Israel-Hamas war: A timeline of events in the year since 7 October – amid fears of wider Middle East conflict
After months of conflict and tens of thousands of deaths, fighting continues between Israel and Hamas, with the Middle East appearing to be on the brink of a wider war.
In this story, Sky News looks back at what has happened between the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 and the same date a year later.
The renewed conflict has raged for months and has seen an escalation between Israel and Iran and the most dangerous situation on the border with Lebanon for many years.
Middle East conflict latest – blasts heard after part of Beirut told to ‘evacuate immediately’
What follows is by no means an exhaustive timeline, but it aims to capture some of the more salient moments in the devastating conflict.
Hamas attack and Israeli retaliation
A destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence on 7 October. Pic: AP
On 7 October, Hamas gunmen launch an attack on southern Israel, rampaging through communities and killing 1,200 people.
Some 250 people are taken back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies, where they are held captive. The status of the hostages becomes a central issue of the renewed conflict.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares that Israel is at war and orders airstrikes on Gaza, along with a total siege of the densely populated territory.
Explosions in Gaza City as Israel strikes Hamas on 7 October
Israel ground offensive into Gaza
On 13 October, Israel tells residents of Gaza City, where more than a million people live, to evacuate and move south.
The same day, Israel Defence Force (IDF) troops move into the Gaza Strip in what is described as a raid.
An explosion at the al Ahli hospital in Gaza City on 17 October triggers outrage in the Arab world, but there is disagreement and confusion about who is behind it.
Later the same month Israel launches its large-scale ground assault on Gaza, marking the beginning of its invasion of the territory.
Al Shifa hospital
Palestinians inspect damage in the area around the al Shifa hospital. Pic: Reuters
On 15 November, Israeli troops enter Gaza’s biggest hospital, al Shifa, in Gaza City, after a siege lasting several days during which medical staff say patients including newborn babies died from a lack of power and supplies.
The IDF says the hospital has been used to conceal an underground Hamas HQ, a claim that hospital staff deny.
Within a few more weeks, all hospitals serving the northern half of Gaza cease functioning.
November ceasefire
After weeks of fighting, Israel and Hamas announce the first truce of the war. They agree to pause fighting for four days to exchange women and child hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian women and teenagers detained or jailed by Israel on security grounds, and allow in more aid.
The ceasefire would eventually be extended for a week in total and lead to the freeing of 105 hostages and about 240 Palestinian detainees.
War resumes on 1 December. Days later, Israeli forces launch their first big ground assault on southern Gaza, on the outskirts of the city of Khan Younis.
On 6 December, 22 members of the same family are killed in an Israeli airstrike at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
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Moment US vetoes ceasefire resolution
Two days later, the US vetoes a UN Security Council demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The UK abstains.
On 15 December, three Israeli hostages are killed by IDF troops who mistakenly open fire on them.
Two of them are killed in an initial volley of gunfire, while the third dies 15 minutes later after being urged to come out by the IDF and is then fired upon.
US and Britain launch airstrikes on Yemen
US launches planes in airstrike operation over Yemen, targeting Houthi bases. Pic: US Central Command
Continued attacks on Red Sea shipping by Houthi rebels during this time cause major concerns for international trade.
On 11 January 2024, the US and UK launch dozens of airstrikes across Yemen in retaliation.
The Houthis say five of their fighters have been killed in the initial strikes, and vow to continue their attacks on shipping.
On the same day, the International Court of Justice hear opening statements in a case in which South Africa accuse Israel of committing a state-led genocide campaign against the Palestinian population. Israel denies the accusation.
Death toll surpasses 30,000
On 22 January, 21 IDF soldiers are killed in central Gaza in a single incident – the deadliest day for Israel’s forces since the war began.
At the end of February, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the number of deaths in the territory since 7 October has risen above 30,000.
It says most of those killed are women and children and warns that the real figure is likely to be higher.
At this time there is widespread international concern about Israel’s plan to launch a military offensive into the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering.
The UN warns that a famine is imminent in northern Gaza and says 1.1m people are starving.
On 1 April, seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen are killed in an Israeli military strike in Gaza. Three British nationals are among the dead.
An Israeli investigation finds that incorrect assumptions, decision-making mistakes and violations of the rules of engagement had resulted in their deaths.
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Iran and Israel trade salvos
Escalating tensions between Israel and Iran boil over in April.
Tehran alleges that an Israeli strike on its embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, has killed several Iranian officers including a top general.
In retaliation it launches a barrage of dozens of missiles and drones at Israel on 13 April. The vast majority are intercepted.
