-Hamas Crisis: Evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and clashes at al-Aqsa Mosque sparked conflict between Israel and Hamas. Over two hundred people in Gaza and at least ten in Israel died. The Joe Biden administration helped mediate a truce and restored some U.S. aid and diplomatic contact with the Palestinians.

Year 2022: In early 2022 militants from the PIJ and new, localized groups in the West Bank, a territory northeast of the Gaza Strip that is also predominantly inhabited by Palestinians, conducted a string of attacks in Israel. The IDF responded with a series of raids in the West Bank, resulting in the deadliest year for the West Bank since the end of the second  Palestinian intifada (uprising; 2000–05). The IDF targeted PIJ militants in the Gaza Strip but left Hamas alone. In turn, Hamas refrained from escalating the conflict, bolstering the assumption by Israeli officials that they could prioritize other threats over Hamas. At the close of 2022, Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office as Israel’s prime minister after cobbling together the most far-right cabinet since Israel’s independence, which proved to be domestically destabilizing. The cabinet pushed for reforms to Israel’s basic laws that would bring the judiciary under legislative oversight; the polarizing move led to unprecedented strikes and protests by many Israelis, including thousands of army reservists, concerned over the separation of powers.

Year 2023: Deadly Year in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israel launched a counterterrorism operation in the West Bank in response to attacks by Palestinians against Jewish Israelis. The operation and resulting resurgence contributed to the deadliest year for both sides since 2005, an uptick in violence that only turned out to rise in 2023.  In August 2023 senior military officials warned lawmakers that the readiness of the IDF for war had begun to weaken. All the while, provocations by Hezbollah were raising the risk of conflict along Israel’s northern border.

Beginning of latest Israel - Gaza war  w.e.f. October 07, 2023:

Israel-Hamas War is the war between Israel and Palestinian militants, especially Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a land, sea, and air assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip. The October 7 attack resulted in more than 1,200 deaths, primarily Israeli citizens, making it the deadliest day for Israel since its independence. More than 250 people were taken hostage during the attack. On October 7, 2023, Hamas led a stunning coordinated attack, which took place on Shemini Atzeret, a Jewish holiday that closes the autumn Thanksgiving festival of Sukkot. Many IDF soldiers were on leave, and the IDF’s attention had been focused on Israel’s northern border rather than on the Gaza Strip in the south. The assault began about 6:30 am with a barrage of at least 2,200 rockets launched into Israel in just 20 minutes. During that opening salvo, Hamas used more than half the total number of rockets launched from Gaza during all of 2021’s 11-day conflict. The barrage reportedly overwhelmed the Iron Dome system, the highly successful anti-missile defense system deployed throughout Israel, although the IDF did not specify how many missiles penetrated the system. As the rockets rained down on Israel, at least 1,500 militants from Hamas and the PIJ infiltrated Israel at dozens of points by using explosives and bulldozers to breach the border, which was heavily fortified with smart technology, fencing, and concrete. They disabled communication networks for several of the Israeli military posts nearby, allowing them to attack those installations and enter civilian neighborhoods undetected.  Militants simultaneously breached the maritime border by motorboat near the coastal town of Zikim. Others crossed into Israel on motorized paragliders. About 1,200 people were killed in the assault, which included families attacked in their homes in kibbutzim and attendees of an outdoor music festival.  That number largely comprised Israeli civilians but also included foreign nationals.  More than 250 others were taken into the Gaza Strip as hostages. Many of them were taken from their homes and some from the music festival. Including Israelis with dual citizenship, more than half of those taken hostage collectively held passports from about two dozen countries, effectively pulling several countries into the efforts to release their citizens. A March 2024 United Nations report found evidence that some were victims of sexual violence before they were killed. Adding to the trauma was the fact that it was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

The reaction of Israel against the attack by Hamas on October 07, 2023:

October, 2023 At 8:23 am on October 7, 2023, the IDF announced a state of alert for war and began mobilizing its army reserves (eventually calling up more than 350,000 reservists over the next several days). The next day (08 October 2023), Israel declared itself in a state of war for the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Netanyahu told residents of the blockaded enclave to “get out now. We will be everywhere and with all our might.”  Two hours later, IDF fighter jets began conducting air strikes in the Gaza Strip, followed weeks later by the incursion of ground troops and armored vehicles. On October 9 Israel ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, cutting off water, electricity, food, and fuel from entering the territory. As Israel conducted air strikes, international efforts were made to secure the release of the hostages. Qatar, which in years past had coordinated with Israel on the delivery of international aid packages to the Gaza Strip, became the key mediator, but in the first weeks of the war, it managed to negotiate the release of only four of the people held by Hamas.  Gaza’s subterranean tunnels—forming an intricate web of passageways extending hundreds of miles—added to the difficulty of locating the hostages as well as targeting militants and their weapons caches: destroying the tunnels without high civilian cost proved difficult, and conducting military activity inside the tunnels presented a high risk for all those inside, especially for the IDF troops and the hostages who might be held there. Just three weeks after Hamas’s assault on October 7, more than 1.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had become internally displaced, and, with the number of Palestinians killed still climbing by the thousands, it had already become the deadliest conflict for the Palestinians since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. At the end of October Israeli ground forces advanced into the Gaza Strip. Communications in the territory were initially cut, restricting the ability of militants to coordinate but also limiting the ability of paramedics and humanitarian organizations to attend to emergencies. Unlike in previous conflicts, the ground invasion was slow and the number of armored vehicles and personnel was increased gradually.

November 2023: On November 1 the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was opened, under conditions agreed to by Egypt, Hamas, and Israel, to allow a limited number of foreign nationals to evacuate the territory for the first time since October 7. On November 22 Israel’s war cabinet agreed to a prisoner exchange with Hamas, which was mediated by Qatar and Egypt, that would coincide with a temporary pause in fighting. During the pause, which lasted seven days, 110 of the hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. In the days after fighting resumed, Israeli forces moved into Khan Younis, the largest urban center in the south of the Gaza Strip and the location of the homes of senior Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif. A large number of civilians fled to Rafah, one of the last areas in the enclave for civilians to shelter from the ground invasion, and within weeks more than half of the Gaza Strip’s total population had crammed into the city along Egypt’s border.

December 2023 to January 2024: Pressure mounts for a ceasefire: By the end of 2023, international pressure weighed heavily on Israel amid the high number of civilian casualties and widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip. In mid-December U.S. Pres. Joe Biden, during a fundraising event for his reelection campaign, said that Israel was beginning to lose international support. In early January 2024, after nearly 23,000 Palestinians had been reported dead (a number that included mostly civilians but also Hamas fighters), Israel announced a change in strategy that would result in a more targeted approach. In late January a framework emerged through the mediation of Qatar, Egypt, and the United States for a potential three-phase pause in fighting during which a comprehensive agreement to end the war would be negotiated. The pause would include the release, in stages, of hostages held in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian prisoners taken by Israel since the start of the conflict. However, the framework remained elusive as Hamas insisted on guarantees that the hostage exchange would lead to a permanent ceasefire. By the end of January, the average number of daily deaths was one-third of what it had been in October but was still more than three times that of the 2014 conflict, the deadliest in the Gaza Strip until 2023.

February 2024 to –April 2024: Invasion of Rafah looms: Israeli officials in February announced their intent to extend the war into Rafah, leading to concerns internationally over the high humanitarian cost of such an operation. A rift between Netanyahu and Biden came out into the open as Biden mulled withholding military support if an invasion of Rafah were to go forward without a comprehensive plan in place to protect civilians. On March 25, 2024, for the first time since the outbreak of the war, the United States refrained from vetoing a resolution by the United Nations (UN) Security Council that called for an immediate ceasefire. On April 1, 2024, several vehicles carrying aide workers for chef José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen were hit in an Israeli air strike. The seven workers were killed, and the deaths brought increasing scrutiny on the actions of the IDF in the wake of the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The IDF took responsibility for the deaths with a government spokesman describing the incident as “a terrible chain of errors.” Early that same month, Hamas rejected a ceasefire proposal that would require it to release 40 living hostages who were female, children, older people, or sick in the initial stages, saying it did not have 40 such hostages.

May 2024 to June 2024: Rafah invasion, Operation Arnon, and pressure for a ceasefire: Although negotiations seemed to be progressing at the beginning of May, talks broke down on May 5. Hours later, Hamas fired rockets at Israeli soldiers who were stationed near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the main avenue for humanitarian aid. The attack killed four soldiers and prompted Israel to close the crossing to aid convoys. The next day, Israel ordered the evacuation of 100,000  Palestinians from Rafah. That evening, Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal tendered by mediators that included efforts toward a “permanent cessation” of hostilities, but Israel reiterated its stance that it would reject any proposal that insists on an end to the war. Meanwhile, Israel’s war cabinet unanimously authorized the military to proceed with its plans for Rafah. Israeli forces began moving to take control of the Rafah border crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor and on May 14 they entered the city. Within days the number of people who had fled Rafah since May 6 exceeded 800,000, and the areas they escaped to were deemed inadequate by international observers. On May 17 a floating pier constructed by the United States for international humanitarian aid received its first shipment, but the distribution of aid was repeatedly disrupted by safety concerns and weather damage. It was operational for a total of only 20 days before the use of the pier was abandoned in mid-July. In that time, the total amount of aid delivered through the pier fell slightly short of what was needed to sustain the Gaza Strip’s population for just one day. On June 8 Israeli special forces rescued four of the hostages who had been kidnapped at the music festival in an operation that was conducted in central Gaza. The raid took place in two buildings in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the middle of the day. When the four Israelis were recovered alive and unharmed. Heavy fighting took place as the special forces escaped with the rescued hostages, and more than 270 Palestinians in the vicinity were killed as air strikes aimed to shield the Israelis. The officer who led the mission, Arnon Zamora, was critically wounded and died shortly afterward; the operation was renamed Operation Arnon in his honor ex post facto. The following day Benny Gantz, an opponent of Netanyahu who was also a key figure in his war cabinet, carried out a threat made weeks earlier to resign if Netanyahu had still not articulated a plan for the hostages to be released and end the war. On June 10 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2735. It called for an immediate ceasefire, a release of hostages, and the safe distribution of humanitarian aid, followed by a permanent end to hostilities in exchange for the release of remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. The resolution, which was drafted by the United States and followed a ceasefire plan outlined by Biden weeks earlier, was passed with 14 votes in favor;  Russia abstained, saying it had questions about the details of the U.S.-drafted resolution.

