The war began after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken.
Israel's military campaign in Gaza has since killed 73,066 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Netanyahu faces an ICC arrest warrant and declining domestic support ahead of Israeli elections, while the conflict has expanded beyond Gaza to include confrontations involving Iran and Hezbollah.
Today marks the 1,000th day since the Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas fighters crossed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Since then, all the hostages or their remains have been freed or returned.
In retaliation, Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza that has killed 73,066 Palestinians as of Tuesday, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct of the war in Gaza has drawn widespread international criticism from human rights organisations and countries including France, Canada and the United Kingdom over the humanitarian impact of Israel's military campaign; including allegations of genocide by UN Commission.
A day after the Hamas-led attack, Israel's cabinet formally declared war on Hamas, and the defence minister ordered the military to impose a "complete siege" on Gaza.
A week-long ceasefire in late November 2023 led to the first exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. After the truce collapsed, Israeli forces launched a ground offensive centred on Khan Younis before shifting operations to Rafah between May and July 2024 to seize control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egyptian border, further isolating Gaza.
In October 2024, Israel expanded its offensive into northern Gaza, targeting the Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahiya while imposing a siege aimed at creating a deeper security buffer along the border. Operations later extended to Beit Hanoun in November 2024.
By August 2025, about 1.9 million people,roughly 90 percent of Gaza's population, had been displaced, with much of the enclave facing acute or catastrophic levels of food insecurity. “This is irrefutable testimony… It is a famine, the Gaza famine,” UN relief chief Tom Fletcher told reporters in Geneva.
In October 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire as part of a broader 20-point framework intended to end the conflict, disarm Hamas and oversee Gaza's reconstruction under a new civilian administration.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas released all surviving Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza. Following the release of the final living captives on October 13, Hamas began returning the remains of deceased hostages, completing its obligations under the agreement. Israel has freed about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
As for humanitarian aid, COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for coordinating civilian affairs and aid access to Gaza, said in October last year that no fuel or cooking gas would be allowed into the enclave except for specific humanitarian infrastructure needs, Reuters reported.
The United Nations said in mid-February that it continued to face significant obstacles in delivering lifesaving assistance across Gaza. In a February report, Human Rights Watch said Israeli restrictions on aid continued to drive shortages of medicines, reconstruction materials, food and water throughout the territory.
In a separate statement announcing the closure of Gaza's border crossings, COGAT said enough food had entered the enclave since the ceasefire began to meet four times the population's needs, though it did not provide evidence to support the claim. The agency added that "the existing stock is expected to suffice for an extended period."
Since the truce took effect, at least 1,053 Palestinians have been killed and 3,406 others wounded, according to Gaza's Government Media Office, which says it has documented 3,465 Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.
Despite the truce, the Israeli military has continued expanding the territory under its control in Gaza while issuing new displacement orders, Al Jazeera reported. It has barred Palestinians from entering areas beyond the so-called "Yellow Line", effectively placing about 53 percent of the enclave off limits to residents.
By March, the restricted area had expanded to 64 percent of Gaza, with Israeli forces displacing residents and demolishing many of the remaining buildings within those zones. On May 28 this year, Netanyahu said he had instructed the military to extend its control to more than 70 percent of the Gaza Strip.
Key issues in the agreement remain unresolved, including the disarmament of Hamas and the future governance of Gaza. Hamas’s political leader abroad Khaled Meshaal told Al Jazeera in February that disarmament will make Gazans an easy target.
“In the context that our people are still under occupation, talking about disarmament is an attempt to make our people an easy victim to be eliminated and easily exterminated by Israel, which is armed with all international weaponry,” he said.
The Board of Peace was also constituted, which has made little progress. In November, the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution recognising the governing board, describing it as a transitional and temporary administration that "will set the framework, and coordinate funding for the redevelopment of Gaza" under Trump's peace plan until the Palestinian Authority completes agreed reforms.
Palestine is not a member, but Israel and Netanyahu are part of the board. The Guardian recently reported that the Board of Peace is seeking a sweeping grant of legal immunity. The draft would also allow the body to acquire public property in Gaza free of charge.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu. On November 21, 2024, the body alleged responsibility for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts, allegedly committed between at least October 8, 2023, and May 20, 2024.
Netanyahu has rejected the allegations, and Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.
The war has also come at a significant cost to Israel, both in military casualties and in public support for Netanyahu. Israel is due to hold elections by the end of October, and more than 60 percent of Israelis believe Netanyahu should not seek another term, according to a poll published last month by the Israel Democracy Institute.
The conflict has also widened beyond Gaza, with Israel and US carrying out military operations against Iran, and Israel also attacking the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Although a fragile ceasefire between US and Iran, continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon have fuelled concerns about renewed escalation.
Commenting on the regional tensions while defending Trump's newly signed memorandum with Iran, US Vice President JD Vance said: "If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world."
