Dec 4 (Reuters) – Israel announced on Monday that the Gaza Strip was in danger as it pressed ahead with ground operations deep into the southern enclave and evacuated desperate residents after a week-long truce collapsed on Friday. People were ordered to leave the area of major cities in the south.
Below is a timeline of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip.
October 7: Hamas militants launch a surprise attack on southern Israel, crossing from Gaza and rampaging through neighboring communities. They killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages back to Gaza, according to an Israeli tally.
Hamas military commander Mohammad Deif called on Palestinians everywhere to fight.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “at war” and retaliatory airstrikes would begin on the heavily populated Gaza Strip, with a full siege of the coastal Palestinian enclave wedged between Israel and Egypt. .
October 13: Israel tells residents of Gaza City, home to more than 1 million of the enclave’s 2.3 million people, to evacuate and move south. Gaza remains closed and residents say they have nowhere to go, with southern Gaza also under Israeli shelling.
October 17: An explosion at Al-Ahli Al-Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza City causes numerous casualties and anger in the Arab world. The Palestinians say the explosion was the result of an Israeli airstrike, but Israel says the explosion was caused by an errant Palestinian rocket.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health announced that 471 people had died. Israel disputes this figure, with unclassified US intelligence reports estimating the death toll at the “lower end of the range of 100 to 300.”
October 18: US President Joe Biden visits the Middle East to show support for Israel and seek to prevent broader regional conflict. He blamed the explosion at the hospital on a rocket fired accidentally by Gaza militants. Arab leaders have responded by blaming Israel for the hospital deaths and canceling a summit with Biden in Jordan.
October 20: Hamas releases two American hostages, Judith Tai Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17. The women had been taken from Kibbutz Nahal Oz in southern Israel.
October 21: After days of diplomatic wrangling, aid trucks are allowed to cross the Rafah border from Egypt into Gaza. Food, water, medicine and fuel are just some of the necessities in Gaza, where food, water, medicine and fuel are in short supply.
October 23: Hamas releases two more hostages, elderly Israelis Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, “on humanitarian and poor health grounds.” The two women were kidnapped along with their husbands from Nir Oz Kibbutz and remain prisoners of Hamas. When she was released, Lifshitz shook hands with one of the militants and she said “shalom” (peace).
October 27: Israel’s chief military spokesperson says Israeli ground forces are expanding operations within the Gaza Strip, indicating the start of a ground offensive.
October 28: Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israeli forces will begin the second phase of the war and that Israel will “destroy our enemies above ground and underground.” He told Israelis to expect a “long and tough” military operation.
October 31: Israeli airstrikes hit the crowded Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza. Israel says it has killed a Hamas commander. Palestinian health authorities said the attack left around 50 people dead and 150 injured.
November 1: Evacuation of an estimated 7,000 foreign passport holders, dual nationals and their dependents, and people in need of emergency medical treatment begins from Gaza through the Rafah border.
November 6: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says Gaza is becoming a “graveyard for children” and calls for a ceasefire. The Palestinian Health Authority has announced that the death toll from Israeli airstrikes has exceeded 10,000.
November 13: Israeli tanks advance on al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where about 650 patients are still admitted. Israel claims the hospital is located above the tunnel, which is the headquarters of Hamas fighters who are shielding patients, a claim Hamas denies.
November 15: Israeli special forces enter Al-Shifa Hospital and search the premises, which span more than 20 acres, with patients still admitted. They initially found only a small collection of weapons, but over the next few days they discovered a tunnel entrance surrounded by concrete walls and a 55-meter (181-foot) section 10 meters (33 feet) underground. He showed a video that claimed to be.
November 21: Israel and Hamas announce they have agreed to a four-day cease-fire with significantly increased amounts of humanitarian, medical and fuel aid allowed into Gaza.
Palestinian health authorities say Israeli shelling has killed about 14,000 Gazans, about 40% of them children.
December 1: After two last-minute extensions, negotiations to extend the ceasefire break down and Israeli warplanes again strike Gaza, sending wounded and dead Palestinians to hospitals and hundreds of displaced people. I was forced to.
During the week-long ceasefire, Hamas released 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. However, most of the hostages, women and children, are believed to have been freed, and the ceasefire agreement collapsed over terms for the release of more hostages, including Israeli men and soldiers. Israel announced that 136 hostages are still being held.
December 2: US Vice President Kamala Harris says too many innocent Palestinians are being killed in Gaza as Israeli warplanes and artillery continue to attack the enclave. The Gaza Ministry of Health said the death toll in the enclave had exceeded 15,000.
Edited by Mark Heinrich, edited by Angus McSwan
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.