July 2024 to September 2024:  Hamas drops key demand, Israel demands Philadelphi Corridor, poliovirus detected in the Gaza Strip, and Hamas executes six hostages. In early July Hamas and Egyptian officials who were involved in the ceasefire negotiations reported that Hamas had dropped its demand for Israel to commit to a permanent end to hostilities. Meanwhile, Netanyahu began insisting that Israel retain control of the Gaza Strip’s Philadelphi Corridor, a demand that Israel had not previously raised in its May 27 proposal. As talks continued, Israel intensified its operations in Gaza. On July 13 an Israeli strike in Khan Younis targeted Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s top military commander. The strike killed Deif, according to an intelligence assessment by the IDF, and about 90 other Palestinians. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political chief abroad who was leading Hamas’s delegation in ceasefire negotiations, was killed in Tehrān on July 31, leaving the negotiations in the hands of the more hard-line and inaccessible Sinwar. On July 23, as Netanyahu arrived in the United States to address the U.S. Congress, Hamas, Fatah (the Palestinian faction that leads the Palestinian Authority), and 12 other Palestinian factions agreed to a reconciliation deal, which was brokered by the Chinese foreign ministry. The agreement would attempt to bring unified governance to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which have been split between Fatah and Hamas rule, respectively, since 2007. It was not immediately clear, however, how the “Beijing Declaration” would differ from past failed attempts at reconciliation, such as those in 2011, 2014, and 2017. By late July, the number of Palestinians reported dead approached 40,000. Meanwhile, the war’s toll on public health was highlighted in July,  after The Lancet published a study that indicated a conservative estimate of about four indirect deaths per one direct death during the war due to destroyed healthcare infrastructure and shortages of food, water, and safe shelter, bringing the total of direct and indirect deaths due to the war to 186,000. Later that month the IDF announced that it had found poliovirus in sewage and would offer vaccines to its soldiers. It also coordinated with international groups to assess the risk of polio among Gazans and administer vaccines. When the first confirmed case of polio was identified in a 10-month-old infant in mid-August, UN agencies requested a pause in fighting to allow health workers to vaccinate children in the Gaza Strip. On August 28 Netanyahu agreed under U.S. pressure to allow a vaccination campaign to take place in select areas. On August 27 Israeli forces rescued Farhan al-Qadi,  a Bedouin Arab from Israel who was working as a security guard when he was taken hostage on October 7. He was the first hostage to be rescued from inside a subterranean tunnel and was alone when he was found. Qadi reported that his captors had fled when they learned the IDF was close by. On August 31 Israeli forces found the bodies of six hostages. Autopsies indicated that they were executed 1 to 2 days before they were found and nearly two months after Hamas had agreed to release three of them in a July ceasefire proposal. Protests erupted in fury across Israel as hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to demand Netanyahu reach a deal for the hostages to be released. Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union, joined the protests on September 2 with a general strike (although a court found the strike illegal and ordered it to end that same afternoon). At a press conference that same day, Netanyahu doubled down on his demand to control the Philadelphi Corridor, which he characterized as “the oxygen of Hamas.” In mid-September, 2024, Israeli forces focused on weakening Hezbollah in Lebanon—including killing its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah—while the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip continued to deteriorate from the unbroken bombardment of the territory and restrictions on the entrance of humanitarian aid.

October 2024 to November 2024:  Yahya Sinwar is killed, UNRWA is banned in Israel, and ICC issues arrest warrants: The killing of Nasrallah induced Iran to send a barrage of missiles into Israel on October 1, an attack that nonetheless caused minimal damage and one casualty. The anniversary of the October 7 attack passed with bombardment from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi forces, which likewise rendered little damage. On October 17 Israel announced that the IDF had killed Sinwar in an operation it had conducted the previous day in the Rafah area. The international community seized the chance to reopen ceasefire discussions about a week later and Egyptian Pres. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi proposed a short pause in fighting followed by the release of a small number of Israeli hostages who also hold citizenship in the United States or Russia. Egyptian mediators also proposed subsequent phases that would build toward a more lasting end to the fighting. Despite the reluctance of Hamas to engage after previous ceasefire negotiations fell apart in July, the group indicated an openness to the proposal while insisting on guarantees that a short pause would lead eventually to a long-term ceasefire. The Israeli delegation, which had flown to Qatar to take part in the discussion in person, awaited the results of the U.S. election on November 5 to determine how to proceed. Donald Trump won the election, and members of Israel’s right-wing government believed that his administration would align even more sympathetically with their cause than the Biden administration had. On October 28 the Israeli Knesset overwhelmingly voted to ban and designate as a terrorist organization UNRWA, the United Nations agency that distributes the largest amount of international aid to the Gaza Strip. The designation came months after Israel alleged that some employees of UNRWA were members of Hamas and that about a dozen had taken part in the October 7, 2023, attack; an independent review in April 2024 indicated that the agency could do more to “assume more accountability for staff neutrality” but also concluded that it already had a “more developed approach than other similar UN or NGO entities” and that Israel had not expressed specific concerns about staff before the Israel-Hamas War. On November 21 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, who until November 5 had served as Israel’s defense minister. In a press release, the court noted reasonable grounds that Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival” and that “no clear military need or other justification under international humanitarian law could be identified” for those restrictions. The ICC also issued an arrest warrant that same day for Deif, whose reported death in July the court could not verify, for his role in commanding the October 7 attacks against civilian targets and his responsibility for his subordinates’ cruel treatment of and sexual violence against hostages. The court also intended to issue arrest warrants for Haniyeh and Sinwar before their deaths.

January 2025:

January 15, 2025 to January 19, 2025: What does the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas say? In January 2025, after 15 months of war, Israel and Hamas agreed on a deal to halt the war and release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. The ceasefire was announced on 15 January and began four days later, after months of negotiations led by the US, Qatar, and Egypt. It is based on a proposal set out by former US President Joe Biden in May 2024. The deal involves three stages: Stage one: This officially lasted for 42 days, during which: Hamas released 25 living Israeli hostages and eight dead hostages. Israel released about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza. Israeli forces left populated areas of Gaza. Displaced Palestinians returned to their neighborhoods. Hundreds of aid lorries were allowed into Gaza each day. Israeli troops remained in Gaza's border areas, including the southern Philadelphi Corridor, and left the Netzarim Corridor, a military zone cutting off the north of Gaza from the south. Stage two: Negotiations on the second stage were meant to begin 16 days after the start of stage one - but this did not happen. Like stage one, stage two is also meant to be completed within 42 days. According to the ceasefire deal, under stage two: A permanent ceasefire will be established. The remaining living hostages in Gaza will be exchanged for more Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces will make a complete withdrawal. Stage three: The final part of the agreement would see: The return of all remaining bodies of dead hostages. The reconstruction of Gaza is expected to take years.

19 January, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least 25 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 46,913. The Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir resigned from his office in protest against the ceasefire agreement with Hamas. The Houthi-run Al-Masirah media outlet reported that US forces launched four attacks on the Al-Azraqeen area north of Sanaa. The Houthis announced that it would stop attacks against ships in the Red Sea Corridor excluding Israeli ships due to the 2025 Israel–Hamas war ceasefire and stop attacks against Israeli ships upon the full implementation of all stages of the truce. It also said that it would attack the ships of other states in the event of any attack against it. Hamas confirmed the death of the deputy commander of al-Qassam Brigades, Marwan Issa.

20 January 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least 60 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 47,035. The first batch of 90 Palestinian prisoners that were released as part of the ceasefire agreement arrived in the West Bank. Bodies of 97 people were recovered from Rafah.

21 January 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry increased its count of the Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks in Gaza to 47,107. The IDF reported it had killed nearly 20,000 Hamas operatives. US President Donald Trump removed his predecessor Joe Biden's sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Herzi Halevi announced his resignation as IDF chief of staff effective 6 March to take responsibility for the IDF's failure to prevent the 7 October attacks. Gaza Civil Defense said that it recovered 120 decomposed bodies in the last two days.

22 January, 2025: The IDF reported that it killed 10 Palestinian militants, struck infrastructure, and dismantled explosives during its ongoing operation in Jenin. Al Jazeera reported that The IDF ordered civilians to evacuate from some areas of Jenin refugee camp. Israeli authorities denied the claim. Gaza Civil Defense said that it recovered approximately 200 bodies from under the debris in Gaza.

23 January, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 122 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks were recovered in the past 24 hours, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 47,283. Israeli forces cut off electricity in Jenin refugee camp and nearby areas, jeopardizing emergency operations of hospitals.

24 January, 2025: US intelligence estimated that 10,000 to 15,000 Hamas fighters were killed during the war in Gaza while the same number were recruited during that period, many of whom were young and untrained and were used for simple security purposes. A video shared by Hamas-affiliated media outlet Gaza Now showed Hamas militants executing several people, stating that they were found guilty of collaboration with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the IDF will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by the 60-day deadline stated in the 2024 ceasefire agreement, saying that Lebanon "has not yet fully enforced" its obligations under the truce. US President Donald Trump supported a short and temporary extension. Hamas confirmed the death of Rawhi Mushtaha, the de facto prime minister of Gaza, and Sami Odeh, the head of the general security mechanism of Hamas in an Israeli air strike. Decomposed bodies of 17 people were recovered from the rubble of destroyed houses in Rafah.

25 January, 2025: Four female IDF hostages were released by Hamas. Prime Minister Netanyahu's office said that Israel will release the security prisoners in return for the four female IDF hostages freed per the agreement. His office also added that Israel will not allow the passage of Gazans to north Gaza until the release of civilian Arbel Yehud. Two hundred Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel. Around 70 of them were released into Egypt. President Trump instructed the US military to release a pause imposed by his predecessor Joe Biden on the supply of 2,000-pound (900kg) bombs to Israel. By January 2025 when a ceasefire agreement was reached, more than 46,000 Gazans, about 2 percent of the territory’s population, had been killed according to official numbers, and two-thirds of the buildings in the Gaza Strip had been damaged or destroyed. About 1,600 Israelis had been killed, including those killed in the October 7 attack. Although the agreement led to more than a month of pause in the conflict in the Gaza Strip, its implementation was shaky from the start, and in mid-March, the conflict resumed.

26 January, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that hospitals in Gaza received 23 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks in the past 72 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 47,306. Twenty-four people including twelve children were killed while 134 others were injured by Israeli forces who opened fire after they tried to return to villages, towns, and cities in south Lebanon. In a phone call, French President Macron told Israeli PM Netanyahu to "withdraw his forces still present in Lebanon". Netanyahu's office confirmed reaching an agreement with Hamas for the release of civilian hostage Arbel Yehud, soldier hostage Agam Berger, and a third unnamed hostage on 30 January, adding that it received a document from Hamas regarding a total number of hostages who are still alive. It also said that in return, the IDF will allow the passage of Gazans to northern Gaza starting the next day.

27 January, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that hospitals in Gaza received 11 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 47,317. After midnight (Israel and Lebanon time), the United States issued a statement saying that the ceasefire arrangement between Israel and Lebanon will continue to be in effect until 18 February. Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and Israel's defense minister Israel Katz, confirmed that their countries will continue adhering to the ceasefire until 18 February. The Lebanese, Israeli, and US governments agreed to start negotiations to release Lebanese citizens held in Israeli jails. Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook said that Hamas is not necessarily seeking to administer post-war Gaza and is willing to negotiate with the US on its governance. Israel said that a Hamas list showed that eight of the 26 hostages still to be released in the first stage of the Gaza truce had died. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said EU foreign ministers agreed to revive the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Rafah. The IDF said that it killed more than 15 Palestinian militants and arrested 40 wanted people during its major raid in Jenin.

28 January, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that hospitals in Gaza received 48 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks in the past 48 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 47,354. Defense for Children International said that the number of Palestinian children held by Israeli jails in administrative detention was at an "all-time high".

