For a full year, horrific scenes have played out in Gaza as Israel’s war against civilians in the besieged enclave continues.
The war began the same day and in alleged retaliation for an offensive against southern Israel launched by Hamas’ military wing and other Palestinian resistance groups.
Israel has killed more women and children in Gaza over the past year than in any other conflict in the past two decades, Oxfam found last week.
In March, the United Nations said Israel had killed more children there in previous months than in all four years of global conflict.
Despite being denounced for its atrocities, Israel expanded its war, attacking Lebanon and bombing Syria and Yemen.
Looking back at 10 key moments from the past year:
October 7, 2023 – Hamas operation in Israel
Fighters aligned with Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups breached the fence around the Gaza Strip to carry out an operation into Israel, killing 1,139 people and capturing around 250.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli intelligence community appeared humiliated.
Traumatized Israelis rallied behind the government to support reprisals against the entire population of Gaza, hoping to recapture the captives.
A year later, Israel has killed at least 41,870 people in Gaza, although the real figure is believed to be much higher. Thousands more are buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings or have disappeared, and thousands more are at risk of death from the relentless bombardment and conditions created by the Israeli war.
October 7, 2023 – Israel’s retaliation
In the afternoon, Israel responded by hitting Gaza with air attacks. A few hundred people were killed in the first hours as Israel claimed it would “eradicate Hamas.”
The war against every human being in Gaza has continued ever since.
October 8, 2023 – Hezbollah joins the fight
After 24 hours, Hezbollah began launching rockets, announcing its support for the people of Gaza and that it would stop when a ceasefire was announced.
It first hit the farms of Chebaa, an area historically disputed between Syria and Lebanon but currently occupied by Israel.
For 11 months, Hezbollah and some of its allies fired rockets, mainly at Israeli military sites.
For every rocket launched from Lebanon, Israel responded with at least five.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border.
Much of southern Lebanon has been destroyed in what experts say was an attempt to create a buffer zone.
October 17, 2023 – Al-Ahli Hospital
A huge explosion at Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab Hospital – which was filled with displaced Palestinians – killed nearly 500 people.
Many of those killed were hiding from relentless Israeli bombardment.
Gaza’s health ministry said an Israeli air raid caused the explosion.
Israel said it was a failed rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group.
An Tel Aviv Tribune investigation found that Israel appeared to have misinterpreted the evidence to construct a story that exonerated it.
This explosion would be just the tip of the iceberg: Israel continued, attacking health facilities and personnel in Gaza over the coming year.
Most of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functioning and its health system has been struggling for months.
November 19, 2023 – First Houthi attack
The Houthis, allies of Hamas who control parts of Yemen, including its capital Sanaa, launched their first attack in the Red Sea on November 19.
They hijacked a cargo ship, the Galaxy Leader, which was believed to be partly owned by an Israeli businessman.
Some 25 people were on board and have since been held captive by the Houthis.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the seizure was in response to “heinous acts against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza and the West Bank.”
The capture of the Galaxy Leader launched a Houthi campaign of missile and drone attacks against the ships.
The Houthis have since launched around 130 attacks on what they say are Israeli-linked ships on one of the world’s most important trade routes.
November 24 to December 1, 2023 – Temporary ceasefire
In a year of war against Gaza, there has been only one pause in the fighting: a four-day ceasefire negotiated by Qatar, renewed twice and maintained from November 24 to December 1.
The fighting was halted and humanitarian aid was allowed to enter Gaza as Hamas released the captives in exchange for Israel’s release of the Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas agreed to release 50 women and children out of the 237 captives on October 7.
Meanwhile, Israel agreed to release 150 Palestinian women and children from its prisons.
After seven days, the truce finally expired. Ceasefire talks have since reached an impasse.
The UN humanitarian office OCHA reported that despite the truce, Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians in Gaza on November 29 and bombed people on November 30.
January 12, 2024 – Air attacks in Yemen
On January 12, 2024, US and British military aircraft began bombing Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping.
Although five fighters were reportedly killed, the attacks failed to stop Houthi military activities against shipping in the Red Sea.
The Houthis’ claim that their attacks are aimed at supporting Gaza’s population has proven incredibly popular in Yemen, as the group has reportedly recruited and trained around 200,000 new fighters since October 2023.
May 6, 2024 – Invasion of Rafah
Before this invasion, Rafah was an important refuge for some 1.4 million Palestinians crowded there, fleeing Israeli bombings.
Despite its density, Israel had been threatening its invasion for months, ignoring the international community which saw it as a “red line”.
Israel invaded Rafah on May 6, defying international opinion and promising a “limited” operation against Hamas fighters. However, months later, the southern Gaza city remains under attack.
The offensive also closed the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, an important entry point for aid and also an exit point for those fleeing the war.
In the last week of May, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to “immediately” end its military attack on Rafah, but this did not happen.
July 13, 2024 – The al-Mawasi massacre
Israel killed at least 90 Palestinians and injured hundreds in attacks on al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.
Israeli warplanes targeted displaced people’s tents and a water distillation unit in an area that a Gaza civil defense spokesman said Israel had designated as a “safe zone.”
The attack was one of several massacres committed by Israel in Gaza over the past year. Others were:
September 17, 2024 – Day of Death in Lebanon, official widening of the war
That day, thousands of pagers exploded in Lebanon. A day later, thousands of walkie-talkies were also blown up.
These attacks – blamed on Israel – killed hundreds of people.
On September 23, Israel directly attacked Lebanon to the south, the Bekaa Valley to the east, and Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh, killing at least 550 people.
Then, on September 27, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in an attack on Dahiyeh so large that it leveled several apartment buildings.
Israel reportedly used 80 bombs, killing at least six people and injuring 90.
Nasrallah’s assassination was quickly followed by Israeli demands that the population leave large swathes of Dahiyeh.
The Lebanese government now says up to 1.2 million people could be displaced.
Israel has killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon since its war on Gaza began, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Most of them were killed in the last three weeks.
