The Gaza war

On 7 October 2023 Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza, killing some twelve hundred people and taking about two hundred and fifty hostage. Israel answered with a war that has destroyed most of the strip, killed tens of thousands of its people and displaced nearly all of the rest. A ceasefire of October 2025 freed the living hostages and did not end the fighting. Israel now holds most of Gaza; the question is who will govern what is left, and whether Hamas will give up its weapons.

The wider confrontation, its history and each side's full account: Israel in regional confrontation.

Where it stands · September 2026

On 1 September Israeli forces captured a Hamas security chief in a raid in Gaza. On 3 September Israeli Minister Ben Gvir set out a plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza. On 22 September Muslim nations and leaders pressed Israel on a Gaza ceasefire at the UN. Israeli strikes killed a Hamas finance chief on 23 September and a Hamas commander on 27 September, and on 29 September settlers raided a West Bank village while Israel killed another Hamas commander in Gaza.

What the dispute is about

Who rules Gaza. Israel says never Hamas again, and not the Palestinian Authority either. Hamas says it will hand over government but not its weapons while Israel occupies the strip. Nobody else is willing to police two million people between them.

Whether Gaza's people stay. Most of the housing is gone. Israeli ministers speak of encouraging emigration; Palestinians and the Arab states call that expulsion and refuse to take part in it.

Accountability. Each side holds that the other's crimes began the matter and are the only ones that count.

How each side explains it

Israel's account

Hamas started this war with the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, and could end it any day by laying down its arms. It built five hundred kilometres of tunnels under homes, schools and hospitals so that every Israeli shot would kill civilians, and it stole the aid meant for them. Israel warns before it strikes and no army has faced such a battlefield. Leaving Hamas armed means the next 7 October.

In our coverage

Israel's campaigns are existential self-defense after October 7 →1266 headlines
Covered by:Jerusalem Post · Times of Israel · i24NEWS · Fox News · The Times of Israel

Hamas's account

Gaza was a prison for sixteen years before October 2023, sealed by land, sea and air, while the world forgot Palestine and Arab states made their peace with Israel. The attack put the cause back at the centre. Resistance to occupation is a right; the weapons are the only guarantee Palestinians have, as the fate of those who disarmed in Lebanon in 1982 showed.

The account of Gaza's people and their representatives

What each account leaves out

Israel's leaves out the proportion of women and children among the dead, the months in which it blocked food, the ministers who say the aim is to empty the strip, and the hostages killed by its own fire.

Hamas's leaves out the civilians it murdered and abducted on 7 October, that it chose to fight from among its own people, and that it has killed Palestinians who opposed it.

Gaza's representatives leave out Hamas's part in what befell the strip, which few in Gaza can say aloud.

The ledger

Israel

Wanted: Hamas destroyed and the hostages home.
Did: levelled Gaza.
Gained: a Hamas that can no longer invade.
Paid: hostages who did not survive, soldiers, a warrant for its prime minister, and the sympathy of much of the world.

Hamas

Wanted: to break the siege and the region's indifference.
Gained: the Palestinian question back on every agenda, and recognition of Palestine by Western states.
Paid: its leadership, its army, and Gaza.

Gaza's people

Were not asked.

Words in dispute

Names and terms the sides do not share. This page keeps them out of its own voice.

war / genocide
massacre, of 7 October and of Gaza
hostages / prisoners
human shields
humanitarian zone
voluntary emigration / ethnic cleansing
terrorists / resistance fighters
Gaza health ministry / Hamas-run health ministry

Events per week

Per-week distribution of events. Click a bar to see that week's top events.

Click a week bar to select. Light blue = active week.

Week of Oct 5, 2026(1)

Israel honors October 7 victims ahead of Nations League match against Ireland

1 sourcesOct 5, 2026