Overview

From the time Israel captured the Gaza Strip in 1967 until its unilateral withdrawal in 2005, Gaza was governed by military rule. Following the withdrawal, Israel continued to control many aspects of the residents’ lives, mainly through tight supervision over the access of people, goods, and fuel to and from Gaza, as well as the provision of services. Since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, Israel has stepped up its efforts to isolate Gaza, significantly contributing to a chronic humanitarian crisis.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas led a planned and extensive attack on dozens of civilian communities and military bases in Israel, killing more than a thousand civilians and soldiers and injuring over 3,000, while committing numerous documented war crimes, including taking civilian hostages, among them infants, children, women, and the elderly, as well as soldiers, into Gaza. Israel responded with a massive military offensive that resulted in a war lasting over two years and marked by extensive harm to the civilian population, blatant violations of international law, and unprecedented levels of death, destruction, hunger, and deprivation, as detailed in this section.

Once the ceasefire entered into effect on October 10, 2025, the Israeli military withdrew to an area comprising about 58% of the Strip’s total territory, all surviving Israeli hostages were released, and some of the bodies of deceased hostages held in Gaza were returned. Thousands of Palestinian prisoners were released, bodies of Palestinians held by Israel were handed over, and the volume of humanitarian and food aid cleared to enter the Strip was increased after months of severe restrictions. While the ceasefire halted much of the direct killing and destruction, the humanitarian crisis nonetheless remains acute, and Gaza’s reconstruction, if possible given the tenuousness of the agreement, is expected to take years.

To end the war and promote recovery, reconstruction, and calm in the region, all parties must respect the agreement and their obligations under international law, and refrain from further harm to civilians. Israel must allow food and aid to enter Gaza immediately, in sufficient quantities and at the pace required. It must allow the evacuation of thousands of sick and wounded people in need of medical treatment outside the Strip, including to the West Bank; open the crossings to allow movement of civilians, goods, and aid workers; enable infrastructure repair and reconstruction in the Strip, and withdraw, with the necessary international coordination, from the areas it currently controls. Israel also has an obligation to carry out a forthright and honest investigation into what occurred during the two years of fighting, acknowledge war crimes and breaches of law, and draw the necessary conclusions.