By  Lydia Alaiadi

It’s been a year since Hamas-led militant groups launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023. In one year, more than 40.000 Palestinians have lost their lives, at least half of them being women and children. As ceasefire agreements get vetoed by the United States, Israel’s ally, the attacks keep escalating, with Israel attacking Lebanon on October 1st, 2024. 

This article will highlight the most significant events in its first year.

October 2023 

• On October 7th, 2023, the day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, which had also begun with a surprise attack on Israel, and during the Jewish holidays, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel and fires 5000 rockets. Further attacks result in Israeli civilians being taken hostages and dying. Hamas performs torture, sexual violence, beheading, and several more crimes against its hostages, most of them being civilians. 
• The IDF responds immediately with assaults that kill both Hamas militants and Israeli civilians. Israeli soldiers are ordered to attack Hamas militants regardless of Israeli civilians, showing how Israel acts without any kind of ethical restrictions. 
• Israel cuts power in the Gaza Strip. 
• Over the following days, Hamas offers to release all civilian hostages in exchange for stopping the Gaza Strip invasion. Israel rejects the offer.
• Israel launches airstrike and uses cyberweapons to attack Hamas targets. 
• Israel declares a state of war for the first time in 50 years. 
• Israel blocks aid to the Gaza Strip, violating international law once again. After being pressured by the US, aid is allowed in the region. 
• On October 13th Israel demands the evacuation of Gaza. 
• During the evacuation, 70 civilians die from a strike. Some claim it’s an Israeli attack, others that Hamas is using people as human shields. 
• On October 17^th Israel bombs Southern Gaza, including a hospital. Foreign intelligence claims that the hospital attack was caused by a Palestinian rocket, but further investigation shows the Israeli misinformation. 
• Israel attacks parts of northern Gaza, with many dead and injured. Several countries have started to withdraw their ambassadors from Israel. 
• On the last day of October, Israel bombs an apartment building. The attack resulted in the death of 54 children. The Human Rights Watch deems it a war crime. 

November 2023

• Palestinians start leaving Gaza to go to Egypt.
• Israel bombs an ambulance convoy, claiming there were many Hamas militants inside.
• Israel bombs a UN-run school in Jabalia refugee camp.
• On November 22^nd, the two sides reached a temporary ceasefire agreement for four days to allow the Israeli hostages back in exchange for Palestinian women and children incarcerated by Israel. 
• The Qatari agreement extends the previous deal until November 24^th and leads to the exchange of hostages and political prisoners between the two sides. 

December 2023

• The truce expires on the first day of the month. Both sides have prisoners, and neither wants to cooperate; they blame each other. 
• Amnesty International says that “US-made weapons facilitated the mass killings of extended families”, and that Israeli airstrikes should be investigated as possible war crimes. 
• The US raises concerns that Israel is not taking all the necessary measures to ensure the safety of civilians.
• Palestinian civilians move to the south of Rafah.
• Israel captures Hamas militants, and videos circulate showing the inhumane treatment of the prisoners. 
• The US proceeds with the sale of weapons to Israel after Biden bypassed the Congress. 
• The IDF mistakenly murders three Israeli hostages and proceeds with the killing of two women looking for shelter. The Vatican calls it an act of terrorism. 

January 2024

• Israel withdraws from the Northern parts of Gaza. 
• In an attack, the IDF murders Hamza Dadouh, Mustafa Thuraya, Al Jazeera journalists, and their driver. 
• Twenty-four IDF soldiers die (the most since October 7^th, 2023) from an RPG explosion that leads to a building collapsing. 
• The IDF killed six-year-old Hind Rajab and six members of her family while they were fleeing Gaza. 

February 2024

• Israel starts preparing the invasion of Rafah.
• The bombing of Rafah starts, and the UNRWA is forced to suspend its operations. 
• Egypt is rumored to start building a refugee camp.
• On November 29^th The Flour Massacre occurred, with 100 Palestinians killed and 750 more injured while they were trying to get food from aid trucks. 
• The US promises to supply food to Gaza.

March 2024

• Israel attacks a hospital in al-Shifa claiming the death of many senior Hamas leaders. 
• The UN Security Council passes a resolution for a ceasefire for the remainder of Ramadan. IDF continues with strikes regardless of the resolution. 
• IDF kills two Palestinian men and buries them in sand with bulldozers. The Council on American-Islamic Relations calls for a UN investigation into the “heinous war crime.”

April 2024

• Israel attacks World Central Kitchen vehicles in Gaza, resulting in many aid workers’ deaths and forcing the suspension of aid. 
• The US pressures Israel to open the Erez Crossing for aid. 
• Israel withdraws from the south of the Gaza Strip. 
• Iran attacks Israel.
• Israel intensifies strikes in Rafah. 

May 2024 

• Egypt and Qatar propose a ceasefire, which Hamas accepts. Israel rejects the deal. 
• Israel ordered an airstrike on Rafah after the Israeli war cabinet voted to invade Rafah. 
• More than 700.000 people have to leave Rafah. 
• The ICJ rules that Israel must halt its offensive in Rafah. 
• Hamas attacks central Israel with rockets, and Israel responds with the bombing of displacement camps. 
• The US prepares the Three-Phase Israel-Hamas ceasefire to end the war. 

June 2024

• Israel continues its attacks, aiming at schools and refugee camps.
• Netanyahu offers a hostage exchange without a ceasefire, and Hamas rejects the offer. 

July 2024

• Israel attacks more schools, camps, and an area for praying. 
• Israel destroys the headquarters of UNRWA in Gaza. 
• Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh is assassinated in Tehran.

August 2024

• Israel continues to attack hospitals, schools, and mosques. 
• Israel and Hamas agree on a four-day truce to allow polio vaccinations in Gaza.

September 2024

• Attacks in Rafah continue.
• Israel continues to attack schools and hospitals, claiming that Hamas militants have settled there.  
• In Lebanon, 12 people died and thousands were injured after pagers linked to Hezbollah members exploded in an attack by Israel. 

October 2024

• Iran fires missiles at Israel. 
• Israeli military begins the invasion of southern Lebanon.