Amid international concern about a regional crisis, Israel responds by striking a number of targets in Iran.
Tehran plays down the impact of the attack near a major military airbase and a nuclear site in the central city of Isfahan, but satellite photos suggest an air defence radar was hit.
Also in April, tens of thousands of people take part in anti-government protests in Israel, urging Mr Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire deal for the release of hostages. It follows months of other demonstrations against the government.
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‘My brother was kidnapped’
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‘Everything is destroyed’
May: Negotiations in Cairo fail to produce ceasefire
Talks in the Egyptian capital aimed at getting Israel and Hamas to agree terms for a ceasefire come under the spotlight in early May.
Hopes of a breakthrough when Hamas announce it has accepted a ceasefire proposed by Egypt and Qatar are dashed after an Israeli official called it a “ruse”.
People on the streets of Rafah celebrate after Hamas’s announcement, but hours later the Israeli military says it is conducting strikes in the city.
Outcry after strike on Rafah kills 45
There is international outrage after an Israeli airstrike on Rafah kills 45 people in late May.
According to Palestinian medics, the strike hits tents for displaced people and Hamas-run authorities in Gaza say “most” of the dead are women and children.
Mr Netanyahu says it was a “tragic mistake”, while the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says the city has become “hell on earth” following the deadly strike there.
Hostage rescue amid heavy death toll
In early June, four hostages are rescued in an Israeli raid in Gaza.
Hailed as “heroic” in Israel, the military says it freed the hostages under heavy fire and responded with strikes “from the air and from the street”.
But the ensuing attack on central Gaza’s al Nuseirat, a historic Palestinian refugee camp, led to scenes like a “horror movie”, according to residents.
Court ruling on Israel settlement policy
On 19 July, the International Court of Justice rules that Israel’s settlement policy in occupied Palestinian territories is in breach of international law.
The “transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and Jerusalem as well as Israel’s maintenance of their presence” is “contrary to article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention”, a panel of 15 judges from around the world say.
The court says Israel must end the construction of settlements immediately – acts which render “Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful”.
Netanyahu visits US
Kamala Harris meets with Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington DC. Pic: Reuters
Mr Netanyahu embarks on a controversial visit to the US in late July and pledges in a scathing speech to Congress to achieve “total victory” against Hamas.
But Kamala Harris says she will “not be silent” over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza following a meeting with the Israeli PM.
Ms Harris says Israel has a right to defend itself, but pointedly adds: “How it does so matters.”
Escalating tensions with Hezbollah
A couple of days later, Mr Netanyahu vows heavy retaliation after a strike in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights kills 12 children.
He blames the Hezbollah group for the rocket, which struck a football field in Majdal Shams. Hezbollah denies having any role in the attack.
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Brits urged to leave Lebanon
Following this, the IDF carries out what it says is a retaliatory strike on Beirut and kills Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander who Israel says was responsible for the Majdal Shams attack.
Hamas leader killed
In a seismic event, Hamas’s top political leader Ismail Haniyeh is killed in an apparent assassination in Iran at the end of July.
Hamas later says Haniyeh died in an airstrike and blames Israel, which had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas following the 7 October attacks.
Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind those attacks, is named the new leader of Hamas days later.
Ismail Haniyeh’s death was a significant moment in the conflict. Pic: Reuters
Fallout from assassinations
On 10 August, dozens of people are killed in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, according to officials in Gaza’s Hamas-run government.
The Israeli army says it struck a “Hamas control centre” but does not provide evidence and Hamas denies having a base at the school.
As August continues, the region waits with baited breath to see how and if Iran and Hezbollah will respond to the recent assassinations – or if a ceasefire can be agreed.
Fresh ceasefire talks
Peace talks resume in Qatar, as Iran says it “will only hold back if [a] ceasefire [is] agreed”.
President Biden says he is “optimistic” about a deal, but this is rejected by Hamas which says there have been “no improvements”.
No deal is agreed and the conflict continues.
Read more:
The 97 hostages who haven’t returned home to Israel
Who is Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?
Netanyahu: Israel’s longest-serving leader
Fire exchange with Hezbollah
In late August, Israel carries out what it says were “pre-emptive” airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israeli military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, says the group were “starting to get ready to attack us”.
Hezbollah fires drones and rockets in what is says was a response to the killing of Fuad Shukr the previous month.
In Gaza, a tentative agreement for a series of brief ceasefires so that the polio vaccine can be distributed is agreed.
Exploding pagers
On 17 September, the unprecedented mass explosion of handheld pagers used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon kills 12 people and injures nearly 3,000, sending shockwaves through the region.
