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
‘If someone took Trump’s land, how would he feel?’ – Ukrainians view peace talks with suspicion
A Ukrainian farmer-turned-soldier in the Donbas has a message for Donald Trump as the US president attempts to broker a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
Anatolii, 59, said: “If someone took a piece of his territory, what would he say to that? The same goes for us.”
Like many Ukrainians, the serviceman volunteered to join a territorial defence unit when Russia launched its full-scale war almost four years ago.
He has been fighting ever since, but will have the option to quit next year once he turns 60.
Anatolii and a colleague
Unable to wear body armour anymore because of its weight, Anatolii now operates further back from the frontline in a small workshop on the outskirts of the city of Kramatorsk where he helps to fix and improve the performance of drones – a crucial weapon on the battlefield.
“I want this war to finally end,” he said. “I want to go home, to my family, to my land.”
But not at any price.
He and other soldiers in 107 Brigade of Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Force view Mr Trump’s efforts to negotiate a peace agreement with suspicion.
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Peace deal: Russia ‘in no mood to compromise’.
An initial proposal envisaged the Ukrainian government giving up Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions that make up the Donbas, to Russia.
This includes large swathes of land that are still under Ukraine’s control, and that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives fighting to defend.
“I feel negative about it,” Anatolii said, referring to the proposal.
“So many people already fell for this land … How can we give away our land? It would be like someone comes to my house and says: ‘Give me a piece of your home.'”
However, he added: “I understand, we have nothing to take it back with. Maybe through some political means…
“I do not want more people to fall, more people to die. I want politicians to somehow come to terms.”
A short drive away from the workshop is a hidden bomb factory where other soldiers from the same unit are focused on a different kind of war effort.
Surrounded by 3D printed gadgets, metal ball bearings and plastic explosives, they make improvised bombs, including anti-personnel mines and devices that can be fitted onto one-way attack drones and exploded onto targets.
Vadym, 41, is in charge of the production line.
He has been fighting since Russian President Vladimir Putin first attacked eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Vadym
Asked whether he felt tired, he said: “We are always tired, we have no motivation as such, but there is the understanding that the enemy will keep coming as long as we do not stop him. If we stop fighting, our children and grandchildren will fight. That keeps us going.”
Vadym is also against simply handing over Ukrainian land to Russia.
“If we now give away borders, give away Donbas, then what?” he said.
“Any country can come to any other country and say: This is our land. Let’s coordinate, do business, and keep living as before. That is not normal in my view.”
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The Ukrainian president says ‘everyone must be on this side of peace’
The city of Kramatorsk stands testament to Ukraine’s will to fight, remaining firmly in Ukrainian hands, though Russia’s war is inching closer.
Nets stretched like a tunnel line a main road leading into the city to protect vehicles from the threat of small, killer drones.
Coils of barbed wire are also strung across fields around the outskirts of Kramatorsk along with other fortifications such as mounds of dirt and triangular lumps of concrete.
Many civilians have remained here as well as the nearby city of Slovyansk, even as other landmark sites such as Mariupol, Bakhmut and Avdiivka have fallen.
Yet the toll of living in a warzone is clear.
Stallholders swept away rubble and broken glass on Sunday after a Russian missile smashed into a central market in Kramatorsk on Saturday night.
Some, like Ella, 60, even chose to reopen despite the carnage.
“It’s frightening. We need to earn a living. I have my mother, I need to look after her, help my children. So we do what we have to do,” she said.
Her adult children live in Kyiv and want her to leave, but Kramatorsk is her home.
“We’ve been living like this for four years now. We’re so used to it. A drone flies overhead and we keep working,” she said.
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Is the UK prepared to fight a war?
Asked how she felt about what the war had done to her city, Ella’s voice wobbled and she wiped tears from her eyes.
“We keep it all inside, but it still hurts. It’s frightening and painful. I just want things as they used to be. We don’t want anything here to change,” she said.
As for what she would do if a future peace deal forced Ukraine to surrender the area, Ella said: “That’s a hard question … I wouldn’t stay. I’d leave.”
Production by security and defence producer Katy Scholes, Ukraine producer Azad Safarov, camera operator Mostyn Pryce
This community in Sri Lanka’s Kandy District is a mass of mud and loss.
The narrow, filthy streets in Gampola are filled with broken furniture, sodden toys and soiled mattresses. A torrent of floodwater ripped through this neighbourhood and many people had no time to escape.
Trying to reach their now destroyed homes is like wading through treacle – the mud knee-deep.
Many locals say they were not warned about the threat Cyclone Ditwah posed here before it struck last Friday, and weren’t told to evacuate. They say they’ve received very little help since.
Resourceful neighbours were left to try to help rescue survivors. But some had to carry the bodies of the dead, too. Mohamed Fairoos was one of them.