29 January, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that hospitals in Gaza received 63 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 47,417. Hamas confirmed the death of between 6,000 and 7,000 members from its military and civilian wings until August 2024. The IDF said that it killed approximately 18 militants and more than 60 wanted Palestinians during its ongoing operation in Jenin and Tulkarem. It also said that it neutralized more than 100 explosive devices in Jenin and seized several other firearms, while another 30 bombs were neutralized and several firearms were recovered in Tulkarem. President Trump signed an executive order canceling student visas of foreign pro-Palestinian protesters whom he accused of sympathizing with Hamas. 110 Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel, of which 23 were transferred to Egypt before further deportation.

31 January, 2025: Hamas announced that French-Israeli civilian hostage Ofer Kalderon, American-Israeli civilian hostage Keith Siegel, and Israeli-Argentine civilian hostage Yarden Bibas were to be released the next day EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that the bloc restarted its Rafah Border Crossing mission. A coalition was formed by nine nations for upholding international law and Palestinian rights. Released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari's mother said that Emily was held in UNRWA facilities. The UNRWA said that these are grave allegations and demanded a probe.

01 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that hospitals in Gaza received 27 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 47,487. 183 Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel, of which seven were transferred to Egypt before their deportation.

02 February 2025: The IDF said that it killed over 50 militants since the beginning of its operation in the north of the West Bank.

03 February, 2025: The Gaza Government Information Office said that more than 14,000 people are missing and presumed dead due to Israeli attacks, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 61,709. A local official said that Israeli strikes forced approximately 75 percent of Palestinians to evacuate from the Tulkarm refugee camp. The Palestinian Authority urged US intervention to stop Israeli "aggression" in the West Bank.

04 February, 2025: The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Israeli forces of forcing civilians to evacuate from their houses under armed threats and blowing up entire neighborhoods in the northern West Bank. President Trump signed an order to continue the US funding halt for UNRWA. President Trump suggested that the US could "take over" Gaza.

05 February 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that hospitals in Gaza received 12 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 47,552.

06 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 31 deaths were recorded from Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 47,583. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF to prepare a plan allowing Gazans to voluntarily leave the Strip. He also mentioned re-locating Palestinians to Canada and Europe, specifically mentioning countries such as Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others that have leveled "false accusations" against Israel's war in Gaza. 26,000 Palestinians have been displaced since the start of the Israeli raid in the northern West Bank. Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said that Italy will stop working with UNRWA after the mother of a freed hostage said that her daughter had been held at UNRWA facilities in Gaza. President Trump imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court for its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war and for investigating alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan after sanctions were removed by his predecessor Joe Biden.

07 February, 2025: Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant acknowledged that the IDF implemented the Hannibal Directive during the 7 October attacks. The Trump administration approved approximately $7.4 billion in weapons sales to Israel despite opposition from Congress.

08 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 572 more fatalities were confirmed from Israeli attacks in Gaza, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,181. Israeli hostages Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami, and Or Levy were released by Hamas, and they forced the hostages to speak in the handover ceremony. Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners, of which seven were transferred to Egypt before their deportation.

09 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least eight bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks arrived at hospitals in Gaza, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,189. The IDF started withdrawing from the Netzarim Corridor as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

10 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least 19 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks arrived at hospitals in Gaza, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,208. At least 35,000 Palestinians were displaced due to Israeli raids in the West Bank. The Netanyahu government delayed the formation of a state commission of inquiry into the 7 October attacks for three months. The Palestinian Authority signed an $80 million agreement to assess damage, remove rubble, and establish temporary shelters in Gaza. Hamas said that it will delay the hostage release planned on 16 February until Israel "complies with past obligations", citing its agreement "violations". Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF in Gaza to prepare at the "highest level of alert". The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that it reached out to mediating nations to save the agreement. Later, Hamas said that it would still release hostages on 16 February if Israel "implements obligations" under the Gaza ceasefire. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree ending stipends for Palestinian prisoners based on the length of their sentence and to the families of militants killed while conducting attacks.

11 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least 11 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks arrived at hospitals in Gaza, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,219. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the IDF will return to "intense fighting" unless Hamas frees hostages by noon on 15 February. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also said that war would be different in its intensity compared to before the truce unless Hamas released hostages. Hamas said that it is committed to the truce and hostage release agreement and reiterated that it holds Israel accountable for any "complications or delays" to the execution of the agreement.

12 February 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least one person was killed in Israeli attacks and two bodies were recovered from rubble in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,222. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the United Nations Security Council to take action on what it said as Israeli "crimes" in the West Bank. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that more than 2,300 children in Gaza were treated for acute malnutrition in January.

13 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least three people were killed in Israeli attacks while 14 other recovered bodies arrived in hospitals in Gaza in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,239. The International Federation for Human Rights said that 44,000 Palestinians were displaced by the Israeli offensive in the West Bank. The IDF said that it killed more than 60 Palestinian militants and detained more than 210 militants since the start of its offensive in the West Bank.

14 February, 2025: PIJ announced that it would release Israeli-Russian civilian hostage Alexandre Trufanov, while Hamas announced that it would release Israeli-American civilian hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen and Israeli-Argentinean civilian hostage Yair Horn the next day. Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories reported that it facilitated the entry of 600 aid trucks into Gaza each day as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement.

15 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 25 deaths were recorded from Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,264. Hostages Sagui Dekel-Chen, Alexandre Troufanov, and Iair Horn were released by Hamas and PIJ. Israeli media outlet Ynet reported that the handover was a highly choreographed propaganda event, which included bringing the hostages to the venue in a vehicle stolen on 7 October, parading the hostages on stage along with militants with stolen IDF uniforms and Israeli weapons, and propaganda banners in broken Hebrew. 369 Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel.

16 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that seven deaths from Israeli attacks were recorded in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,271. Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn't approve the entry of caravans and heavy equipment to Gaza, with a security consultation chaired by Netanyahu deciding that the issue of caravans will be discussed in the coming days. The media committee of the Jenin refugee camp said that 25 Palestinians were killed and over 20,000 others were displaced since the beginning of the Israeli offensive in Jenin. The Gaza Health Ministry said that there is a severe shortage of oxygen in hospitals in Gaza. Human Rights Watch said that 3,369 Palestinians were under administrative detention in Israeli jails.

17 February 2025: At night, an Israeli drone flew to Gaza with a broadcast sending threats of a "second and third Nakba" to the Gazan population. Peace Now said that Israel issued a tender to build 974 new settler housing units in the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the West Bank. Sky News Arabia reported that Hamas told mediating nations that it was willing to give the administration of Gaza to the PA after Egyptian pressure. Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar accused Turkey of collaborating with Iran to fund Hezbollah during a meeting with a US delegation. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced the establishment of a new directorate within the Israeli Defence Ministry for assisting Gazans to "voluntarily" emigrate from the Gaza Strip to third countries. The Gaza Health Ministry reported that one person was killed in Israeli attacks and six bodies were recovered in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,291. The Netanyahu government ordered the immediate enforcement of the law banning UNRWA. A senior Israeli official said that Israel is to begin allowing mobile houses and heavy equipment to Gaza to secure the release of six hostages and the bodies of four hostages as part of stage one of the hostage-ceasefire agreement. Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar said that Israel will start negotiations on the second stage of the truce in Gaza this week. Hamas announced that it would release the bodies of four hostages on 20 February and six living Israeli hostages on 22 February. Netanyahu's office said that Israel will also receive the bodies of four other hostages next week.

19 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least three people were killed in Israeli attacks and one person died from the injuries sustained in a previous Israeli attack in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,297. Hamas said that it is ready to release all Israeli hostages at once in stage two of the truce agreement for a permanent truce and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. The World Health Organization said that a mass polio vaccination campaign for children in Gaza is set to resume on 22 February. The Mujahideen Brigades said that the bodies of Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas and her children Ariel and Kfir will be handed over on 20 February, while the PIJ said that it will return the bodies of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz. Both groups said that they were killed in Israeli air strikes. Israel's Knesset approved legislation barring entry to foreigners who deny the Holocaust and the 7 October attacks or express support for the international prosecution of Israeli troops.

20 February 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 22 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks were retrieved from the rubble in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,319. Coffins said to contain the bodies of Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas and her children (Ariel and Kfir), and Oded Lifshitz were handed over by Hamas.  UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk said that Hamas' parading of the coffins violated international law and it was also condemned by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Later, Oded Lifshitz's family said that his body was identified.  Prime Minister Netanyahu's office claimed that Lifshitz was killed in captivity by the PIJ.  Abu Kabir Forensic Institute chief said that Lifshitz was killed in captivity more than a year ago.

21 February, 2025: The IDF said that its forensic tests showed that one of the four bodies handed over by Hamas was not that of hostage Shiri Bibas, adding that it identified Ariel Bibas and Kfir Bibas. It demanded Hamas to hand over the body of Shiri Bibas. The IDF said that Hamas killed Ariel and Kfir Bibas "with bare hands".  Hamas said that Shiri's remains had been mixed with those of other victims following an Israeli airstrike, and said that it would examine allegations over Shiri's remains and asked Israel to return the body of a Palestinian woman. Later, Hamas stated that it had handed over the remains of Shiri Bibas. Her relatives said that her body was positively identified by forensic experts. Palestinian media reported that leaflets threatening the forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza appeared in the area. Hamas said that would release Israeli hostage Eliya Cohen, American-Israeli hostage Omer Shem-Tov, Israeli hostage Omer Wenkert, Israeli Austrian hostage Tal Shoham, Ethiopian Israeli hostage Avera Mengistu and Bedouin Arab Israeli hostage Hisham al-Sayed. Al-Sayed and Mengistu, both with a history of mental illness, entered Gaza of their own accord and were held hostage by Hamas for over a decade. The BBC removed from its streaming services a controversial documentary about the war titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone because its narrator is the son of a Hamas' deputy minister of agriculture. Hamas said that it is ready to release the rest of all hostages at once in the second phase for a sustainable truce, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. The third round of the polio vaccination campaign for children below 10 years of age started in Gaza. Hostages Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert, Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu, and Hisham al-Sayed were released by Hamas. Hamas politburo member Basem Naim said that the group is ready to abandon its administrative role in Gaza. Palestinian prisoners and detainees who were supposed to be released in a hostage-prisoner exchange on February 22 were not released; Netanyahu said that their release would be delayed "until the release of the next hostages has been assured", and "without the humiliating ceremonies". Hamas called on the intervention of US mediators.

22 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 10 bodies of people killed in Israeli attacks were brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,339. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that he ordered the IDF to stay in the Jenin refugee camp, Tulkarm camp, and Nur Shams for the coming year. The Supreme Court of Israel granted the Netanyahu government another 90 days to answer on establishing a state commission of inquiry on the 7 October attacks. The Israeli Defence Ministry and Israel police said that they thwarted an attempt to smuggle 650 smartphones, dozens of SIM cards, three projectors, and car replacement parts to Gaza on a humanitarian aid truck and arrested its driver, an Israeli civilian. Hamas said that it would not engage in further negotiations with Israel through mediators until Israel released the 620 Palestinian prisoners supposed to be freed the previous day.