Less than 24 hours later, a similar series of explosions hits two-way radios used by the group.
The remains of what is said to be one of the exploding pagers
Israel is widely believed to be behind the attacks, which if true would be a huge intelligence victory and suggestive of deep infiltration of Hezbollah’s supply chain.
Hezbollah’s leader accuses Israel of carrying out “massacres” with the pager and walkie-talkie explosions, saying it wanted to kill “5,000 people in two minutes”.
Hassan Nasrallah killed
As Hezbollah reels from the pager and radio explosions, Israel targets Beirut with a series of attacks and kills the militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Iranian demonstrators hold posters of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Pic: AP
The killing is a monumental event and there are fears that a wider war is now inevitable.
In late September, these fears only deepen as IDF tanks are seen at the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israel moves into Lebanon – and Iran responds
On the last day of the month, Israeli forces cross the border to conduct what they call “limited, localised, and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah – despite calls from its allies to cease fire.
On 1 October, in an anticipated move, Iran launches nearly 200 missiles, according to Israel’s army radio, in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah.
In the hours that follow, Iran’s state TV claims 90% of the missiles hit their targets while an Israeli spokesman says officials are so far not aware of any injuries from the attack. A Palestinian worker in the West Bank is later confirmed dead after being hit by falling debris following Iran’s attack.
World
‘The future is in our hands’ scientists say, as 2024 becomes first year to pass 1.5C global warming threshold
Last year was the warmest on record, the first to breach a symbolic threshold, and brought with it deadly impacts like flooding and drought, scientists have said.
Two new datasets found 2024 was the first calendar year when average global temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – before humans started burning fossil fuels at scale.
The record heat has not only has real-world implications, as it contributed to deadly flooding in Spain and vicious drought in places like Zambia in southern Africa.
It is also highly symbolic.
Countries agreed in the landmark Paris Agreement to limit warming ideally to 1.5C, because after that the impacts would be much more dangerous.
The news arrives as California battles “hell on earth” wildfires, suspected to have been exacerbated by climate change.
And it comes as experts warn support for the Paris goals is “more fragile than ever” – with Donald Trump and the Argentinian president poised to row back on climate action.
What caused 2024 record heat – and is it here to stay?
Friends of the Earth called today’s findings from both the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change service and the Met Office “deeply disturbing”.
The “primary driver” of heat in the last two years was climate change from human activity, but the temporary El Nino weather phenomenon also contributed, they said.
The breach in 2024 does not mean the world has forever passed 1.5C of warming – as that would only be declared after several years of doing so, and warming may slightly ease this year as El Nino has faded.
But the world is “teetering on the edge” of doing so, Copernicus said.
Prof Piers Forster, chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, called it a “foretaste of life at 1.5C”.
Dr Gabriel Pollen, Zambia’s national coordinator for disasters, said “no area of life and the economy is untouched” by the country’s worst drought in more than 100 years.
Six million people face starvation, critical hydropower has plummeted, blackouts are frequent, industry is “decimated”, and growth has halved, he said.
Paris goal ‘not obsolete’
Scientists were at pains to point out it is not too late to curb worse climate change, urging leaders to maintain and step up climate action.
Professor Forster said temporarily breaching 1.5C “does not mean the goal is obsolete”, but that we should “double down” on slashing greenhouse gas emissions and on adapting to a hotter world.
The Met Office said “every fraction of a degree” still makes a difference to the severity of extreme weather.
The California fires were whipped up by strong, dry winds and likely worsened by climate change. Pic: Reuters
Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo added: “The future is in our hands: swift and decisive action can still alter the trajectory of our future climate”.
Climate action is ‘economic opportunity’
Copernicus found that global temperatures in 2024 averaged 15.10°C, the hottest in records going back to 1850, making it 1.60°C above the pre-industrial level during 1850-1900.
The Met Office’s data found 2024 was 1.53C above pre-industrial levels.
The figures are global averages, which smooth out extremes from around the world into one number. That is why it still might have felt cold in some parts of the world last year.
Greenpeace campaigner Philip Evans said as “the world’s most powerful climate denier” Donald Trump returns to the White House, others must “take up the mantle of global climate leadership”.
The UK’s climate minister Kerry McCarthy said the UK has been working with other countries to cut global emissions, as well as greening the economy at home.
“Not only is this crucial for our planet, it is the economic opportunity of the 21st century… tackling the climate crisis while creating new jobs, delivering energy security and attracting new investment into the UK.”
World
Picture shows baby girl moments after birth on packed migrant dinghy heading for Canary Islands
Photographs have captured the moments after a baby girl was born on a packed migrant dinghy heading for the Canary Islands.
