The Israel-Gaza conflict a year on - the key moments

In this aerial view visitors walk around portraits of people who were taken hostage or killed in the Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival on October 7, at the site of the festival near Kibbutz Reim in southern Israel on May 13, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Portraits of people who were taken hostage or killed in the Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival on 7 October. (Getty)

At around 7.40am on 7 October 2023, hundreds of Hamas gunmen crossed the border from Gaza into Israel, launching an unprecedented and devastating attack on Israeli territory. Catching their long-time enemies off-guard, around 1,200 people (including 600 civilians) were killed and 250 taken hostage. A year later the consequences are still being played out as the region teeters on the brink of all-out war.

The coordinated attack - which also involved several other Palestinian militant groups - had been months in the planning and began with a major rocket barrage. Soon after, militants breached the Gaza barrier and attacked numerous communities in the south of Israel.

The site of the biggest bloodshed was the Re'im music festival, around three miles from the border, where 364 people were massacred. Elsewhere, more than 100 people were killed at Kibbutz Be’eri.

The attack by Hamas, a proscribed terrorist group in the UK since 2001, sparked international condemnation and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his country was in a state of war.

Within hours, the gunfire had turned back to Gaza with Israel launching a relentless bombardment on the Gaza Strip and gearing up for a planned invasion of the territory.

Since then, Israel has attacked all corners of the strip from ground and air and claims to have dismantled much of Hamas's power. Although many of the figures around how many people have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak are disputed, analysts believe over 40,000 Palestinians have died.

Palestinian children play on the site of a destroyed building, purportedly where Israeli hostages were held and rescued during an Israeli military operation a week agao, in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip on June 15, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. Israel announced its forces rescued four hostages on June 8, from the Nuseirat refugee camp in an operation which the Hamas-run government media office said left 210 Palestinians dead and hundreds wounded. The Israeli military said the four, who were in
Palestinian children play on the site of a destroyed building, purportedly where Israeli hostages were held and rescued during an Israeli military operation in June. (Getty)

Despite enormous international diplomatic efforts, the war has not stopped and, instead, continues to escalate.

Fears of it spilling into a regional conflict have become a reality as the Houthis in Yemen began striking international shipping in response to Israel's attacks on Palestinians and, even more seriously, the growing conflict in Lebanon.

Following the 7 October attack, the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, began firing rockets into northern Israel, forcing the evacuation of several communities. In recent weeks, Israel has increasingly redirected its forces to the north and launched several attacks on Hezbollah, most notably killing its long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on Beirut.

On 1 October, in the latest escalation, Israel launched a "targeted" ground invasion of southern Lebanon and also stepped up its aerial bombardment; a day later, Iran retaliated with its own barrage of missile strikes.

As the world holds its collective breath, Yahoo News runs down to the key moments in the past year that have brought the world to the edge of even greater catastrophe.