24 February 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that two people were killed in Israeli attacks and five bodies were recovered in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,346. Hamas official Bassem Naim said that the group is ready to hand over the Gaza administration to any Palestinian body with the representation of all Palestinians. Peace Now said that 1,170 Israeli settlement units in the West Bank are expected to be approved by Israeli authorities. Ynet reported that Israel told mediating nations that it is willing to release the 602 prisoners who were scheduled to be released on 22 February if Hamas returns the four bodies on this day which it was supposed to release this week without a ceremony. The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that at least 365 Palestinians including children were detained by Israeli forces in Jenin Governorate and Tulkarm Governorate since the start of its offensive.

25 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that one person was killed in Israeli attacks and one body was recovered in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,348. The Trump administration rescinded an order by the Biden administration that required it to report potential violations of international law using US-supplied weapons by allies including Israel. Israeli media outlet Channel 12, citing Israeli sources, reported that a deal was reached between Israel and Hamas on returning early the bodies of the last four hostages that were to be handed over in the first stage of the truce agreement. A Tulkarm official said that 12,000 Palestinians were displaced from their houses during the Israeli offensive in Tulkarm Camp. A trial opened in Germany for four suspected Hamas members accused of organizing weapons caches throughout Europe. The prosecutors said that weapons were allegedly moved across Europe in preparation for the 7 October attacks. Israel and Hamas said that they reached a deal to exchange the bodies of Israeli hostages who were agreed to be handed over during the first phase for releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli media outlet Ynet reported that the bodies of Israeli hostages will be handed over to Egyptian authorities with no public ceremony.

26 February 2025: The Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades and Hamas said that they would release the bodies of Israeli hostages Ohad Yahalomi, Tsachi Idan, Itzik Elgarat, and Shlomo Mansour. The Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees' Affairs Commission said that a Palestinian prisoner from Gaza died in Israeli custody, increasing the number of Palestinian prisoners who died in Israeli custody to 60 people since the beginning of the Gaza war. Hamas handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages. Netanyahu's office said that three of those hostages were killed in captivity in Gaza and one of them was killed during the 7 October attacks. The WHO announced the conclusion of the third round of the polio vaccination campaign for children below 10 years of age in Gaza. 596 Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel.

27 February, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 17 people were killed in Israeli attacks in the past 48 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,365. A demonstration was held in central Jerusalem titled "Occupation, expulsion and settlement", in a rally for the support for the forcible expulsion of Palestinians in Gaza and the re-establishment of illegal Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, the demonstration was organized by the Nachala settlement group and other right-wing Zionist organizations. Limor Son Har-Melech of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party stated that "Gaza is for Jews, Judea, and Samaria is for Jews. They are ours in the merit of our fathers and the merit of our deeds". 46 Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel. The UN estimated that approximately 37,000 Palestinians were displaced due to the Israeli offensive in the West Bank. The Trump administration approved close to $3 billion in weapons sales to Israel, to be delivered between 2026 and 2028, without a normal congressional review.

01 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that two people were killed in Israeli attacks and 21 bodies were recovered in the past 48 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,388. Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal to extend phase one of the ceasefire to release more hostages and demanded the implementation of the second phase. Netanyahu's office said that Israel endorsed a US plan to extend the Gaza truce for the Ramadan and Passover periods. His office also said that half of the living and dead hostages would be released on the first day of the extended truce and the rest of the hostages would be released at the end of the period if a permanent truce is reached. It said that the initial deal allows Israel to resume war at any moment after 1 March if negotiations are deemed ineffective. Hamas reiterated its demand for the implementation of the second stage of the truce. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he signed a declaration to expedite the delivery of about $4 billion in military assistance to Israel.

02 March, 2025: Netanyahu's office admitted that his intelligence officer received and did not pass an alert three hours before the 7 October attacks, citing its non-urgent framing. Netanyahu's office said that he decided to cease the entry of aid to Gaza following the end of stage one of the truce agreement and Hamas's refusal to accept the US proposal. The IDF said that it killed about 25 militants in the West Bank

03 March, 2025: The Palestinian Prisoners Society reported that a Palestinian detainee who was held under administrative detention died in Megiddo prison without any health problems before his detention, increasing the number of Palestinians who died in Israeli custody since the start of the Gaza war to 61.

04 March, 2025: Rafah municipal authorities said that Israel disconnected electricity to the two desalination plants in the area. The Shin Bet published its report into the 7 October attacks. The Arab League, meeting in Cairo, devised a $53bn plan detailing the reconstruction of Gaza while keeping its population in place.

05 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that four people were killed in Israeli attacks, 30 bodies were recovered and one person died due to his injuries in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,440. OCHA said that more than 3,000 children and 1,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition since the ceasefire. The Trump administration confirmed it was holding direct talks with Hamas to release American hostages held in Gaza and the possibility of a broader agreement to reach a long-term ceasefire.

07 March, 2025: The Houthis said that it will resume naval operations targeting Israel if it does not lift its aid blockage to Gaza within four days.

08 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that six people were killed in Israeli attacks and seven bodies were recovered in the past 48 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,453. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation endorsed the Egypt-led proposal for reconstruction of Gaza. France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom also announced support for the proposal, saying that Hamas "must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel anymore". The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel drafted a "maximum pressure" plan for implementation if Hamas does not free its remaining hostages.

09 March, 2025: Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen ordered a halt to the supply of Israeli electricity to Gaza.

10 March, 2025: According to the Gaza Government Media Office, food supplies started to run out in markets.

11 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that four people were killed in Israeli attacks and 32 bodies were recovered in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,503. The Houthis announced that they would resume their attacks on Israeli vessels until aid to Gaza was reinstated and all border crossings to the strip were opened.

12 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that five people were killed in Israeli attacks and seven bodies were recovered in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,515. Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said that the Houthi decision to prohibit Israel-linked vessels from sailing in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab, the Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea went into force and that any Israeli-linked ship sailing through the said areas will be targeted.

13 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least two people were killed in Israeli attacks and seven bodies were recovered in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,524. A UN probe said that Israel conducted "genocidal" acts against Palestinians by systematically destroying women's healthcare facilities and utilizing sexual violence as a war strategy. The Israeli mission in Geneva said that it "categorically rejects the unfounded allegations". Wafa reported that the IDF issued an order to confiscate approximately 0.74 acres (0.3 hectares) of land in Haris, Salfit.

14 March, 2025: US and Israeli officials said that they contacted officials from Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland to resettle Palestinians uprooted from Gaza as part of Trump's proposed postwar plan. However, the Somaliland foreign minister said that they are not in any talks regarding the resettlement of Palestinians. Hamas said that it agreed to a proposal from mediators to release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander and the bodies of four dual national hostages. The Forum of Palestinian Journalists said that Alaa Hashim, a Palestinian journalist, died from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike in Gaza City, increasing the number of Palestinian journalists killed due to Israeli strikes in Gaza since the start of the war to 206.

15 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that seven people were killed in Israeli attacks and 12 bodies were recovered in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,543. UNICEF said that acute malnutrition in north Gaza doubled in a month and at least 23 children reportedly died due to malnutrition and dehydration in recent weeks. The US said that it conducted aerial and naval strikes on dozens of Houthi military targets in Yemen after President Trump ordered an escalated military campaign against the Houthis.[949] According to the Houthi-run health ministry, at least 31 people were killed and 101 others were wounded, most of them women and children. Six senior Houthi members were reportedly among the dead.

16 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 14 people were killed in Israeli attacks and 15 bodies were recovered in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 48,572. Qatari media outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that about 15 deported Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails arrived in Turkey. The Houthis claimed that it targeted the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier using 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. A US official said that a US aircraft shot down 11 drones launched by Houthis towards the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier and a missile fired by Houthis failed in flight and splashed down into the sea. Later, the Houthis said that they fired missiles and drones toward the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and its several warships for the second time. Yemen's Houthi-run Health Ministry said that the death toll due to the US strike on Yemen increased to 53 deaths including five children, two women, and 98 injuries. Al-Masirah reported two US strikes in Al Hudaydah. Saba News Agency reported that two US air strikes hit the command post of Galaxy Leader while other strikes hit a cancer facility and a cotton shop in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. A US strike hit As Safra district, killing 10 civilians, including four children, and injuring 11 civilians, including two children.

17 March, 2025: Al Masirah reported a US attack on a government complex in the al-Hazm district of Al Jawf Governorate. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced support for the Arab reconstruction plan for Gaza. Jenin's Mayor said that at least 21,000 people were displaced due to Israel's offensive in Jenin refugee camp. Wafa reported that Israeli authorities notified the Palestinian Authority regarding the seizure of 12 hectares (30 acres) of land from Jalbun. Al Masirah reported US strikes on an iron factory in the Bajil District of Al Hudaydah Governorate. Al Masirah reported a US strike on a government complex building in Al Hazm, Yemen.

18 March, 2025: Israel said that it is conducting "extensive strikes" on Hamas and PIJ targets throughout Gaza including groups of militants, rocket-launching positions, weapons, and other military infrastructure. Over 404 people including 263 women and children were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. One of those strikes hit a house in Rafah, killing 17 family members, including at least 12 women and children.  Another strike hit a residential block in Gaza City, killing 27 relatives, including women and children. Six officials from the Hamas government were killed during overnight Israeli strikes in Gaza. Reportedly the PIJ spokesperson Abu Hamza was also killed while another airstrike in Khan Yunis killed a senior member of PIJ. Israeli media reported that Israel Katz ordered to close the Rafah crossing for patients in Gaza. The Houthis pledged escalation as a response to Israeli attacks in Gaza. Later, the IDF said that the Arrow air defense system shot down a ballistic missile launched by Houthis above Saudi Arabia. The Houthis said that it targeted Nevatim Airbase using a Palestine-2 ballistic missile. Houthi's Saba news agency and Al-Masirah reported a US strike in Saada while Agence France Presse reported three strikes in the same city. Former far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party announced its return to the Netanyahu government after Israel resumed strikes in Gaza.

19 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 436 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since 18 March, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 49,547. Houthi media reported at least 10 US strikes in Yemen, including in Saada and Hodeidah. The Houthis said that it targeted the USS Harry S. Truman and other vessels in the US carrier group with "many cruise missiles and drones" and thwarted a planned US attack in Yemen. The Gaza Health Ministry said that an Israeli strike on the UN headquarters in Deir al-Balah killed at least one foreign UN staff and critically wounded five others. The IDF denied conducting the strike. The UN confirmed the death of one of its staff and injuries to others and added that the circumstances of the incident were unclear. The Bulgarian foreign ministry said that the fatality was Bulgarian. UN started a probe regarding the incident. Malaysia said that it will accept 15 deported Palestinian prisoners. The IDF said that it started "pinpoint" ground operations in central and south Gaza, saying that it is aimed at expanding its buffer zone. Al-Masirah reported US strikes in Sanaa, Saada, and Al-Sawadiya, southeast of Sanaa. Wafa reported that over 80 Palestinian families were displaced in the al-Ein refugee camp, in the vicinity of Nablus after Israeli forces turned buildings into military barracks. Demolition orders were issued for 66 buildings in Jenin refugee camp by Israeli authorities.

