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.



Inauguration Day, Trump-Style: What Will Happen?

President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)
President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)
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Inauguration Day, Trump-Style: What Will Happen?

President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)
President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)

Every four years America's president is sworn in on Inauguration Day, whether newly elected or returning to office, in a long-established ceremony held amid pageantry shaped by the incoming leader's personal flourishes.

What does that mean for the inauguration of Donald Trump? Queue the Village People and social media titans -- and leave the mittens and scarves behind, following a last-minute decision to move the inauguration indoors.

Here is a preview of the pomp and circumstance that will unfold Monday when Trump is sworn in as the 47th president.

- The oath -

The US Constitution mandates that each new president's term begin at noon on January 20 (or the day after if it falls on a Sunday), and that the president take the oath of office.

In recent years, presidents have been sworn in from an enormous temporary platform on the Capitol's scenic West Lawn. This year, owing to a frigid forecast, it will take place inside in the Capitol Rotunda.

The oath is most often administered by the Supreme Court chief justice, and Monday would mark John Roberts's second time officiating for Trump.

The new president also delivers an inaugural address, laying out his plans for the next four years. The Republican rang in his first term in 2017 with a particularly dark speech evoking "American carnage."

Incoming vice president JD Vance will also be sworn in.

People stand look at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 18, 2025, as the US capital prepares for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump. (AFP)

- The guests -

In a particularly Trumpian twist, the Republican has invited a number of tech titans to attend the inauguration, joining more traditional guests such as his cabinet nominees.

Billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg will attend as will Shou Chew, the head of Chinese social media giant TikTok, according to US media.

Trump has courted closer ties with the tech moguls, and his campaign benefited from disinformation spread on social media platforms such as TikTok, Musk's X and Zuckerberg's Facebook and Instagram.

Outgoing president Joe Biden will attend the ceremony -- despite Trump's refusal to appear at Biden's swearing-in when he beat Trump in 2020.

All living former presidents -- Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- will attend, as will their wives, except for Michelle Obama.

That means Hillary Clinton, whom Trump beat in the 2016 presidential election, in addition to Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he beat in November, will be there.

Heads of state are not traditionally invited, but Trump has sent invitations to a handful of foreign leaders, including some who share his right-wing politics.

Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will attend, her office confirmed Saturday.

Hungary's Viktor Orban, Argentine President Javier Milei and China's Xi Jinping have also been invited, but not all will attend.

People brave the winter weather on the National Mall days ahead of the 60th Presidental Inauguration on January 18, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)

- A move indoors -

Crowd size is a preoccupation of Trump's, but the last-minute switch to an indoor event may dent his bragging rights.

More than 220,000 tickets were being distributed to the public before Trump announced Friday that frigid temperatures meant the inauguration would shift to the Capitol Rotunda, which can accommodate only about 600 people.

Trump said supporters could watch a live feed from Washington's Capital One sports arena, which holds up to 20,000 -- and he promised to drop in later.

"This will be a very beautiful experience for all," the president-elect said.

- The orders -

Trump said he is preparing to sign multiple executive orders as early as his first day in office, aimed at undoing many of the Biden administration's policies.

Among other promises, he has pledged to launch a mass deportation program and increase oil drilling. He has also said he might immediately begin pardoning January 6 rioters, his followers who ransacked the Capitol in 2021.

Immediately after the inauguration a meeting is planned between US officials and foreign ministers from Japan, India and Australia, the so-called "Quad" which the Biden administration saw as a counterweight to an assertive China.

Carrie Underwood arrives at the People's Choice Awards, Dec. 6, 2022, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP)

- The music -

Trump's first inauguration in 2017 was marked by a lack of celebrity power, with few A-list musicians willing to be associated with him.

Trump inauguration 2.0 is in better shape.

Country star Carrie Underwood will sing "America the Beautiful" during the swearing-in ceremony.

Also performing will be country singer Lee Greenwood, whose patriotic anthem "God Bless the USA" is standard at Trump rallies.

A pre-inauguration rally Sunday will include a performance by the Village People, whose 1970s-era "Y.M.C.A." is another Trump event staple, in addition to Kid Rock and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Country musicians including Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts and Gavin DeGraw plus the Village People will perform across Trump's three official inaugural balls.

- The galas -

Trump is expected to attend all three official inaugural galas on Monday night. More than a dozen others are planned.

In addition, he will put on a "Make America Great Again Victory Rally" Sunday evening at Capital One Arena.