.

The 2004 Israel–Gaza conflict refers to the series
of battles between Palestinian militants and the
Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Several Qassam
rocket attacks on Israel ( Sderot and the Negev )
led the IDF to retaliate with airstrikes and land
incursions. The fighting included two IDF
operations, Operation "Rainbow" and Operation
"Days of Penitence" .
Operation "Rainbow" was a military operation
from 18 May 2004 to 23 May 2004 in Rafah to
clear terrorist infrastructure, find smuggling
tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt , and
kill militants after the deaths of 13 Israeli soldiers
in guerrilla attacks. Israel said the operation was
also aimed at preventing a shipment of Strela-2
(SA-7 Grail) anti-aircraft missiles, AT-3 Sagger
anti-tank guided missiles, and other long-range
rockets which are stored on the Egyptian side of
the border from being smuggled through tunnels
into the Gaza Strip. [28]
Operation "Days of Penitence", an IDF operation in
the northern Gaza Strip conducted between 30
September 2004 and 15 October 2004, focused on
Beit Hanoun , Beit Lahia and Jabalia refugee
camp, which were used as launching sites of
Qassam rockets on Sderot and Israeli settlements
in the Gaza Strip, and in response to the death of
two children in Sderot. The operation resulted in
the deaths of between 104 and 133 Palestinians
and 5 people on the Israeli side.
2006
Main articles: 2006 Hamas cross-border raid ,
Operation Summer Rains and Operation Autumn
Clouds (2006)
Large-scale conventional warfare beyond the
peripheries of the Gaza Strip began when Israel
launched Operation "Summer Rains" in the Gaza
Strip that began on 28 June 2006, in response to
the Palestinian militants abduction of Corporal
Gilad Shalit. It became the first major
mobilization into the Gaza Strip since Israel's
unilateral disengagement plan was implemented
between August and September 2005.
The Gaza beach blast was an event on 9 June
2006 in which eight Palestinians were killed –
including nearly the entire family of seven-year-
old Huda Ghaliya – and at least thirty others
were injured in an explosion on a beach near the
municipality of Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip. [29]
The incident received considerable attention from
news media worldwide, with blame for the
explosion hotly disputed in the following weeks.
Israel maintains that it mobilized thousands of
troops in order to suppress Qassam rocket fire
against its civilian population and to secure the
release of Gilad Shalit. It is estimated that
between 7,000 and 9,000 Israeli artillery shells
were fired into Gaza between September 2005
and June 2006, killing 80 Palestinians in 6
months. [30] [verification needed ] On the
Palestinian side, over 1,300 Qassam rockets have
been fired into Israel from September 2000 to 21
December 2006. [citation needed ] Israeli forces
also continued to search for underground tunnels,
used by militants to smuggle weapons, as well as
monitor operations at checkpoints (with some
assistance from the European Union at Rafah ) for
security reasons, specifically possible weapons
transfers and uninhibited return of exiled
extremist leaders and terrorists. [31][32][33][34]
[35] As of 18 October 2006, Israel has discovered
20 tunnels used for illegal arms smuggling under
the border of the Gaza Strip and Egypt. [36]
Israel had said it would withdraw from the Strip
and end the operation as soon as Shalit was
released. [37] The Palestinians had said that they
were willing to return Shalit in exchange for the
release of some of the Palestinians held in Israeli
jails. The Palestinians and others have also said
the assault was aimed at toppling the
democratically elected Hamas -led government
and at destabilizing the Palestinian National
Authority , citing the targeting of civilian
infrastructure such as a power station and the
captures of government and parliament members.
Some 300 Palestinians had been targeted by the
IDF in the Gaza Strip since the kidnapping of
Corporal Gilad Shalit. [38]
In July 2006, first reports emerged about mystery
injuries after Israeli attacks. Previously unseen
injuries included severely damaged internal
organs, severe internal burning and deep internal
wounds often resulting in amputations or death.
Bodies arrived severely fragmented, melted and
disfigured. There were speculations about a new
experimental weapon, particularly Dense Inert
Metal Explosives (DIMEs). [39]
Operation "Autumn Clouds" was launched on 1
November 2006.
