Gaza–Israel conflict

The Gaza–Israel conflict is a localized part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict beginning in 1948, when about 200,000 of the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes settled in the Gaza Strip as refugees. Since then, Israel and Palestinian militant groups have fought 15 wars in the Gaza Strip. The number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza war (ongoing since 2023) (73,000+) is higher than the combined death toll of all other wars in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Israel fought three wars in the Egyptian-administered Gaza Strip: the 1948 Palestine war, the Suez Crisis during which Israel first occupied Gaza for a period of four months, and the Six-Day War in 1967 during which Israel captured Gaza from Egypt. During the first Israeli occupation, 1% of the Gaza Strip's population was killed, tortured, or imprisoned by Israel. Following two periods of low-level Palestinian insurgency, a major uprising against Israeli rule erupted in 1987, starting a period of unrest known as the First Intifada. The 1993 Oslo Accords brought a period of relative calm which was nevertheless disrupted by various events, including Israeli settler violence, suicide attacks by Palestinian militant groups, the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.

In 2000, the Second Intifada began. In 2005, towards the end of the Second Intifada, Israel disengaged from Gaza. Shortly thereafter, Hamas won the 2006 election in Gaza and seized control of the Strip in 2007. That same year, Israel imposed a land, air and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip, turning it into an "open-air prison". The blockade was widely condemned as a form of collective punishment, while Israel defended it as necessary to stop Palestinian rocket attacks. Hamas considered it a declaration of war.

The 2008–2009 Israeli invasion of Gaza resulted in more than 1,000 deaths and widespread destruction of homes, schools and hospitals. A 2012 Israeli operation also killed more than 100 people. In 2014, Israel invaded Gaza in a major war that resulted in the deaths of 73 Israelis (mostly soldiers) and 2,251 Palestinians (mostly civilians). The invasion resulted in "unprecedented" destruction, damaging 25% of homes in Gaza City and 70% of homes in Beit Hanoun. After 2014, notable events in the conflict included the "Great March of Return" (2018–2019) and clashes in November 2018, May 2019 and November 2019. The 2021 crisis saw 256 Palestinians and 15 Israelis killed.

On 7 October 2023, Palestinian militants attacked Israel, killing 1,195 people (mostly civilians), committing war crimes, taking hostages, and beginning the Gaza war. Israel responded by invading and bombing the Gaza Strip, killing more than 73,000 Gazans as of September 2026 and causing a humanitarian crisis and famine. Many scholarly sources and international organizations have concluded that Israel's actions in Gaza constitute genocide.