The small boat was carrying 60 people and had embarked from Tan-Tan – a Moroccan province 135 nautical miles (250km) away.
One image shows the baby lying on her mother’s lap as other passengers help the pair.
The boat’s passengers – a total of 60 people, including 14 women and four children – were rescued by a Spanish coastguard ship.
Coastguard captain Domingo Trujillo said: “The baby was crying, which indicated to us that it was alive and there were no problems, and we asked the woman’s permission to undress her and clean her.
“The umbilical cord had already been cut by one of her fellow passengers. The only thing we did was to check the child, give her to her mother and wrap them up for the trip.”
Coastguards rescued all 60 people aboard the boat. Pic: Salvmento Maritimo/Reuters
The mother and baby were taken for medical checks and treated with antibiotics, medical authorities said.
Dr Maria Sabalich, an emergency coordinator of the Molina Orosa University Hospital in Lanzarote, said: “They are still in the hospital, but they are doing well.”
When they are discharged from hospital, the pair will be moved to a humanitarian centre for migrants, a government official said.
They will then most likely be relocated to a reception centre for mothers and children on another of the Canary Islands, they added.
Thousands of migrants board boats attempting to make the perilous journey from the African coast to the Spanish Canaries each year.
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In 2024, a total of 9,757 people died on the route, according to Spanish migration charity Walking Borders.
Mr Trujillo said: “Almost every night we leave at dawn and arrive back late.
“This case is very positive, because it was with a newborn, but in all the services we do, even if we are tired, we know we are helping people in distress.”
A real-life drama is unfolding just outside Hollywood. Ferocious wildfires have ballooned at an “alarming speed”, in just a matter of hours. Why?
What caused the California wildfires?
There are currently three wildfires torching southern California. The causes of all three are still being investigated.
The majority (85%) of all forest fires across the United States are started by humans, either deliberately or accidentally, according to the US Forest Service.
But there is a difference between what ignites a wildfire and what allows it to spread.
However these fires were sparked, other factors have fuelled them, making them spread quickly and leaving people less time to prepare or flee.
The main culprit so far is the Santa Ana winds.
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LA residents face ‘long and scary night ahead’
What are Santa Ana winds?
So-called Santa Ana winds are extreme, dry winds that are common in LA in colder winter months.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection warned strong Santa Ana winds and low humidity are whipping up “extreme wildfire risks”.
Winds have already topped 60mph and could reach 100mph in mountains and foothills – including in areas that have barely had any rain for months.
It has been too windy to launch firefighting aircraft, further hampering efforts to tackle the blazes.
These north-easterly winds blow from the interior of Southern California towards the coast, picking up speed as they squeeze through mountain ranges that border the urban area around the coast.
They blow in the opposite direction to the normal onshore flow that carries moist air from the Pacific Ocean into the area.
The lack of humidity in the air parches vegetation, making it more flammable once a fire is started.
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Wildfires spread as state of emergency declared
The ‘atmospheric blow-dryer’ effect
The winds create an “atmospheric blow-dryer” effect that will “dry things out even further”, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
The longer the extreme wind persists, the drier the vegetation will become, he said.
“So some of the strongest winds will be at the beginning of the event, but some of the driest vegetation will actually come at the end, and so the reality is that there’s going to be a very long period of high fire risk.”
What role has climate change played?
California governor Gavin Newsom said fire season has become “year-round in the state of California” despite the state not “traditionally” seeing fires at this time of year – apparently alluding to the impact of climate change.
Scientists will need time to assess the role of climate change in these fires, which could range from drying out the land to actually decreasing wind speeds.
But broadly we know that climate change is increasing the hot, dry weather in the US that parches vegetation, thereby creating the fuel for wildfires – that’s according to scientists at World Weather Attribution.
But human activities, such as forest management and ignition sources, are also important factors that dictate how a fire spreads, WWA said.
Read more:
Terrifying firestorm tears through home of film stars
State of emergency as wildfires sweep through LA celebrity suburb
Pic: Reuters
Southern California has experienced a particularly hot summer, followed by almost no rain during what should be the wet season, said Professor Alex Hall, also from UCLA.
“And all of this comes on the heels of two very rainy years, which means there is plenty of fuel for potential wildfires.
“These intense winds have the potential to turn a small spark into a conflagration that eats up thousands of acres with alarming speed – a dynamic that is only intensifying with the warmer temperatures of a changing climate.”
The flames from a fire that broke out yesterday evening near a nature reserve in the inland foothills northeast of LA spread so quickly that staff at a care home had to push residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a car park.
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