Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip

Israeli military operation since 2023 This redirect is about the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war . Starting on 7 October 2023, immediately after the Hamas-led attack on Israel , Israel began bombing the Gaza Strip . On 13 October, Israel began ground operations in Gaza , and on 27 October, a full-scale invasion was launched. Israel's campaign has four stated goals: to destroy Hamas , to free the hostages , to ensure Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel, and to return displaced residents of Northern Israel. More than a year after the invasion, fighting in the Gaza Strip halted with the implementation of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on 19 January 2025. By April 2025, the Gaza Ministry of Health had reported that at least 50,500 people in the Gaza Strip had died—1 out of every 44 people—averaging 93 deaths per day. Most of the victims are civilians, of whom at least 50% are women and children . Compared to other recent global conflicts, the numbers of known deaths of journalists, humanitarian and health workers, and children are among the highest. Thousands of more dead bodies are thought to be under the rubble of destroyed buildings. A study in the Lancet estimated 64,260 deaths due to traumatic injuries by June 2024, while noting a larger potential death toll when "indirect" deaths are included. As of January 2025, a comparable estimate for traumatic injury deaths would be around 80,000. The number of injured is greater than 100,000; Gaza has the most child amputees per capita in the world. A severe humanitarian crisis has developed, with healthcare on the brink of collapse, shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel due to the blockade, electricity and communications blackouts, and the UN warning of potential famine . It was widely reported that there is "no safe place in Gaza", as Israel struck areas it had previously told Palestinians to evacuate to. Nearly all 2.3 million Gazans have been internally displaced and 250,000 to 500,000 Israelis were internally displaced, while Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians and said it lost 353 additional soldiers in its invasion as of 13 October 2024. By mid-December, Israel had dropped 29,000 munitions on Gaza, destroying or damaging 70 percent of homes, destroying hundreds of cultural landmarks, and damaging dozens of cemeteries. Experts say that the scale and pace of destruction in Gaza is among the most severe in recent history. The widespread civilian deaths have led to accusations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas. As a result of the invasion, South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), charging that Israel was committing genocide and requesting that the ICJ render provisional measures of protection . Various experts and human rights organizations have also characterized the events in Gaza as genocide. Other accusations include the deliberate targeting of civilians and starving the population of Gaza by Israel, and the use of human shields and holding of Israeli hostages by Hamas. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ). The New York Times . Reproducing Lapid's army in Gaza" . At 06:30 on the morning of 7 October 2023, Hamas launched more than 5,000 rockets reportedly fired towards Israel from multiple locations in Gaza, as well as ground operation into Israel. The Times of Israel . From Islamic Jihad to Marxist militants" . The National . 15 November 2023 . The Times of Israel . Van jihadisten tot communisten: zeker 10 groeperingen deden mee met actie Palestijnse terroristen" [HLN Research. From jihadists to communists: at least 10 groups participated in Palestinian terrorist action]. Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). : CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ( link ) Smyth, Phillip (December 2023). The Times of Israel . "‏מפת שליטת כוחות צה"ל ברצועת עזה - 29.06.25" [Map of IDF forces' control in the Gaza Strip - 29.06.25.]. The Times of Israel . "Israel strikes kill general who headed Gaza interior ministry: Hamas sources" . 18 March 2025. "Gaza police chief, his deputy killed in Israel strike on Khan Yunis" . 2 January 2025. The Times of Israel . Institute for the Study of War . Institute for the Study of War . Institute for the Study of War . Institute for the Study of War . Institute for the Study of War . Institute for the Study of War . "Gaza police chief, his deputy killed in Israel strike on Khan Yunis" . 2 January 2025. His death brought Israel's toll in the ground offensive.. to 431. The Times of Israel . 15 October 2023 . "ההזיות של סינוואר: הרגנו 1,600 חיילים ישראלים" [Sinwar's hallucinations: We killed 1,600 Israeli soldiers] (in Hebrew). "סינוואר שובר שתיקה לראשונה מתחילת המלחמה: "גדודי אל-קסאם השמידו את צבא הכיבוש" " [The war: "Al-Qassam brigades destroyed the occupation army"] (in Hebrew). "Al-Qassam: We have destroyed 1,108 Zionist vehicles since the start of the war with "Al-Yassin 105" missiles" . Middle Eastern Eye . 11 June 2025 . The New York Times . The Times of Israel . "As defense chiefs confront Netanyahu over Gaza's 'day after,' three IDF divisions back in Gaza" . "Gaza's police are now back on the streets in wake of ceasefire" . 6 February 2025. The Lancet . 404 (10449). "Statistics on the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip (07 October - 26 October 2023)" . 27 October 2023. Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor [@EuroMedHR] (23 April 2024). "#Infographic| Statistics on the Israeli Genocide in the Gaza Strip (7 October 2023-23 April 2024)" ( Tweet ) . The Times of Israel . 28 June 2025 . The New York Times . This is what military and security analysts think" . " "Düsterer Meilenstein": UN benennt Zahl der täglichen Toten im Gazastreifen" ["Gloomy milestone": UN names number of daily deaths in the Gaza Strip]. "Gaza Ministry of Health releases detailed new casualty data amidst confusion of UN's death numbers in Gaza" . Action On Armed Violence . The armed conflict in Gaza has seen some of the highest known death tolls among children (13,319 by 7 October 2024), journalists, as well as health and humanitarian workers of any recent conflict in the world. "Traumatic injury mortality in the Gaza Strip from Oct 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024: a capture–recapture analysis" . We estimated 64,260 deaths (95% CI 55 298–78 525) due to traumatic injury during the study period, suggesting the Palestinian MoH under-reported mortality by 41%. ... Our findings underestimate the full impact of the military operation in Gaza, as they do not account for non-trauma-related deaths resulting from health service disruption, food insecurity, and inadequate water and sanitation. "More than 100,000 Palestinians have been injured in Gaza since last October, according to health ministry" . CNN . : CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ( link ) "Gaza: 'Sickening normalisation' of suffering, amid attacks on people and aid convoys" . " 'Barely a drop to drink': children in the Gaza Strip do not access 90 per cent of their normal water use" . "The UN stops delivery of food and supplies to Gaza as a communications blackout hinders coordination" . The New York Times . The Wall Street Journal . "Israel's military campaign in Gaza seen as among the most destructive in recent history, experts say" . "Israel/occupied Palestinian territory: UN experts deplore attacks on civilians, call for truce and urge international community to address root causes of violence" . In Dumper, Michael; Badran, Amneh (eds.). Routledge Handbook on Palestine (1st ed.). In this context we should not overlook the latest turning point in the history of Palestine – the attack by Hamas on 7th October 2023 on Israeli settlements adjacent to Gaza and the subsequent genocidal war that the state of Israel has carried out in the Gaza strip Speri, Alice (20 December 2024). Reexamining the question, a year later" . This report focuses on the Israeli authorities' policies and actions in Gaza as part of the military offensive they launched in the wake of the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023 while situating them within the broader context of Israel's unlawful occupation, and system of apartheid against Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. It assesses allegations of violations and crimes under international law by Israel in Gaza within the framework of genocide under international law, concluding that there is sufficient evidence to believe that Israel's conduct in Gaza following 7 October 2023 amounts to genocide. The only normative definition we have, codified at the United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948, accurately describes the current situation in Palestine ... describes exactly what is happening in Gaza today