Israel-Gaza conflict - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Gaza–Israel conflict is a theater of the long-term Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...

in the territory of the Gaza Strip

Gaza Strip

thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...

. Palestinians' active resistance to military occupation was escalated in the territory following the overwhelming election to government of the militant Islamic political party Hamas

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

in 2005 and 2006

Palestinian legislative election, 2006

On January 25, 2006, elections were held for the Palestinian Legislative Council , the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority . Notwithstanding the 2005 municipal elections and the January 9, 2005 presidential election, this was the first election to the PLC since 1996; subsequent...

. Conflict increased following Israel's removal of all Israeli civilians and military from Gaza (completed by 12 September 2005).

Under its disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...

, Israel retained exclusive control over Gaza's airspace, continued to guard and monitor the external land perimeter of the Gaza Strip, with the exception of its southernmost border (where Egypt retained control of the border and border crossings were supervised by European monitors), and continued to monitor and blockade Gaza's coastline. Israel largely provides for and controls Gaza's water supply, electricity and communications infrastructure. According to Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

and Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

, Israel remains an occupying power

Military occupation

Military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army. The territory then becomes occupied territory.-Military occupation and the laws of war:...

under international law.

Ascendancy of Hamas

When the Islamic party Hamas won the January 2006 Palestinian legislative election, gaining a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council

Palestinian Legislative Council

The Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza...

, the conflict between Israel and Gaza intensified. Israel sealed its border with the Gaza Strip, largely preventing free flow of people and many imports and exports. Palestinian militants have been shooting Qassam rockets at Israeli settlements located near the Gaza borders, and have staged cross-border raids aimed at killing or capturing Israeli soldiers. In one such raid, on 25 June 2006, Palestinian militants captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit

Gilad Shalit

Gilad Shalit is an Israeli – French citizen and Israel Defense Forces soldier. On 25 June 2006, he was captured inside Israel by Hamas militants in a cross-border raid via underground tunnels near the border with Gaza. The Hamas militants held him for over five years, until he was released on...

, leading to massive retaliation by the Israeli army which included air strikes against Hamas targets.

In June 2007, internal fighting broke out between Hamas and Fatah

Fatah

Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...

and Hamas fully consolidated its power by staging an armed coup d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

and taking control of the Gaza Strip. Following the internecine fighting that occurred between 7 June and 15 June 2007, also known as the Battle of Gaza 2007

Battle of Gaza (2007)

The Battle of Gaza was a military conflict between Hamas and Fatah that took place between June 7 and 15, 2007 in the Gaza Strip. After winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, Hamas and Fatah formed the Palestinan authority national unity government in 2007, headed by Ismail Haniya. In...

in which 118 Palestinians were killed and over 550 were wounded, the entire Gaza Strip came under full control of a Hamas government.

As a response to the Hamas takeover, Israel sharply restricted the flow of people and goods into and out of Gaza. About 70% of Gaza's workforce has become unemployed or without pay, and about 80% of its residents live in poverty.

At the same time, Palestinian armed groups in Gaza continued firing rockets into Israel, killing several Israeli civilians, including children, and wounding many others. According to Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

, these deliberate attacks against civilians violate international humanitarian law. Because Hamas exercises power inside Gaza, it is responsible for stopping unlawful attacks even when carried out by other groups.

Second Intifada

The Second Intifada, also known as the al-Aqsa Intifada began in September 2000. Many Palestinians consider the Intifada to be a struggle of national liberation against Israeli occupation imposed on them following the 1967 War

Six-Day War

The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...

, whereas many Israelis consider it to be a terrorist

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

campaign.

Palestinian

Palestinian people

The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

tactics have ranged from carrying out mass protests and general strikes, as in the First Intifada

First Intifada

The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....

, to mounting suicide bombing attacks and firing Qassam rocket

Qassam rocket

The Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. Three models have been produced and used between 2001 and 2011....

s into east southern Israeli residential areas. Israeli tactics range from conducting mass arrests and locking up Palestinians in administrative detention

Administrative detention

Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial, usually for security reasons. A large number of countries, both democratic and undemocratic, resort to administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism, control illegal immigration, or to protect the...

through setting up checkpoints and building the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier

Israeli Gaza Strip barrier

The Israel and Egypt − Gaza Strip barrier is a separation barrier first constructed by Israel in 1994 between the Gaza Strip and Israel. An addition to the barrier was finished in 2005 to separate the Gaza Strip and Egypt....

and West Bank barrier to carrying out assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

s targeting militants and leaders of Palestinian organizations.

Since the Palestinian legislative election, 2006

Palestinian legislative election, 2006

, Israel has been negotiating with Mahmoud Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...

and the PLO, but has been simultaneously targeting and bombing Hamas activists and militants and arresting Hamas's elected legislative counsel politicians.

The Israeli NGO

Non-governmental organization

A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...

