Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip

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Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
Part of the Gaza war
Gaza Strip under Palestinian control   Gaza Strip under Israeli control   Furthest Israeli advance in Gaza Strip   Evacuated areas inside Israel   Maximum extent of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel   Area of Gaza subject to Israeli evacuation orders See here for a more detailed map.
Date 27 October 2023[b] – present (1 year, 3 months and 5 days) Location Gaza Strip with spillover into Israel[8] Status Ongoing Israel orders multiple evacuations across the Gaza Strip IDF launches a ground assault in Gaza City, Khan Yunis, and Rafah Start of the insurgency in the North Gaza Strip Siege of North Gaza Ceasefire implemented on 19 January 2025
Belligerents
Israel	Hamas[1] Allies: Palestinian Islamic Jihad[2] Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine[3]  Popular Resistance Committees[4]  PFLP–GC  Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine[5] Smaller Palestinian militant groups[a]
Commanders and leaders
Benjamin Netanyahu Israel Katz Herzl Halevi Yaron Finkelman Tomer Bar Killed senior commanders: Salman Habaka † Yitzhak Ben-Bashat † Ehsan Daxa †[9]	Mohammed Sinwar Izzedine Hadad[10][11] Killed senior commanders: Yahya Sinwar † Mohammed Deif X Marwan Issa X Ahmed Ghandour X Ayman Siyam † Raad Thabet † Rafa Salama X Talal Abu Zarifa X[12]
Units involved
Show units: Israel Defense Forces 36th Division 98th Division 99th Division 146th Division 162nd Division 1st Brigade 933rd Brigade 401st Brigade 35th Brigade 84th Brigade Israeli Combat Engineering Corps 252nd Division 261st Reserve Brigade 460th Brigade 828th Brigade 900th Brigade Kiryati Brigade 5th Brigade Harel Brigade[13][14] 39th Division 179th Armored Brigade[15] 89th Brigade Duvdevan Unit Maglan Unit Egoz Unit[15] 7th Armored Brigade 143rd (Gaza) Division[15] 215th Artillery Brigade[15]  Israeli Air Force[16]  Israeli Navy[17][18] Israel Border Police Yamam[19]	Show units: Palestinian Joint Operations Room  al-Qassam Brigades[20] Nukhba North Brigade[21] Gaza Brigade Central Brigade Khan Younis Brigade Rafah Brigade Al-Quds Brigades Central Camps Brigade[22] Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades  Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades[23]  National Resistance Brigades[24]  Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades[25][26][27][28] Mujahideen Brigades Jaysh al-Ummah[29]
Strength
40,000+[30]	20,000–40,000+[31]
Casualties and losses
Per Israel: 407+ killed[32][33][34][9][35] 2,550+ wounded[36] 1 UH-60 Black Hawk crashed[37] Per Al-Qassam Brigades: 1,600+ killed[38] 3,400+ wounded[39] At least 1 captured[40] 750+ armored vehicles disabled[39] Per Yedioth Ahronoth: 10,000 Israeli soldiers killed, wounded, or mentally affected[41]	Per the US: 10,000–15,000 Hamas fighters killed[42] Per Israel: 20,000+ militants killed[43][44][45] ~2,500 militants captured[46] ~15,000 militants wounded[47]
46,707 Palestinians killed, 110,265 injured (Per the Gaza Health Ministry)[48][49] More than 70,000 Palestinians killed from traumatic injuries alone (Per The Lancet)[50] Indirect deaths[c] likely to be several times higher than those killed by violence, with estimates for total Palestinian deaths in the Gaza war at 186,000[52] or 335,500[d] 32,331 Palestinian civilians killed, 60,128 Palestinians injured (Per Euro-Med Monitor)[54][55] ~16,000 Palestinian civilians killed (Per Israel)[56] 73 Israeli hostages killed (per Israel)[57]

The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is a major part of the Gaza war. Starting on 7 October 2023, immediately after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, it began bombing the Gaza Strip; on 13 October, Israel began ground operations in Gaza, and on 27 October, a full-scale invasion was launched. Israel's campaign has four stated goals: to destroy Hamas, to free the hostages, to ensure Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel, and to return displaced residents of Northern Israel.^{[58][59][60][61]} More than a year after the invasion, fighting in the Gaza Strip halted with the implementation of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on 19 January 2025.

Since the Israeli invasion began, more than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, over 70% of them women and children,^[62][63][64] and thousands more are missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings.^[65][66] Researchers at The Lancet reported that the latter casualties figure is an underestimate, and the actual number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza due to direct Israeli military assaults was, as of October 2024, likely greater than 70,000.^[50] 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.^{[67][68][69][70]} Experts say that the scale and pace of destruction in Gaza is among the most severe in recent history.^[71][72] A severe humanitarian crisis has developed, with healthcare on the brink of collapse,^[73] shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel due to the blockade,^[74][75][76] electricity and communications blackouts,^[77] and the UN warning of potential famine.^[78] It was widely reported that there is "no safe place in Gaza", as Israel struck areas it had previously told Palestinians to evacuate to.^[79][80][81] Nearly all 2.3 million Gazans have been internally displaced^[82] and 250,000 to 500,000 Israelis were internally displaced,^[83][84][85] while Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians^[86][87][88] and said it lost 353 additional soldiers in its invasion as of 13 October 2024.^[89]

The widespread civilian deaths have led to accusations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas.^[90][91] 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^[92] and requesting that the ICJ render provisional measures of protection. Various experts and human rights organizations have also characterized the events in Gaza as genocide.^[93] Other accusations include the deliberate targeting of civilians and starving the population of Gaza by Israel, and the use of human shields and holding of Israeli hostages by Hamas.

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