20 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 506 people were killed in Israeli attacks since 18 March, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 49,617. Al Masirah reported that the US military conducted five strikes in Al Hudaydah Governorate, hitting a cotton processing plant in Zabid. Yemen's Houthi-run health ministry said that a US airstrike hit a wedding hall that was under construction in Sanaa, injuring nine people, including women and children. Al Jazeera reported that at least 71 Palestinians including women and children were killed in Israeli pre-dawn attacks on the Gaza Strip. Al Jazeera Arabic and Quds News Network reported that Israeli shelling in south Gaza killed at least 20 people. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the dead included children. The Houthis said that they targeted Ben Gurion Airport using a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile and that the attack fulfilled its purpose. The IDF said that it intercepted the missile before it entered Israeli airspace. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that five of their staff members were killed in Gaza in the last few days. The IDF said that it shot down a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis before entering Israel. The Houthis said that it targeted an IDF site south of Jaffa. Al Masirah said that at least four US airstrikes hit the Al Mina district. Israeli authorities approved 500 new housing units in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the West Bank.

21 March 2025: Over 100 Palestinian families were displaced by Israeli forces from the Darat al-Sir neighborhood of Tulkarm. Yemeni media reported that US fighter jets conducted six air strikes in At Tuhayta district. The UNRWA said that it only has six days of flour to distribute in Gaza and added that it can be stretched for some days by giving people less. An Israeli strike destroyed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital. The IDF said that it conducted an airstrike on a Hamas cell residing at the hospital and added that it was not used for medical purposes for more than a year. The IDF and Shin Bet said that they killed the Hamas military intelligence chief in south Gaza in an airstrike one day prior. The IDF said that air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards Israel by the Houthis before entering Israel. The Houthis said that they launched a ballistic missile at Ben Gurion Airport and fired drones towards US warships in the Red Sea.

22 March.2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 634 people were killed in Israeli attacks since 18 March, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 49,747. Saba News Agency reported that the US conducted three strikes on Hodeida International Airport.

23 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 41 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 50,021. Saba News Agency reported a US attack on the Port of Salif. The Gaza Health Ministry said that predawn Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 23 Palestinians, including women and children, and trapped several others under the rubble. Saba news agency reported US bombings in Sahar district and Kitaf wa Al Boqe'e district. It also reported that the US conducted five air attacks in Marib Governorate. The IDF said that air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards Israel by the Houthis before entering the country. The Houthis said that they launched a Palestine-2 ballistic missile at Ben Gurion Airport and claimed that it successfully achieved its aim and targeted the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea using "several missiles and drones". Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz's office said that the Israeli security cabinet approved a new directorate to enable Gaza residents to make their "voluntary" departure from Gaza to a third state. The PRCS said that Israeli forces besieged several Palestine Red Crescent ambulances while responding to an attack in Rafah's Al-Hashashin area. It later said that the fate of rescue workers was still unknown after some 15 hours. The IDF issued an "urgent" warning for Gazans to evacuate Tel al-Sultan refugee camp. It later said that it completely encircled the area, killed several militants, and raided a Hamas command and control complex. US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz claimed that US strikes in Yemen killed "key" Houthi leaders, including their missile program chief. An Israeli strike hit a surgical building inside the Nasser Hospital, killing Ismail Barhoum, a Hamas political bureau member "while receiving treatment" and a 16-year-old Palestinian boy and injuring eight others.  Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Barhoum was the prime minister of the Hamas government in Gaza who replaced Issam al-Da'alis, the previous prime minister who was assassinated a few days prior. An American trauma surgeon volunteering at the hospital said that the male surgery department was destroyed in the strike.

24 March,2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 61 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 50,082. Rafah municipality said that thousands of Palestinian civilians were trapped in the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp. The IDF said that it destroyed over 100 pickup trucks used by Hamas in the 7 October attacks. It also said that trucks were used for military uses and weapons transfers. The UN said that it is decreasing a third of its some 100 international employees in Gaza after one of its employees was killed and five others were injured in an explosion at a UN guesthouse on 19 March. It also said that “based on the information currently available,” the explosion on the guesthouse “was caused by an Israeli tank. The IDF said that it arrested approximately 30 suspects during operations in the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp, including a militant who participated in the 7 October attacks. It also said that it killed approximately 20 militants, including in airstrikes, and raided a Hamas command center. The IDF said that it downed a ballistic missile fired at Israel by the Houthis. The Houthis said that they launched two ballistic missiles at Ben Gurion airport, including a “Palestine 2 hypersonic ballistic missile”, as well as several missiles and drones towards the USS Harry Truman and other US warships. An Israeli strike in Khan Yunis killed several people including Manar Abu Khater, the Hamas government's Eastern Khan Yunis education directorate's education director, and his two sons.

25 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 62 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 50,144. Saba News Agency reported that a US strike hit a cancer hospital in Saada Governorate for the second time, destroying it. The IDF estimated that it killed more than 150 Hamas militants and members of other militant groups since it renewed its operation in Gaza. Hundreds of Gazans took to the streets across the Gaza Strip to protest against Hamas, chanting for the overthrow of its rule and an end to the war. This was the largest protest by Gazans against Hamas since the beginning of the war.

26 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 39 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 50,183. The Yemen Data Project found that at least 25 civilians, including four children, were killed and at least 28 civilians were wounded in US strikes in Yemen. Channel 14 reported that Israeli forces demolished 24 greenhouses belonging to Palestinians in Tulkarm Governorate in the vicinity of Bat Hefer, saying that they threatened Israel. Israeli drone strikes hit tents serving as shelter for displaced people and a charity food bank in central Gaza, killing 11 Palestinians.

27 March, 2025: The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 25 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing its count of the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 50,208. Physicians for Human Rights–Israel said that 24 medical workers in Israeli detention said that they are “experiencing extreme violence, humiliation, and being stripped of their clothing, including on hospital grounds”. The IDF said that it intercepted two missiles launched from Yemen before entering Israeli borders. The Houthis said that they targeted Ben Gurion Airport, an IDF target in Tel Aviv, and the USS Harry Truman. The United States Department of Justice said that it seized Hamas cryptocurrency.

Israel’s large-scale offensive in the West Bank launched in August 2024: On August 28, 2024, days after Hamas and the PIJ claimed responsibility for an attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, Israel launched a large-scale offensive in the West Bank that it said would prevent further terrorist attacks that might originate from the territory. At the start of the offensive, the IDF blockaded roads around Jenin, Tulkarm, and Al-Faraa refugee camps as ground forces and aerial vehicles entered them, destroying roads that Israeli forces suspected of containing explosive devices and controlling access to hospitals where they said militants might hide. The offensive included air strikes in the northern West Bank and raids across the territory, which were exacerbated by ongoing violence from Israeli settlers. The killing of Ayşenur Eygi, a Turkish-American activist who was protesting settler violence near the city of Nablus, on September 6 drew international attention to concerns over IDF conduct in the offensive.

Israel - Gaza war: Ceasefire and peace plan: (January 2025 to March 2025): Agreement for ceasefire and hostage exchange An agreement for a ceasefire and exchange of hostages was announced on January 15, 2025. It followed extensive negotiations throughout the war mediated primarily by Qatar and Egypt, which first resulted in a seven-day pause in fighting in November 2023 and the exchange of 110 hostages for 240 Palestinian prisoners. Negotiations continued throughout the war, including a concerted effort by U.S. Pres. Joe Biden in May 2024, a near deal in July, and a hopeful attempt in October. When the negotiations that began in October fell apart, Qatar announced a pause in its efforts to mediate until “the parties show their willingness and seriousness to end the brutal war.” Qatar resumed mediation after Steve Witkoff, the Middle East envoy of the incoming Trump administration, traveled to the Middle East in an attempt to fulfill a campaign promise by Donald Trump to reach a hostage release deal before his inauguration. The renewed effort, in which Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the outgoing Biden administration worked closely alongside members of Trump’s transition team, was bolstered by a desire by the warring parties and the mediators to enter a second Trump term on good footing with the incoming president. Trump’s ambiguous threat on Truth Social that “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East” without a deal by the time of his inauguration also loomed over the negotiations. The details of the ceasefire deal followed a three-phase approach. The first phase of the deal, lasting six weeks, included: Cessation of hostilities, Phased release of 33 Israeli female soldiers and civilian hostages, including two dual citizens of the United States, Phased release of about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, Withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas of the Gaza Strip to delineated buffer zones within the territory, Return of displaced Gazans to their homes beginning on the seventh day, Increase in humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip to 600 trucks per day. A second phase, whose details required additional negotiation during the first phase, would see the release of the remainder of living hostages held by Hamas, the release of additional Palestinian prisoners, a wider withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, and the declaration of a permanent end to the war. The third phase would include the exchange of bodies of deceased hostages and fighters, the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, and the opening of the Gaza Strip’s border crossings. Phase one On January 19, after days of anticipation and uncertainty over the deal’s implementation, the first hostage release of the agreement took place as three Israeli women, two who had been kidnapped from their homes and the other from the music festival, were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross. They were subsequently escorted by the IDF back into Israel, where after an initial medical inspection they were greeted by their mothers in an emotional reunion. Hours later 90 Palestinian prisoners, which included 69 women and 21 teenage boys who had been convicted of minor offenses or held without charge, were released in Ramallah in the West Bank, completing the first exchange of the agreement. Israeli hostages released in the fifth exchange, which took place on February 8, 2025, appeared pale and gaunt, highlighting the conditions under which the hostages were kept despite the optics orchestrated by Hamas in the first four releases. The weekly exchanges continued to take place in the subsequent weeks, including a midweek exchange arranged in the second week that remedied a dispute between Israel and Hamas during the second set of releases. But tension brewed from the start as Hamas made a spectacle of the releases, parading the hostages who were set to be freed (some of whom smiled and waved to the crowds gathered to witness) and presenting them with signed documents authenticating their release. The events were choreographed in a way that exaggerated Hamas’s control over the Gaza Strip and distorted its treatment of the hostages as humane and dignified, and in propaganda it compared its treatment against that of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were frail and emaciated upon release. That façade quickly crumbled in early February when three male hostages, who appeared pale and gaunt, were released. Despite the pause in fighting in the Gaza Strip, violence was ramped up in the West Bank, in part as a conciliatory measure made by Netanyahu for his far-right coalition partner Bezalel Smotrich to tolerate the ceasefire agreement. Smotrich also insisted on Netanyahu's promise that fighting in the Gaza Strip would eventually resume. Concerns about the fate of Palestinian civilians were heightened further when Trump in late January indicated he wanted to “just clean out” the Gaza Strip and relocate its residents abroad. Days later he said that the United States would own and build on the Gaza Strip and that Gazans would not return to the territory, because “they’ll be resettled in areas where they can live a beautiful life.” But where Gazans would be welcome and secure remained entirely unclear. Egypt and Jordan had already rejected requests from Trump to take in displaced Palestinians, and Saudi Arabia condemned a suggestion by Netanyahu that Gazans be relocated to Saudi Arabia. Following Trump’s comments, UN Secretary-General António Guterres reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to a two-state solution and warned against “any form of ethnic cleansing” and the “chilling, systematic dehumanization and demonization of an entire people.” Meanwhile, a tremendous increase in humanitarian aid flowed into the Gaza Strip, according to the United Nations, although not as quickly as promised in the ceasefire agreement. On February 10 Hamas, blaming Israeli restrictions for the delay in aid flow, announced that it intended to postpone further release of hostages. By that point, 16 Israeli hostages and more than 550 Palestinian prisoners had been released, as well as 5 Thai hostages who were not a part of the formal agreement with Israel. In response, Netanyahu, with Trump’s encouragement, threatened to end the ceasefire if any of the remaining hostages were not released by February 15. Hamas later announced it would continue the hostage exchange as planned after mediators pledged to remove obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian aid. By the close of the first phase, 33 Israeli hostages and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners had been released. End of the first phase. Although the original ceasefire agreement called for negotiations over the second phase to begin by the 16th day of the first phase (February 3), negotiations had still not taken place by the time the first phase ended on March 2. Netanyahu, facing pressure within his coalition to resume the war, sought to avoid a confrontation with his political allies ahead of a looming deadline for a national budget at the end of March. He also had full public support from Trump to end the ceasefire if he chose to do so. At the same time, however, the United States began engaging in direct talks with Hamas, particularly over the release of the last remaining hostage with American citizenship. The move, which was the first time direct talks between the United States and the U.S.-designated terrorist group had taken place in an official capacity, prompted concerns from Israeli officials that the Trump administration was not fully committed to backing Israel in the conflict. Meanwhile, an informal truce in the Gaza Strip remained in place between Israel and Hamas for weeks, even as Israel renewed its blockade of humanitarian aid and cut off electricity to the territory. But on March 18, after Hamas refused to meet Israel’s demands to release hostages who were set to be returned under the deal’s second phase, Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Strip, killing more than 400 people in the salvo.

