Timeline: a history of violence
Updated on 07 January 2009
Israeli airstrikes began in late December following Hamas rocket launches. Here is a timeline of events leading up to the current fighting.
25 January 2006
Hamas win Palestinian parliamentary election victory defeating rival US-backed Fatah faction. The Hamas-Fatah unity government collapses in the summer of 2007 and fighting between the two factions begin.
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14 June 2007
Hamas takes control in Gaza after ousting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces in a week's fighting that kills 100.
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15 June 2007
Abbas dismisses Hamas-led unity government and appoints a Fatah backed administration that opens formal contacts with Israel.
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June 2007
Security tightens around Gaza after Hamas takeover, Israel imposes blockade on Gaza which prevents nearly all commerce, leading to mass unemployment and poverty. Three quarters of a million of the Gaza population becomes dependent on UN food aid, which is not always allowed across the border.
23 Jan 2008
Tens of thousands of Palestinians force their way into Egypt from Gaza as food and fuel supplies run low due to Israeli blockade.
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3 March 2008
Israeli troops pull out of Gaza after five-day offensive that kills more than 120 Palestinians. Both Isreal and Hamas claim victory.
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6 March 2008
Palestinian gunman shoots eight students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem. Hamas officials claim the deadliest attack on Israelis in two years.
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19 June 2008
A truce begins between Hamas and Israel. It calls for Hamas to stop cross-border rocket fire and for Israel to gradually ease its embargo on Gaza.
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Analysis: Hamas - Israel conflict
Simon Israel reports on the thoughts behind the fighting and where this recent violence conflict leaves the notion of peace. (27 Dec 2008)
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2 Aug 2008
Fighting kills three Hamas policemen and six pro-Fatah gunmen in the Gaza Strip in the worst factional fighting since June 2007.
5 Nov 2008
Hamas fires dozens of rockets at Israel after Israeli forces kill six Palestinian militants in an eruption of violence that disrupted the four-month-old truce.
14 Dec 2008
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is quoted as saying the group will not renew the six-month-old truce with Israel.
18 Dec 2008
Hamas Islamists declare the end of the ceasefire with Israel which expires the next day with a surge of cross-border fighting.
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24 Dec 2008
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip ratchet up rocket fire towards Israel.
27 Dec 2008
Israel launches air strikes on Gaza in response to almost daily rocket and mortar fire that intensified after Hamas ended the six-month ceasefire.
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28/29 Dec 2008
Israel steps up air strikes and at least 307 Palestinians are killed, including about 180 Hamas security officers. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency says at least 51 of the Gaza dead are civilians.
Israel declares areas around the Gaza Strip a "closed military zone".
Palestinian militants fire rockets deeper into southern Israel. Two Israelis have been killed since Dec. 27.
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30 Dec 2008
EU foreign ministers urge a ceasefire and consider ways to deliver more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
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31 Dec 2008
Israel declares that the time "is not right'" for a ceasefire in the Gaza strip. Israeli airstrikes continue and Hamas rockets land deep in to southern Israel.
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1 Jan 2009
Israel kills a senior Hamas leader in an air strike on Gaza. Nizar Rayyan is the first high-ranking political leader to be killed in the operation. Hamas calls for a 'day of wrath' in revenge. Gaza death toll reaches 414 whilst Hamas rockets claim four Israeli lives to date since the fighting began on 29 Jan 2008.
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Lindsey Hilsum blog: without hope in Gaza
War between Israelis and Palestinians provokes despair like nothing else, writes Lindsey Hilsum. (5 Jan 2009)
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2 Jan 2009
Channel 4 News obtains footage from inside Gaza, otherwise sealed off, as a building comes under attack.
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3 Jan 2009
Israeli defence sources confirm that their ground forces have crossed the border and invaded the Gaza Strip.
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4 Jan 2009
The Israeli operation has effectively split Gaza in two, reportedly from the Karni border crossing to the Mediterranean Sea.
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5 Jan 2009
Hamas warns that its fighters are waiting "in every street and every house" in Gaza, while Israel vows its assault will continue until its territory is safe from attack.
Tony Blair, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and an EU delegation of four foreign ministers arrive in Jerusalem to try to broker a ceasefire.
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6 Jan 2009
Israeli tank shells kill at least 40 Palestinians at a UN school where civilians were sheltering.
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What happened at Jabaliya?
The Israeli attack on the UN school in Jabaliya, which killed 30 people, has provoked strong reaction. Alex Thomson interviews all sides for their view of events.
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