Fairoos Mohamed
“We took five bodies from here,” he says, gesturing to a house full of debris, where mattresses hang drying over the balcony.
“We took nine bodies in total and handed them over to the hospital.” He appears both shocked and exasperated at the lack of support this community received.
The house where Fairoos pulled the bodies from
“When I took the bodies, the police, the navy, no one sent for us.” He tells me he even posted a video online appealing for boats, hoping it might help.
I ask him if he thinks the government has done enough. “No,” he says forcefully. “No one called for us. No one helped us. No one gave us any boats.”
Read more: Families count the cost of devastating floods
Kumudu Wijekon and her husband Kumar Premachandra
‘Five people were killed here’
Just a few doors down, a group of volunteers have come to clear another home filled with floodwater. “Five people were killed here,” one of them tells me.
Five of them came from one family: a mother, father, their two daughters and son. Kumudu Wijekon tells me she was friends with them and they’d fled here to a friend’s house, hoping to escape the threat.
“There was heavy rain, but they didn’t think there would be flooding. They left their own home to save themselves from landslides. If they had stayed, they would have survived.”
Chamilaka Dilrukshi
‘We don’t have a single rupee’
A short drive away, Chamilaka Dilrukshi is sobbing inside the photography studio she shares with her husband Ananda. They have two children aged four and 11.
Chamilaka is clutching a bag of rice – she says it’s been donated by a friend and it’s all they have to eat.
Ananda Wijebandara and his wife Chamilaka Dilrukshi
Everything in the shop is wrecked – expensive cameras and lighting equipment covered in thick layers of mud, and outside, rows of broken frames and ripped pictures.
They think they’ve lost nearly £2,500 and their home is severely damaged. She weeps as she tells us: “We don’t have a single rupee to start our business again. We spent all of our savings on trying to build our house.”
Like Mohamed, she believed they should have been warned. “We didn’t know anything. If we did, we would have taken our cameras and our computers out. We just didn’t know it was coming.”
The studio was caked in mud
Anger at government’s perceived failings
Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared a state of emergency to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone, and international aid has arrived.
But many people are angry at the government’s perceived failings. It’s been criticised for not taking the warnings from meteorologists seriously two weeks before the cyclone made landfall, as well as for not communicating enough messages in the Tamil language.
It is going to take places like Gampola a long time to rebuild, repair and restore trust. And in a country still recovering from an economic collapse, nothing is guaranteed.
The Americans were given the full VIP treatment on their visit to Moscow.
There was a motorcade from the airport, lunch at a Michelin-starred restaurant, and even a stroll around Red Square.
It felt like Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were on more of a tourist trail than the path to peace.
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Trump’s envoys walk around Moscow
They finally got down to business in the Kremlin more than six hours after arriving in Russia. And by that point, it was already clear that the one thing they had come to Moscow for wasn’t on offer: Russia’s agreement to their latest peace plan.
According to Vladimir Putin, it’s all Europe’s fault. While his guests were having lunch, he was busy accusing Ukraine’s allies of blocking the peace process by imposing demands that are unacceptable to Russia.
The Europeans, of course, would say it’s the other way round.
But where there was hostility to Europe, only hospitality to the Americans – part of Russia’s strategy to distance the US from its NATO allies, and bring them back to Moscow’s side.
Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff shaking hands in August. AP file pic
Putin thinks he’s winning…
Russia wants to return to the 28-point plan that caved in to its demands. And it believes it has the right to because of what’s happening on the battlefield.
It’s no coincidence that on the eve of the US delegation’s visit to Moscow, Russia announced the apparent capture of Pokrovsk, a key strategic target in the Donetsk region.
It was a message designed to assert Russian dominance, and by extension, reinforce its demands rather than dilute them.
Read more:
Michael Clarke answers your Ukraine war questions
‘Thousands’ of Westerners applying to live in Russia
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‘Everyone must be on this side of peace’
…and believes US-Russian interests are aligned
The other reason I think Vladimir Putin doesn’t feel the need to compromise is because he believes Moscow and Washington want the same thing: closer US-Russia relations, which can only come after the war is over.
It’s easy to see why. Time and again in this process, the US has defaulted to a position that favours Moscow. The way these negotiations are being conducted is merely the latest example.
With Kyiv, the Americans force the Ukrainians to come to them – first in Geneva, then Florida.
As for Moscow, it’s the other way around. Witkoff is happy to make the long overnight journey, and then endure the long wait ahead of any audience with Putin.
It all gives the impression that when it comes to Russia, the US prefers to placate rather than pressure.
According to the Kremlin, both Russia and the US have agreed not to disclose the details of yesterday’s talks in Moscow.
I doubt Volodymyr Zelenskyy is filled with hope.
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