The Beit Hanoun November 2006 incident
occurred on 8 November 2006 when Israel
Defense Forces shells missed their target and hit
a row of houses in the Gaza Strip town of Beit
Hanoun , [40] killing 19 Palestinians and wounding
more than 40. [41][42] It occurred the day after
the Israeli withdrawal following Operation
"Autumn Clouds" , a week-long operation by the
Israeli military in the northern Gaza Strip aimed at
curbing Qassam rocket attacks fired by
Palestinian militants from the town. [43]
The 2006 Franco–Italian–Spanish Middle East
Peace Plan
was proposed after Israel invaded the Gaza Strip
in Operation "Autumn Clouds" by Spanish Premier
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero during talks with
French president Jacques Chirac . Italy's prime
minister Romano Prodi gave his full support to
the plan.
On 26 November, a ceasefire was signed by
Palestinian organisations and Israel, and Israel
withdrew its troops while the Palestinian Authority
forces deployed to stop Qassam rocket
launchings. Following the truce over 60 Qassam
rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel,
and 1 Palestinian (armed with guns and
grenades) was killed by the IDF. On 19 December,
the Palestinian Islamic Jihad began taking open
responsibility for the Qassam rocket firing,
because they said Israel killed two of their
members in Jenin.[44][45][46]
Fatah-Hamas conflict and Israeli blockade
Main article: Battle of Gaza (2007)
A series of battles between Palestinian militants
in Hamas-governed Gaza and the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) that began in mid-May 2007, with
the inter-Palestinian violence flaring in the
meantime. Palestinians fired more than 220
Qassam rocket attacks on Israel ( Sderot and the
western Negev ) in more than a week. The Israeli
Air Force fired missiles and bombs into Gaza. The
fighting came amid serious Palestinian factional
violence and reports of growing level of
humanitarian crisis in the region. [47] Hamas said
they will continue to retaliate against Israeli
strikes.
In September 2007, citing an intensification of
Qassam rocket attacks, Israel declared Gaza
"hostile territory." The declaration allowed Israel
to prevent the transfer of electricity, fuel, and
other supplies into Gaza. The stated purpose of
this blockade was to pressure Hamas into ending
the rocket attacks and to deprive them of the
supplies necessary for the continuation of rocket
attacks. [48][49][50][51] Israel's decision to cut
fuel supplies to Gaza were widely condemned as
"collective punishment." [52][53][54]
Israel has also arrested Hamas officials in the
West Bank, including two cabinet members. Such
arrests have been strongly condemned by
international organizations and politicians. [55][56]
[57][58]
By January 2008, according to a United Nations
study, the economic effects of Israel's blockade
on Gaza reached a critical threshold. Finally, on
17 January 2008, Israel sealed the border
completely following a rise in rocket attacks. The
breach of the Gaza-Egypt border began on 23
January 2008, after gunmen in the Gaza Strip set
off an explosion near the Rafah Border Crossing,
destroying part of the former Israeli Gaza Strip
barrier. The United Nations estimates that as
many as half the 1.5 million population of the
Gaza Strip crossed the border into Egypt seeking
food and supplies. [ citation needed ]
Operation "Hot Winter"
On 27 February 2008, Palestinian militants fired
more than 40 Qassam rockets into southern Israel
and the Israeli army fired three missiles at the
Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza destroying
the building. [59] On 28 February 2008 Israeli
aircraft bombed a police station near the Gaza
City home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, killing
several children.

The 2008 Israel-Hamas ceasefire was an
Egyptian -brokered six-month Tahdia (an Arabic
term for a lull) "for the Gaza area", which went
into effect between Hamas and Israel on 19 June
2008,. [72][73] The ceasefire did create a six-
month long decrease in the Gaza-Israel conflict
intensity, but, according to The New York Times ,
neither side fully respected its terms. [74] Some
rockets still continued to fire from Gaza and the
Israeli blockade of Gaza was loosened but not
completely opened. Hamas hoped that the accord
would lead Israel to suspend attacks on the West
Bank and Gaza while Israel hoped that the accord
would lead to progress on negotiations for the
release of Gilad Shalit; neither hope was met. [74]
Gaza War
Main article: Gaza War
Destroyed buildings in Gaza City, January 2009
The Gaza War[75] started when Israel launched a
large military campaign in the Gaza Strip on 27
December 2008, codenamed Operation "Cast
Lead" ( Hebrew: מבצע עופרת יצוקה ), [76] with the
stated aim of stopping Hamas rocket attacks on
southern Israel and arms smuggling into Gaza.
