Israel-Gaza War
Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and the war in Gaza that followed became the deadliest phase of the conflict in its history. The attack killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in kibbutzim, towns and at a music festival near the Gaza fence, and some 250 people were taken into Gaza as hostages. It was the largest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, and it broke through a border Israel had regarded as technologically sealed. Israel declared war and began an air campaign and then a ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas as a military and governing organisation and recovering the hostages. Gaza is one of the most densely populated territories on earth, with a population of about 2.2 million, more than half of them children, and no way out. The Gaza health ministry's figures, which are widely used by international agencies and disputed by Israel, record tens of thousands of deaths. The great majority of the population was displaced repeatedly, most housing was damaged or destroyed, and the United Nations and aid agencies reported famine conditions. Hostages were released in negotiated exchanges for Palestinian prisoners in November 2023 and in later agreements, and some were killed in captivity or during rescue attempts. The war spread to Lebanon, Yemen and briefly to direct exchanges between Israel and Iran. South Africa brought a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court sought warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders.
- Year: 2023 CE
- Category: Military
