The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the longest running in history, with tensions simmering for decades and intermittently escalating into armed clashes which have seen thousands of people killed on both sides.

It has now exploded into a fresh, all-out war, after the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas launched its biggest assault on Israel in years early on Saturday.

Militants fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza and sent fighters across the border, with a festival near Kibbutz Re’im, close to the Gaza Strip, stormed and revellers killed and taken hostage.

Israel said it was on a war footing and began its own strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza, with Israeli media reporting gunbattles between bands of Palestinian fighters and security forces in southern Israel.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that his country would take ‘mighty vengeance for this black day’ as warplanes launched a retaliatory strikes against Hamas.

Looking back on what led to this moment, MailOnline has compiled a timeline of the most significant moments of the world’s most bitter conflict.

• 1948-49 – First Arab-Israeli war: Israel was declared an independent state on May 14, 1948, with the Declaration of the Establishment of Israel. Immediately after, five Arab nations invaded territory of the former Palestinian mandate. There were thousands of casualties sustained on both sides before an armistice agreement was reached in 1949.
• June 5-10, 1967 – Six-day war: Almost 20 years after the armistice, conflict broke out again as relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors deteriorated. By the end of the less than week-long hostilities, Israel took the Jordanian-annexed West Bank and Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip.
• 2005 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza strip: Israeli forces unilaterally withdrew from Gaza 38 years after capturing it from Egypt in the Middle East war. In doing so, they evicted almost 10,000 Israeli settlers and abandoned settlements and relocated them. They left the enclave under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
• January 25, 2006 – Hamas wins elections in Palestine: The Islamist group Hamas won a majority of seats in a Palestinian legislative election. Israel and the US cut off aid to Palestinians because Hamas refused to renounce violence and recognize Israel.
• June 25, 2006 – Hamas militants capture Israeli: Hamas militants captured Israeli army conscript Gilad Shali during a cross-border raid from Gaza, prompting Israeli air strikes and incursions. Shalit was finally freed more than five years later in a prisoner exchange.
• June 14, 2007 – Hamas takes over Gaza: Hamas took over Gaza during a brief civil war, ousting Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the West Bank.
• December 27, 2008 – Israel launches offensive in Gaza: Israel launched a 22-day military offensive in Gaza after Palestinians fired rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot. About 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were reported killed before a ceasefire was agreed.
• November 14, 2012 – Israel kills Hamas military leader: Israel killed Hamas’s military chief of staff, Ahmad Jabari. Eight days of Palestinian militant rocket fire and Israeli air strikes followed.
• July-August, 2014 – Seven-week war: The kidnap and killing of three Israeli teenagers by Hamas sparked a seven-week war. More than 2,100 Palestinians were reported killed in Gaza and 73 Israelis reported dead, 67 of them military.
• March 2018 – Bloodshed during Palestinian protests in Gaza: Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinian protesters, saying they were trying to keep them back as they demonstrated at the fence between Israel and Gaza. More than 170 Palestinians were reported killed in several months of protests, which also prompted fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces.
• May 2021 – Palestinians killed in clashes with IDF: After weeks of tensions during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, hundreds of Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest site. After demanding Israel withdraw security forces from the compound, Hamas unleashed a barrage of rockets from Gaza into Israel. Israel hit back with air strikes on Gaza. Fighting went on for 11 days, killing at least 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel.
• August 2022 – Israel air strikes: At least 44 people, including 15 children, were killed in three days of violence that began when Israeli air strikes hit a senior Islamic Jihad commander. Israel said the strikes were a pre-emptive operation against an imminent attack by the Iranian-backed militant movement, targeting commanders and arms depots. In response, Islamic Jihad fired more than 1,000 rockets towards Israel. Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system prevented any serious damage or casualties.
• January 2023 – Jihadists in Gaza fire rockets at Israel: Islamic Jihad in Gaza fired two rockets towards Israel after Israeli troops raided a refugee camp and killed seven Palestinian gunmen and two civilians. The rockets set off alarms in Israeli communities near the border but caused no casualties. Israel responded with air strikes on Gaza.
• October 2023 – Hamas launches major assault on Israel: Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years from the Gaza Strip, with a surprise assault combining gunmen crossing the border with a heavy barrage of rockets. Islamic Jihad fighters joined the attack. Israel’s military said it was on a war footing, adding it had carried out strikes targeting Hamas in Gaza and had called up reservists. More Israelis have died in the conflict so far than in the last 15 years of hostilities. Hundreds of civilians on both sides have lost their lives.

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