[77][78] The conflict has also been called the
Gaza massacre in the Arab world ( Arabic: ﻣﺠﺰﺭﺓ
ﻏﺰﺓ ). [79] A fragile six-month truce between
Hamas and Israel expired on 19 December 2008.
[80] The Israeli operation began with an intense
bombardment of the Gaza Strip, [81] targeting
Hamas bases, police training camps, [82] police
headquarters and offices. [83][84] Civilian
infrastructure, including mosques, houses, medical
facilities and schools, were also attacked, as
Israel stated that many of them were used by
combatants, and as storage spaces for weapons
and rockets. [85] Hamas intensified its rocket and
mortar attacks against targets in Israel
throughout the conflict, hitting previously
untargeted cities such as Beersheba and Ashdod .
[86][87] On 3 January 2009, the Israeli ground
invasion began.[88][89] Human rights groups and
aid organisations have accused Hamas and Israel
of war crimes. [90][91][92] An estimated
1,166-1,417 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in
the conflict. [93][94][95] The conflict came to an
end on 18 January after first Israel and then
Hamas announced unilateral ceasefires. [96][97]
On 21 January, Israel completed its withdrawal
from the Gaza Strip. [98] On 2 March, it was
reported that international donors had pledged $
4.5 billion in aid for the Palestinians, mainly for
rebuilding Gaza after Israel's offensive. [99] This
war is considered to be the largest, devastating
and deadliest military operation in Gaza since the
Six-day war in 1967. [100]
March 2010 events
Further information: March 2010 Israel-Gaza
clashes
On 26 March 2010, two Israeli soldiers and two
Hamas militants were killed during clashes on the
Gaza Strip's southern border. Two other soldiers
were wounded during the fighting which broke out
east of the town of Khan Younis. They are the
first Israeli soldiers to have been killed in hostile
fire in or around Gaza since Israel's major
offensive there in January 2009, according to the
BBC. [101]
2011 cross-border attack
Main article: 2011 southern Israel cross-border
attacks
On 18 August 2011, a series of cross-border
attacks was carried out in southern Israel near
the Egyptian border, by a squad of militants. The
militants first opened fire at civilian bus. [102]
[103] Several minutes later, a bomb was
detonated next to an Israeli army patrol along
Israel's border with Egypt. In a third attack, an
anti-tank missile hit a private vehicle, killing four
civilians.
Operation "Returning Echo"
Main article: March 2012 Gaza–Israel clashes
During the second week of March 2012, Israeli
Defense Forces (IDF) initiated Operation
"Returning Echo". It was the worst outbreak of
violence covered by the media in the region since
the 2008–09 Operation "Cast Lead" (the Gaza
War).
Operation "Pillar of Defense"
Main article: Operation Pillar of Defense
Destroyed house in Gaza City, December 2012
Attacks by Israel and Gazans grew intense late in
October 2012. An Israeli air strike killed Ahmed
Jabari, chief of the Hamas military wing in Gaza.
[104] During the operation, four Israeli civilians
and one soldier were killed by Palestinian rocket
fire, [105] according to Palestinian Centre for
Human Rights 158 Palestinians had been killed, of
which: 102 were civilians, 55 militants and one
was policeman. 30 children and 13 women were
among the killed, [106] while the Israel Defense
Forces presented statistics showing that out of
177 Palestinians killed, 120 were militants. [107]
Most of the fighting was by bombs, aerial
attacks, artillery, and rockets; the rockets being
primarily used by the Palestinians and air strikes
primarily by the Israelis. Attacked locations
include Beersheva , Tel Aviv , Ashdod , Ofakim ,
Gaza , the rest of the Gaza Strip, the Shaar
Hanegev , and Eshkol Regional Council . The
United States, United Kingdom, Canada , Germany
and other Western countries expressed support for
Israel's right to defend itself, and/or [clarification
needed ] condemned the Palestinian rocket attacks
on Israel.

pics

may naija never turn into gaza..thee we pray