Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2023–present)
Israeli military operation / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is an ongoing part of the Israel-Hamas war. Immediately after the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Israel began the bombing of Gaza Strip and by October 27 Israel had launched a full-scale invasion. The Israeli campaign, called Operation Swords of Iron, has killed 30,000+ Palestinians, most of them women and children. Israel says its goals are to destroy Hamas and to free hostages.[50][51] Critics have accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes, including deliberately targeting civilians, using human shields, and deliberately starving the people of Gaza to death.
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Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip | |||||||
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Part of the Israel–Hamas war | |||||||
Gaza Strip under Israeli control
Furthest Israeli advance in Gaza Strip
Evacuated areas inside Israel
Area of Gaza subject to Israeli evacuation orders See here for a more detailed map. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Israel |
Paramilitaries in the Gaza Strip (Joint Operations Room)
Jaysh al-Ummah[13][14] | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Units involved | |||||||
Israel Defense Forces
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Strength | |||||||
~40,000[33] | Al-Qassam Brigades: 20,000–40,000[34] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Per Israel: Per Al-Qassam Brigades: |
Per Euro-Med Monitor: Per the US: Per Israel: | ||||||
32,331 Palestinian civilians killed, 60,128 Palestinians injured (Per Euro-Med Monitor)[39][45] ~16,000 Palestinian civilians killed (Per Israel)[42] 28,077 Palestinians killed, 60,294 injured (Per the Gaza Health Ministry)[46][47] 48 Israeli hostages killed (per Israel)[48] 70+ Israeli hostages killed (per Hamas)[49] |
More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israeli operation,[52] including more than 7,800 children and 4,900 women, with another 10,000 people missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings.[53] By mid-December, Israel had dropped 29,000 munitions on Gaza, destroying or damaging 70 percent of homes, destroying hundreds of cultural landmarks, and damaging dozens of cemeteries.[54][55][56][57] Hamas's military infrastructure was largely built beneath civilian settlements, which some experts say is part of a deliberate strategy to cause Palestinian civilian casualties. Experts say that the scale and pace of destruction in Gaza is among the severest in recent history.[58][59]
A severe humanitarian crisis has developed, with healthcare in a state of collapse,[60] shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel due to the blockade,[61][62][63] electricity and communications blackouts,[64] and the UN warning of potential famine.[65] It was widely reported that there is "no safe place in Gaza", as Israel struck areas it had previously told Palestinians to evacuate to.[66][67][68] The widespread civilian deaths have led to accusations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas.[69][70] Nearly all 2.3 million Gazans have been internally displaced[71] and 250,000 to 500,000 Israelis were internally displaced,[72][73][74] while, Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians[75][76][77] and said it lost 288 additional soldiers in its invasion as of 27 May 2024.[78]
As a result of the invasion, South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), charging that Israel was committing genocide[79] and requesting that the ICJ render provisional measures of protection.