Conflict outside the Gaza Strip: West Bank, Hezbollah, Houthi forces, and Iran: The fighting was by and large centered on the Gaza Strip for the first nine months of the war, but it was never confined to that territory. In October 2023 the IDF intensified its raids in the West Bank, blockading several urban areas, and conducted a strike by warplane in the territory for the first time since the second intifada (2000–05). Raids were carried out nearly daily and concentrated primarily around refugee camps in the northern West Bank. Attacks on Palestinians by vigilante Israeli settlers increased as the number of gun permits and weaponry in the settlements proliferated, especially at the initiative of Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Skirmishes with Hezbollah near the Lebanese border threatened to open a second major front, although both the IDF and Hezbollah appeared hesitant to escalate the fighting for much of the first year of the war. Attempts by Houthi forces to strike southern Israel—an unusual target for the Yemen-based movement—using both missiles and drones also gave an early indication that there was some level of coordination among the Iran-led Axis of Resistance during the war. In April 2024 Israel and Iran exchanged direct strikes, and in July the conflict took an increasingly regional turn. In September Israel shifted its attention from the Gaza Strip to Lebanon. Israel and Iran exchanged direct strikes.

Global reaction to the war The October 7 Hamas attack drew widespread condemnation from around the world and was denounced for its terrorism against civilians by many, including the governments of many Western countries as well as India, Japan, and South Korea. Some foreign ministries, especially those of several Arab countries as well as Turkey, Russia, and China, refrained from condemning Hamas specifically and instead urged restraint. In the war’s initial stages, U.S. Pres. Joe Biden pledged unequivocal support for Israel, and on October 18 he became the first U.S. president to visit Israel while it was at war. Concerns were also raised over the potential of the war taking on a global consequence, particularly as attacks by Houthi fighters on ships passing through the Red Sea disrupted global shipping, and U.S. troops in the region faced attacks that, at times, proved deadly. However as the war led to a deepening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Israel faced significant international pressure to allow limited aid into the territory. Pressure for a ceasefire also intensified as the war dragged on. Some opponents of the war lodged accusations of genocide against Israel as the war moved to the southern half of the Gaza Strip, and in December 2023 South Africa sought an injunction from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to prevent violations of international genocide conventions. The following month the court ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide, including enabling humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip. In May 2024 South Africa filed an urgent request to the ICJ over the Israeli offensive in Rafah; two weeks later, the court ordered that Israel “immediately halt its military offensive” in Rafah. The intense emotions surrounding the war led to a wave of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. In the first several weeks of the conflict, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 312 antisemitic incidents in the United States, up from 64 incidents reported in the same period in 2022. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) recorded 774 complaints of Islamophobia in the United States during a similar period, up from 63 total reported incidents in August. Protest at the University of California, Berkeley, and others: Pro-Palestinian activists calling for university divestment during a demonstration in front of Sproul Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, April 22, 2024. The protesters set up a tent encampment in solidarity with protesters at Columbia University who were demanding a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War. The atmosphere at American universities during the war was under particular scrutiny as protests prompted concerns about students’ safety and freedom of speech. In April 2024, as Columbia University’s president testified before the U.S. Congress about the university’s handling of antisemitism, pro-Palestinian activists at the university erected an encampment on campus calling for the university to divest from Israel. Students at dozens of other universities followed suit in the weeks ahead, causing significant disruption as graduation season approached. Incidents of antisemitism at some of the encampments and confrontations with counterprotesters amplified concerns over safety and security, leading to the dismantlement of many of the encampments and disciplinary measures, including arrest and suspension, for some of the protesting students.

Latest peace and reconstruction plan for Gaza and its challenges: A successful Arab-led reconstruction plan requires a lasting cease-fire and full demilitarization of Hamas. The Arab League meeting in Cairo on March 4 intended to deliver a formal response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal for the United States to take control of Gaza and relocate its Palestinian population to other countries, including Egypt and Jordan. In their final communique, Arab leaders condemned Israel for the destruction of Gaza; demanded full implementation of the cease-fire agreement, including an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza; and insisted that the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital was critical for regional peace and security. Hamas, the de facto authority in Gaza and which orchestrated the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, was not mentioned by name in the communiqué. Instead, the report envisions the creation of a transitional administration in Gaza, under Palestinian Authority auspices and international peacekeeping troops, to ensure security for Palestinians and Israelis. The Arab League approved a $53 billion reconstruction plan for Gaza, which has already been criticized by Israel and the United States for failing to address the removal of Hamas as a military and political force in Gaza. Since Oct. 7, various appeals have been made about the need for a new Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Gaza. Most recently, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal told Al Arabiya News: “They can think of doing Gaza along [the lines of] the Marshall Plan in Europe after the Second World War. America rebuilt the whole continent, let alone this small strip of Gaza. The people stayed in place—they didn’t move the Europeans out of Europe to build that.” This comparison is flawed as it ignores key historical differences. Unlike Nazi Germany and imperial Japan, which surrendered and accepted new governance, Hamas, despite being degraded by the Israeli military, remains in full control of what remains in Gaza.  Additionally, there is no clear indication that Gaza’s population is pressuring Hamas to step down, raising doubts about the viability of large-scale reconstruction under current conditions.\ While it is prudent to think about a post-Gaza reality, the success of any reconstruction effort modeled after the Marshall Plan, which rebuilt Europe post-World War II, must satisfy at minimum two critical requirements: successful implementation of the cease-fire agreements between Israel and Hamas and unambiguous commitments by Hamas that it will demilitarize, step down from power in Gaza, and vow not to undermine any new Palestinian administration in Gaza. Without addressing these fundamental issues, any aid will only perpetuate a cycle of destruction and reconstruction, failing to establish long-term stability. Any Arab-led comprehensive reconstruction plan must be contingent upon Hamas and Israel successfully complying with and implementing the cease-fire agreement. Brokered on Jan. 19, the cease-fire agreement consists of three phases, each lasting 42 days. Fulfilling all three stages, let alone entering the second phase—negotiations for which stalled in March—is not a foregone conclusion. Neither Israel nor Hamas has reached agreed-upon terms to enter the second phase, with an understanding that it will ultimately conclude with an end to the war. Indeed, despite intense mediation by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, the cease-fire remains very fragile. Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement on March 18 after Israel launched airstrikes across Gaza, the largest since the start of the cease-fire, killing more than 400 Palestinians. The Israeli military characterized the strikes as “preemptive” based on Hamas’s ability to rearm and its refusal to release more hostages. Following Israel’s strikes, Egypt proposed a plan to guide the way to a renewed cease-fire in the short term, including hostage return in exchange for a pause in fighting, allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the release of Palestinian prisoners. Looking forward, the Egyptian plan endorsed at the Cairo summit emphasized the need to prioritize full implementation of the cease-fire but singled out Israel to satisfy all requirements. The plan did not mention Hamas by name, let alone specify what Hamas needs to do. Successful implementation of the cease-fire by both Hamas and Israel must go hand in hand with addressing the future role of Hamas in Gaza. Any Arab-led reconstruction plan must include the complete demilitarization of Hamas and the establishment of a legitimate and nonviolent governing authority. The international community must not repeat past mistakes where aid was funneled into Gaza without adequate oversight, allowing Hamas to divert resources for its military buildup. Instead, the framework for rebuilding must be tied to clear objectives, including security, governance reform, economic development, and international oversight. First, security and demilitarization are non-negotiable. Hamas has repeatedly undermined peace efforts by using its control of Gaza to launch attacks on Israel and suppress opposition. A successful reconstruction initiative must involve the dismantling of Hamas’s military infrastructure, the disarmament of its factions, and the creation of an independent security force under international supervision. The Cairo communique did not mention disarming Hamas. Instead, the adopted Egyptian plan calls for the creation of a Palestinian technocratic regime in Gaza as an interim step toward the eventual return of the PA to administer Gaza. Egypt and Jordan have committed to training Palestinian police forces and stationing them in Gaza. Additionally, both nations have urged the United Nations Security Council to contemplate approving a peacekeeping operation to manage governance in Gaza until the rebuilding process is finalized. Unfortunately, the Egyptian plan creates more questions than answers, and there are no quick or easy solutions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel does not want to reoccupy Gaza, but he has also denounced calls for a reformed PA to administer the strip—and his defense minister has threatened to permanently seize parts of it. The PA may be the least realistic option to take control to ensure a smooth transition of administrative power from Hamas, but it requires significant reform. Historically plagued by corruption and inefficiency, the PA must undergo structural changes to ensure transparency and effectiveness in governing Gaza. A technocratic administration, supported and endorsed by international actors including the Egyptians, Jordanians, and Saudis, should oversee the transition. A viable governance structure should also include local stakeholders and tribal leaders to ensure broad-based support and legitimacy within Gaza. The Egyptian plan’s omission of Hamas’s disarmament as a requirement for reconstruction is the most problematic oversight. As long as Hamas has a monopoly over the use of force in Gaza, it will continue to threaten the security of both Gaza and Israel. The plan’s preference for an interim regime raises the question of who would oversee dismantling Hamas’s extensive tunnel networks and hidden arsenals, as required to ensure long-term compliance. Ignoring such a well-known security risk that threatens the success of a multibillion-dollar reconstruction effort is dangerously foolish. It is not enough to merely hope and wish that Hamas willingly agrees to step down from power and respect a transitional regime in Gaza as well as commits to nonviolence. Despite these hurdles, there is room for some optimism. U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff described the Arab League plan as a “good-faith first step.” Yet unless Israel and Hamas can successfully reach the final state of the cease-fire agreement, culminating in Hamas stepping down from power and disarming, the prospect of creating a new Marshall Plan will remain an elusive dream.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

What was Israel before 1948 and how was it created? Britain took control of the area known as Palestine in World War One, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled that part of the Middle East. An Arab majority, a Jewish minority, and other ethnic groups lived there. Tensions between the Jewish and Arab populations deepened when the UK agreed in principle to the establishment of a "national home" in Palestine for Jewish people - a pledge known as the Balfour Declaration. Jews had historical links to the land, but Palestinian Arabs also had a claim dating back centuries and opposed the move. The British said the rights of Palestinian Arabs already living there had to be protected. Between the 1920s and 1940s, the number of Jews arriving grew, with many fleeing persecution in Europe. The murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust gave added urgency to demands for a haven. The Jewish population reached 630,000, just over 30% of the population, by 1947. In 1947, against a backdrop of growing violence between Jews and Arabs - and British rule - the United Nations (UN) voted for Palestine to be split into separate Jewish and Arab states. Jerusalem would become an international city. No Arab nations supported this. They argued the plan gave the Jews more of the land, even though their population was smaller. Britain abstained. It decided to withdraw and hand the problem to the UN at the end of 14 May 1948. Jewish leaders in Palestine declared an independent state known as Israel hours before British rule ended. Israel was recognized by the UN the following year.

