10 Key Moments in the Israel-Hamas War

A drone view shows displaced Palestinians walking past the rubble as they attempt to return to their homes, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A drone view shows displaced Palestinians walking past the rubble as they attempt to return to their homes, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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10 Key Moments in the Israel-Hamas War

A drone view shows displaced Palestinians walking past the rubble as they attempt to return to their homes, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A drone view shows displaced Palestinians walking past the rubble as they attempt to return to their homes, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 19, 2025. (Reuters)

After the Palestinian group Hamas carried out the worst attack in Israeli history on October 7, 2023, Israel launched a devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Before a ceasefire began on Sunday, only the second truce in 15 months of war, Israel's air and ground campaign killed at least 46,899 people, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

Following are key moments in the conflict:

At dawn on October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters infiltrate Israel, killing civilians in the streets, in their homes and at a desert music festival, and attacking troops in bases.

They seize 251 hostages and take them back to Gaza. Currently 94 are still held there, with three women due for release Sunday. Israel's military says 34 of the 94 hostages are dead.

The Hamas attacks result in the deaths of more than 1,200 people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to destroy Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Israel.

Israel begins bombing and besieging Gaza. On October 13, it calls on civilians in the territory's north to move south.

The vast majority of Gazans have been displaced during the war, according to the UN.

On October 27, Israel begins a ground offensive.

On November 24, a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas begins.

Hamas releases 105 hostages, mostly Israeli but also Thai workers, in return for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

When the war resumes, Israel expands its actions into southern Gaza.

On February 29, 2024, Israeli forces fire on northern Gaza residents who rush a convoy of food aid trucks, killing 120 and wounding hundreds.

From early March military aircraft from several countries including the United States drop aid over Gaza which the UN says is threatened by famine.

On April 1, seven aid workers from US charity World Central Kitchen are killed in a strike which Israel's military calls a "tragic mistake".

On April 13, Iran pounds Israel with drones and missiles -- its first-ever direct assault on Israel's soil. The strikes are retaliation for a deadly April 1 attack on its Damascus consulate, blamed on Israel.

On July 20, Israel bombards Yemen's port of Hodeidah, after a drone attack on Tel Aviv by Iran-backed Houthi militias who have been targeting shipping since November 2023 in solidarity with Gaza.

At the Israeli-Lebanon border, almost daily exchanges since October 2023 between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah intensify in July.

Israel retaliates with several strikes, including one that kills a top Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr.

On July 31, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh is killed on a visit to Iran. Israel accepts responsibility months later.

On September 17 and 18, hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah explode in an Israeli operation that Lebanese authorities say kills 39 and wounds thousands.

Israel escalates its air campaign in Lebanon and on September 27 kills Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in southern Beirut.

Days later, Israel launches a ground offensive in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah strongholds.

Iran on October 1 fires a barrage of 200 missiles at Israel in response to the killing of Nasrallah and Haniyeh.

On October 16, new Hamas leader Yahya al-Sinwar, accused by Israel of masterminding the October 7, 2023 attack, is killed in southern Gaza.

On the 26th, Israeli air strikes hit military targets in Iran in response to the October 1 missile attack.

On November 14, a United Nations Special Committee says Israel's warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of "genocide". Israel accuses the UN of bias.

The International Criminal Court on November 21 issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, whom the Israeli military says it killed in Gaza.

A truce begins on November 27 after two months of open war between Israel and Hezbollah which has left more than 4,000 dead on the Lebanese side since October 2023, according to official Lebanese figures.

The fragile ceasefire is breached several times, with both sides trading blame.

After the ousting of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad by opposition factions in December, Israel also conducts hundreds of strikes on Syria's military sites, saying it aims to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of "extremists".

Israel also sends troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

Yemen's Houthis step up missile and drone attacks on Israel which responds with new attacks on Yemen.

On January 19, a long-awaited truce between Israel and Hamas begins, with 33 hostages due to be freed during the first phase in exchange for the release of about 1,900 Palestinians in Israeli custody.

Under the truce mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, thousands of war-weary displaced Palestinians begin returning to their homes through the rubble of the devastated Gaza Strip.



What are the Main Elements of the Gaza Ceasefire Deal?

A boy runs with a Palestinian flag atop a mound of rubble at a camp for people displaced by conflict in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on January 17, 2025 following the announcement of a truce amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
A boy runs with a Palestinian flag atop a mound of rubble at a camp for people displaced by conflict in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on January 17, 2025 following the announcement of a truce amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
TT

What are the Main Elements of the Gaza Ceasefire Deal?

A boy runs with a Palestinian flag atop a mound of rubble at a camp for people displaced by conflict in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on January 17, 2025 following the announcement of a truce amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
A boy runs with a Palestinian flag atop a mound of rubble at a camp for people displaced by conflict in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on January 17, 2025 following the announcement of a truce amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

Here are the main elements of a Gaza ceasefire deal that went into effect on Sunday after 15 months of conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and inflamed the Middle East. The start of the ceasefire was delayed for almost three hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Hamas to provide a list of the hostages who were due to be released during the day. An Israeli official said later that Israel had received the list, Reuters reported.
Details of the agreement have not yet been publicly announced by the mediators, Israel or Hamas. Officials briefed on the deal provided the following elements:
* A six-week initial ceasefire phase includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from central Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza.
* The deal requires 600 truckloads of humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the ceasefire, 50 of them carrying fuel, with 300 of the trucks allocated to the north, where conditions for civilians are particularly difficult.
* Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages, including all women (soldiers and civilians), children, and men over 50. Hamas will release female hostages and under 19s first, followed by men over 50. Three female hostages are expected to be released through the Red Cross on Sunday after 1400 GMT, the Israeli Prime Minister's office said.
* Israel will release 30 Palestinian detainees for every civilian hostage and 50 Palestinian detainees for every Israeli female soldier Hamas releases.
* Under the terms of the deal, Hamas will inform the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) where the meeting point will be inside Gaza and the ICRC is expected to begin driving to that location to collect the hostages.
* Israel will release all Palestinian women and children under 19 detained since Oct. 7, 2023 by end of the first phase. The total number of Palestinians released will depend on hostages released, and could be between 990 and 1,650 Palestinian detainees including men, women and children.
* Hamas will release the hostages over a six-week period, with at least three hostages released each week and the remainder of the 33 before the end of the period. All living hostages will be released first, followed by remains of dead hostages.
* The implementation of the agreement will be guaranteed by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
* Negotiations over a second phase of the agreement will begin by the 16th day of phase one and is expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, including Israeli male soldiers, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli soldiers.
* A third phase is expected to include the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza's reconstruction, supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.