What is the two-state solution? The "two-state solution" is an internationally backed formula for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. It proposes an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It would exist alongside Israel. Israel rejects a two-state solution. It says any final settlement must be the result of negotiations with the Palestinians, and statehood should not be a precondition. The Palestinian Authority backs a two-state solution but Hamas does not because it is opposed to the existence of Israel. Hamas says that it could accept an interim Palestinian state based on 1967 de facto borders, without officially recognizing Israel, if refugees were given the right to return. Earlier efforts to settle the conflict saw Israel and Palestinian leaders sign a deal called the Oslo Peace Accords, in 1993. This was intended to provide a framework for peace talks. However, talks eventually collapsed with each side blaming the other.

What was the 1948 Arab-Israeli war? The day after Israel declared independence, it was attacked and surrounded by the armies of five Arab nations. The conflict came to be known in Israel as its War of Independence. By the time the fighting ended with an armistice in 1949, Israel controlled most of the territory. Agreements left Egypt occupying the Gaza Strip, Jordan occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Israel occupying West Jerusalem. About 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from, their homes on land which became Israel, and ended up as refugees. The event is known in Arabic as the Nakba (Catastrophe). In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands of Jews left or were expelled from, Muslim-majority countries across the Middle East and North Africa, with many going to Israel.

What is the dispute over Jerusalem? Israel and the Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital. Israel, which already controlled West Jerusalem, occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and later declared the entire city its permanent capital. It says Jerusalem cannot be divided. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Most of the population of East Jerusalem is Palestinian, only a small minority of whom have chosen to become Israeli citizens. Holy sites in Jerusalem are at the center of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The most sacred site - known to Muslims as Al Aqsa Mosque compound, or Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), and to Jews as Temple Mount - lies in East Jerusalem. The UN and most international opinion consider East Jerusalem to be Palestinian land occupied by Israel.

What was the 1967 Middle East war? What is known as the Six-Day War changed boundaries in the Middle East and had major consequences for Palestinians. The war saw Israel fight Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. It started when Israel, fearing an attack by Egypt and Syria, launched a strike on Egypt's air force. By the time the fighting ended, Israel had captured the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza from Egypt, most of the Golan Heights from Syria, and East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan. About a million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem came under Israel's control. Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 and returned the Sinai. It annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, making them part of Israel, although this has not been recognized by most of the international community.

18 March 2025: Is the war starting again in Gaza? Israel carried out air strikes across Gaza after two months of truce. A ceasefire that had halted fighting between Israel and Hamas for two months appears to be over following an intense wave of air strikes by Israel on what it said were Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire laid out a path for permanently ending the war and saw the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The war was triggered when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as captives. Israel responded with a massive military offensive, which killed more than 48,500 Palestinians, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says. Why has Israel launched air strikes? Israeli aircraft began attacking what the military said were Hamas targets across Gaza in the early hours of 18 March. It was the most extensive series of air strikes since the ceasefire began on 19 January. The Israeli military described the action as "pre-emptive strikes, based on Hamas's readiness to execute terror attacks, build up force, and re-arm". At the same time, the Israeli prime minister's office said the action was ordered after Hamas's "repeated refusal to release our hostages" and its rejection of new ceasefire proposals by the US and mediators. Hamas reacted furiously, accusing Israel of having "decided to overturn the ceasefire agreement". The ceasefire has been under increasing strain for several weeks during which time indirect talks between Israel and Hamas about moving forward had reached an impasse. Is the ceasefire over? It has not been declared over, though in practice the attacks by Israel mean the truce is no longer. Mediators though - the US, Qatar, and Egypt - which spent months brokering the ceasefire will almost certainly intensify efforts to salvage the agreement. Israel, however, has warned its new offensive will "continue as long as necessary and will expand beyond air strikes" - suggesting plans for renewed military action on the ground. The Israeli prime minister's office said the attacks that began on 18 March were being carried out "to achieve the objectives of the war". These have previously been declared as: The return of all the hostages The dismantling of Hamas's governing and military capabilities The removal of any future threat from Gaza It is unclear, though, whether the statement means the military action will continue until such aims have been met, or whether it is part of a strategy to force Hamas to accept new ceasefire demands. Although there was no fighting when Israel began its large-scale air attacks, both sides had repeatedly accused the other of breaking the ceasefire. It also happened at a time when the first phase of the ceasefire had expired and the second had not yet begun. Israel said it accepted new US plans to keep the ceasefire going, but Hamas said the proposals were unacceptable because it was not what had been agreed upon in the original truce. Why hasn't the ceasefire moved forward? Since 1 March, when stage one expired, the ceasefire has been in limbo. Stage two has not begun, even though talks were meant to have started weeks ago. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on 2 March that Israel had accepted a plan by US envoy Steve Witkoff "to extend the temporary ceasefire by 50 days" to discuss the second stage. Netanyahu said that under the plan, half of the remaining hostages would be released immediately, and the remainder would be released if an agreement was reached. Hamas said it rejected Israel's attempt to extend the first stage, calling it "a blatant attempt to evade the agreement and avoid entering into negotiations for the second phase". The US - which has aligned itself more closely with Israel since Donald Trump succeeded Joe Biden - said Hamas was "making a very bad bet that time is on its side. It is not."

What are the probable reasons for the present war commenced w.e.f. 07 October 2023? Hostilities often resulted in ceasefire agreements that temporarily eased Israel’s blockade and facilitated the transfer of foreign aid into the Gaza Strip, an approach that critics in Israel referred to as “money for quiet.” Many officials in Israel’s defense establishment maintained that Hamas had been effectively deterred by years of conflict and that an occasional flare-up of violence would be manageable. On October 7, 2023, the error of that assumption became tragically clear. Ongoing violence in the West Bank, political turmoil at home, and simmering tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon were among the distractions that left Israel unprepared for the onslaught from the Gaza Strip. But while tensions were brewing at home, Saudi Arabia, which had long conditioned diplomatic relations with Israel on the conclusion of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, had begun negotiating with Israel and the United States on an Israeli-Saudi peace deal. Although Saudi Arabia sought concessions on issues related to the Palestinians, the Palestinians were not directly involved in the discussions and the deal was not expected to satisfy the grievances of the Palestinians in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Many observers believed that disrupting those negotiations was one of the goals of Hamas’s October 7 attack. That deal was part of a broader regional transformation. The United States, which had long been the driving force behind the peace process, sought a “pivot to Asia” in its foreign policy and hoped an Israeli-Saudi deal would reduce the resources it needed to devote to the Middle East. Iran, meanwhile, was consolidating an “axis of resistance” in the region that included Hezbollah in Lebanon, Pres. Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and  Houthi rebels in Yemen. Hamas, whose relationship with Iran had been tumultuous in the 2010s, had grown closer to Iran after 2017 and received significant Iranian support to build up its military capacity and capability.

Who are the Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel? Around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza were released in the first phase of the deal. Many of those released in the first exchange, and some in the following three exchanges, had never been charged and were detained without trial in Israeli prisons under what is called "administrative detention",  a process widely criticized by human rights groups. Others had been found guilty of serious crimes, including being convicted by Israeli courts of multiple murders. Dozens had been serving life sentences. The released prisoners have returned to the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and in some cases, Gaza. Dozens were deported abroad due to the gravity of their crimes. Israel has insisted that no one who was involved in the 7 October attacks will be freed. The prisoners are among more than 10,000 Palestinians held by Israel (not including detainees from Gaza held by the Israeli military) who have either been convicted or are suspected of "security" offenses. These range from bombings and other attacks to belonging to banned armed groups. More than 3,000 people are reported to be held under administrative detention. Freed Palestinian prisoner welcomes ceasefire deal.

What is the status of the Palestinian refugees? There are about 5.9 million Palestinians registered by the UN as refugees. They are descendants of the Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes on land that became Israel in the 1948-49 Middle East war. Most live in Jordan, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria and Lebanon. Palestinians insist on the right of refugees to return but Israel has refused this. It criticizes the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), for allowing refugee status to be inherited by successive generations.

How has aid been delivered to Gaza? Israel says 4,200 lorries carrying aid have entered Gaza each week since the ceasefire was agreed in mid-January. Half of the supplies were destined for the north of Gaza, where aid had been hardest to deliver and food security experts had been warning of imminent famine. But from 2 March, Israel stopped supplies being allowed into the territory. Arab states and the UN condemned Israel's actions as a violation of the ceasefire agreement and against international law. Aid agencies have managed to store supplies, which means there is no immediate danger to the civilian population. But the longer the ban lasts, the greater the pressure on making supplies last.

What is the status of the West Bank now? The West Bank - land between Israel and the River Jordan - is home to an estimated three million Palestinians. Along with East Jerusalem and Gaza, it is part of what is widely known as the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Palestinians have always opposed Israel's presence in these areas and want them to be part of a future independent state, something backed by the vast majority of the international community. Israel still has overall control of the West Bank, but since the 1990s, a Palestinian government - known as the Palestinian Authority - has run most of its towns and cities. There are about 150 Israeli settlements, housing about 700,000 Jews, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians want all Israeli settlements to be removed and they are considered illegal under international law. However, Israel's government disputes this. It says the biggest settlements at the very least are permanent and that all settlements are rooted in their historical rights. It does not recognize the right of the Palestinians to have their state and argues that the West Bank is part of the Israeli homeland. The Israeli government announced plans to expand settlements after coming to power in 2022. It says the creation of a Palestinian state would be a threat to Israeli security. In July 2024, the top court of the UN, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said that Israel's continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is illegal. It said that Israel should withdraw all settlers and that it was in breach of international agreements on racism and apartheid.

Which countries recognize a Palestinian state? In May 2024, 143 out of 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of a Palestinian bid for full UN membership, something that is only open to states. Known as the State of Palestine at the UN, it has the official status of "Permanent Observer State", which gives it a seat but not a vote. Some European countries, along with the US, do not recognize a Palestinian state and say they will only do so as part of a long-term political solution to the conflict in the Middle East. In the UK, MPs voted in favor of recognition in 2014, but the government has not done so. In 2021, the then Conservative government said: "The UK will recognize a Palestinian state at a time of our choosing, and when it best serves the objective of peace." Israel says it has a historical right to the West Bank and opposes an independent Palestinian state, saying it would pose an unacceptable threat.

What are the losses in Gaza due to ongoing war, and what is required for settlement? Gaza is home to an estimated 2.1 million Palestinians, almost all of whom had to leave their homes as Israel carried out continuous strikes across the territory and issued mass evacuation orders for large residential areas. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have returned home, but in many cases, there is nothing to go back to, with whole streets and neighborhoods standing in ruin. Some 60% to 70% of buildings are estimated to have been damaged or destroyed. The process is also fraught with danger, with Israeli and Hamas forces at a tense standoff, risks of unexploded ordnance, and warnings from the Israeli military to civilians to stay clear of military positions. Rebuilding Gaza will be a monumental task. The UN has estimated it will cost at least $53bn (£41bn; €48.5bn), and it is likely to take decades. The human cost of the conflict will also be felt for many years to come, with tens of thousands wounded and left with complex psychological damage.

Summary of the blog:

Quick outlook on Gaza: The Gaza Strip is a stretch of land surrounded by Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea. It is 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide. Home to about 2.3 million people, it is one of Earth's most densely populated places. Even before the latest war between Israel and Hamas, Gaza had one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. Many people were living below the poverty line and depending on food aid to survive. Gaza's boundaries were drawn up as a result of the 1948 Middle East war when it was occupied by Egypt. Egypt was driven out of Gaza in the 1967 war and the Strip was occupied by Israel, which built settlements and placed Gaza's Palestinian population under military rule. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza, though it retained control of its shared border, airspace, and shoreline, giving it effective control of the movement of people and goods. The UN still regards Gaza as Israeli-occupied territory because of the level of control Israel has. Hamas won Palestinian elections in 2006 and ejected its rivals from the territory after intense fighting the following year. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade in response, with Israel controlling most of what was allowed into the territory. In the years that followed, Hamas and Israel fought several major conflicts - including those in 2008-09, 2012, and 2014. A major conflict between the two sides in May 2021 ended in a ceasefire after 11 days. Every round of fighting has seen people killed on both sides, the vast majority of them Palestinians in Gaza. On 7 October 2023, Hamas fighters launched an assault from Gaza, killing about 1,200 people in Israel and taking more than 250 hostages.

History of conflicts between Israel and Palestine: The conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians reflects a long-standing struggle in the region encompassing the land between the Jordan River to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. That conflict has deep historical roots, shaped by statehood claims from the Israelis and the Palestinians that have been supported by various international agendas and activities over time.  The Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back more than a century, with flashpoints building from the United Nations’ 1947 initial UN Partition Plan to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, to the recent Israel-Hamas war sparked in October 2023.

Hostilities continued to break out, most notably in 2012, 2014, and 2021: Despite continued efforts at brokering peace—including the 1979 Camp David Accords, the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, and the 2020 Abraham Accords—conflict has persisted. Among the factors complicating those hostilities were the high population density of the Gaza Strip and the proliferation of subterranean tunnels there. Those tunnels were used by Hamas and other Gazans to sidestep the blockade, conduct operations, and hide from Israeli forces, and they were difficult to detect or destroy, especially when constructed under urban dwellings. These conflicts were devastating for the Gaza Strip and came at a high human cost for Gaza’s civilians. But they usually lasted only weeks, resulted in few Israeli civilian casualties, and weakened Hamas’s military capacity.

Latest war: W.e.f. October 07, 2023 Hamas Launches Surprise Attack on Israel: On October 07, 2023, Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel, leading to an explosion of violence.  According to the Israeli government, the attack killed approximately 1,200 people, many of them civilians. Over 200 people were also taken hostage. The attack is the deadliest in Israel’s history. Hamas military leaders justified the attack by citing Israel’s long-running blockade on Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian lands. On 08 October 2023, Israel declared itself in a state of war for the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Following the attack, Israel launched a deadly counter-offensive aiming to eradicate Hamas in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted air strikes on the Gaza Strip, followed weeks later by the incursion of ground troops and armored vehicles. From November 2023 to May 2024 Rafah provided refuge for the majority of the population of the entire Gaza Strip, who crowded into makeshift shelters in the last urban area to be affected by the Israeli invasion.  International bodies, including the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, have since issued investigations into Israeli and Hamas officials for violating international law. Both parties rejected these claims. By January 2025 when a ceasefire agreement was reached, more than 46,000 Gazans, about 2 percent of the territory’s population, had been killed according to official numbers, and two-thirds of the buildings in the Gaza Strip had been damaged or destroyed. About 1,600 Israelis had been killed, including those killed in the October 7 attack. Although the agreement led to more than a month of pause in the conflict in the Gaza Strip, its implementation was shaky from the start, and in mid-March, the conflict resumed.

Israel expanded operations into Lebanon, and Iran Retaliates: Nearly a year on, peace between the parties remained elusive and the conflict continued to escalate. On October 1, 2024, Israeli military forces began ground operations in Lebanon against the militant group and political party Hezbollah, a group that has expressed support for Hamas in Gaza and enjoys support from Iran. Hezbollah has been exchanging aerial attacks with Israel since October 7, 2023. The group says it will continue to attack Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. That ceasefire remains unreachable. After almost a year of fighting, Israel and Hamas are still in conflict. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians. Meanwhile, in support of Hezbollah, Iran launched over 150 ballistic missiles into Israel. Experts increasingly fear these events could lead to an even larger regional war.

In November 2024 the independent Civilian Commission of Inquiry into October 7, which was organized in July 2024 by survivors of the October 7 attack and the families of victims who were either killed or kidnapped, released a report placing broad blame on the Israeli government for effectively bolstering Hamas throughout Netanyahu’s tenure and leaving the IDF ill-prepared for the assault. Although the report named Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Benny Gantz, the IDF, and intelligence agencies among those responsible for the security failure, it especially condemned Netanyahu for undermining coordination between the political and military echelons.

Last week of March 2025: Hundreds join Gaza's largest anti-Hamas protest since the war began. Masked Hamas militants dispersed protesters who gathered in northern Gaza to rally against the group. Hamdan Ballal, Oscar-winning Palestinian director of “No Other Land”, is released from a police station in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba a day after being detained by the Israeli army following an attack by Jewish settlers.

Israel - Gaza war update for April 2025:

April 01, 2025: Israel says it killed Hezbollah and Iranian IRGC Quds Force operatives in an overnight Beirut strike.  UN agency closes the rest of its Gaza bakeries as food supplies dwindle under Israeli blockade.  UN calls Israeli claims that there is sufficient food in Gaza 'ridiculous. US air attacks hit Yemen: Houthi media".  Houthis claim attack on US aircraft carrier.

April 02, 2025: Deadly strikes in Gaza as Israel expanded offensive to seize 'large areas': According to the state broadcaster KAN, the ground offensive involves the army’s 36th Division, in the largest attack since the military resumed its assault on Gaza on March 18. Wednesday’s assault (April 02, 2025) was preceded by evacuation orders issued by the army in the past two days for Palestinians from large areas between Rafah and Khan Younis. Deadly Israeli air strikes have been reported in Gaza, as Israel's defense minister said its military would expand its offensive and seize large areas of the Palestinian territory - incorporating them into what he described as "security zones". Israel Katz said the expanded operation aimed to "destroy and clear the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure", and would require a large-scale evacuation of Palestinians. Later, at least 19 people, including nine children, were killed in a strike on a UN clinic (UNRWA) sheltering displaced families in the northern town of Jabalia, a local hospital said. The Israeli military said it targeted "Hamas terrorists" hiding there. Overnight strikes across Gaza killed at least another 15 people, according to local hospitals. The Civil Defence said its first responders recovered the bodies of 12 people, including children and women, from a home in the southern Khan Younis area. The Civil Defence said the strike in Jabalia later on Wednesday (April 02. 2025) hit two rooms in a clinic run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) which was being used as a shelter. Video verified by the BBC showed dozens of people and ambulances rushing to the building. Smoke was seen billowing from a wing where two floors appeared to have collapsed. The Israeli military said in a statement that it targeted Hamas operatives who were "hiding inside a command-and-control center that was being used for co-ordinating terrorist activity and served as a central meeting point". "Before the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of aerial surveillance and additional intelligence," it added. There were also reports of extensive Israeli air strikes and shelling along the Egypt border overnight and there is a growing sense that a new major Israeli ground offensive is looming in Gaza. Israeli Army Radio said on Wednesday (April 02, 2025) that Israeli tanks and ground forces had begun to advance into central and eastern parts of the southernmost city of Rafah. This week, Israel's military ordered an estimated 140,000 people in Rafah to leave their homes and issued new evacuation orders for parts of northern Gaza. Israel has already significantly expanded a buffer zone around the edge of Gaza throughout the war and seized control of a corridor of land cutting through its center. Israel launched its renewed Gaza offensive on 18 March, blaming Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal to extend the ceasefire and free the 59 hostages still held captive in Gaza. Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of violating the original deal they had agreed to in January. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel, which represents many hostages' relatives, said they were "horrified to wake up" to the news of the expanded military operation. The group urged the Israeli government to prioritize securing the release of all hostages still held in Gaza. In his statement announcing plans to seize more territory, Katz also urged Gazans to act to remove Hamas and free remaining Israeli hostages, without suggesting how they should do so.

Over 95 percent of Gaza's schools were damaged in the war.  Residents of Rafah fled as Israel expanded the ground offensive". Israel began a surprise aerial campaign on Gaza on March 18 and has since killed 1,042 victims and injured over 2,000, shattering a January ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave. The humanitarian situation across Gaza has dramatically worsened in recent weeks, with Israel refusing to allow aid (food, water, and fuel) into the Gaza Strip since 2 March - the longest aid blockage since the war began. More than 50,399 people have been killed in Gaza during the ensuing war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. 70% of them are women and children. 11000 people are missing and presumed dead are not included in the count of 50,399. 50 people are killed in Gaza on April 02, 2025.

Disclaimer: This blog makes every effort to provide updated and authentic information. However, the data is collected and summarized from the websites mentioned below. This blog is not AI-generated; it is compiled manually. In any case, the author does not take any responsibility (legal or otherwise) for its correctness, completeness, discrepancies, typographical errors, or any contradictions with other data. Any further use of data and its consequences lies with the user only. https://foreignpolicy.com https://en.wikipedia.org https://www.britannica.com https://education.cfr.org https://www.bbc.com https://www.aa.com.tr/en https://www.aljazeera.com

My personal opinion: What happened? Can not come back. What is left? Save and develop it. Human safety should be a top priority. Assume that most of the players have made some mistakes to protect humanity. Therefore, leave some differences to clear the path of compromise, peace, and stable government. It is the moral responsibility of all concerned countries and organizations to contribute generously to the safety, and development of Gaza as per their moral duty and capacity. Best of luck for future peace in the region and world. For further updates on good health tips, diseases and their treatment, work, and business visa rules for international professionals or entrepreneurs, and international existing issues, please visit www.healthwealthcommunication.com. ==The End==