B'Tselem

B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...

maintains a list of the casualties up to the present time. The death toll, both military and civilian, over the entire period in question (2000–2007) is estimated to be over 4,300 Palestinians and over 1,000 Israelis. To date, 64 foreign citizens have also been killed (54 by Palestinians, and 10 by Israeli security forces).

Israeli Gaza Strip barrier

The Gaza Strip

Gaza Strip

has been separated from Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

by the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier

Israeli Gaza Strip barrier

since 1996, which has helped reduce infiltration into Israel. Since the beginning of the Second Intifada, Gazans are no longer permitted to enter Israel for work purposes. Special permits to enter Israel for medical purposes have also been greatly reduced.

Daniel Schueftan

Daniel Schueftan

Dan Schueftan is a senior Israeli academic and deputy director of the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, where he also serves as a senior lecturer in the School of Political Sciences...

, in his 1999 book, Disengagement: Israel and the Palestinian Entity ("The Need for Separation: Israel and the Palestinian Authority") reviews new and existing arguments underlying different separation stances, in order to make the case for separation from the Palestinians

Palestinian people

, beginning with those in the West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

and Gaza. Schueftan favors the "hard separation" stances of politicians like Yitzhak Rabin

Yitzhak Rabin

' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....

and Ehud Baron".

Yitzhak Rabin

Yitzhak Rabin

' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....

was the first to propose the creation of a physical barrier between the Israeli and Palestinian populations in 1992, and by 1994, construction on the first barrier - the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier

Israeli Gaza Strip barrier

- had begun. Following an attack on Bet Lid, near the city of Netanya

Netanya

Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...

, Rabin specified the objectives behind the undertaking, stating that,

"This path must lead to a separation, though not according to the borders prior to 1967. We want to reach a separation between us and them. We do not want a majority of the Jewish residents of the state of Israel, 98% of whom live within the borders of sovereign Israel, including a united Jerusalem, to be subject to terrorism."

Israel's Unilateral Disengagement

Israel implemented its Disengagement Plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

in August–September 2005, withdrawing its civilian and military presence from the Gaza Strip, and retaining control over the Gaza airspace, maritime access and borders even with Egypt according to the 2005 agreement with Palestinian authority. While Qassam rockets were fired regularly even prior to the Israeli disengagement, the frequency of Qassam attacks increased after the Disengagement from Gaza. Since there are no Israeli targets inside the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants have targeted military bases and civilian towns located on the borders or outside of the Gaza Strip.

The Qassam rocket

Qassam rocket

attacks by Hamas against Israel started in the year 2000 in response to the Israeli occupation in Gaza and West bank and have continued since then. Thirteen Israelis have been killed and hundreds injured as a result of Qassam rocket fire at Israeli targets. Additionally, Qassam rocket attacks have resulted in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in both children and adults, with 33% of children living in Sderot

Sderot

Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...

suffering from PTSD.

The Palestinian death toll since 2000 reached over 4600 people, more than 1000 have been killed and about 5000 injured in the 2008-2009 Israeli offensive against Gaza alone. This offensive started in Saturday 2008-12-27 with massive air strikes on all Palestinian government buildings.

2004 Israel-Gaza conflict

The 2004 Israel-Gaza conflict

2004 Israel-Gaza conflict

The 2004 Israel–Gaza conflict refers to the series of battles between Palestinian militants and the Israel Defense Forces . IDF carried out airstrikes and land incursions after several qassam rocket attacks on Israel...

refers to the series of battles between Palestinian militants

Palestinian political violence

Palestinian political violence refers to acts of violence undertaken to further the Palestinian cause. These political objectives include self-determination in and sovereignty over Palestine, the liberation of Palestine and establishment of a Palestinian state, either in place of both Israel and...

and the Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

(IDF). Several Qassam rocket

Qassam rocket

attacks on Israel (Sderot

Sderot

and the Negev

Negev

The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...

) lead 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

Military operation

Military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state's favor. Operations may be of combat or non-combat types, and are referred to by a code name for the purpose...

from 18 May 2004 to 23 May 2004 in Rafah

Rafah

Rafah , also known as Rafiah, is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. Located south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,003 is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees. Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities. Rafah is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate...

to clear terrorist

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

infrastructure, find smuggling tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, and kill militant

Militant

The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...

s after the deaths of 13 Israeli soldiers in guerrilla

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

attacks. Israel said the operation was also aimed at preventing a shipment of Strela-2 (SA-7 Grail) anti-aircraft missiles, AT-3 Sagger

AT-3 Sagger

The 9K11 Malyutka is a Manual Command to Line-of-Sight wire-guided anti-tank guided missile developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first man-portable anti-tank guided missile of the Soviet Union and is probably the most widely produced ATGM of all time—with Soviet production peaking at...

anti-tank guided missile

Anti-tank guided missile

An anti-tank missile , anti-tank guided missile , anti-tank guided weapon or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored military vehicles....

s, and other long-range rockets which are stored on the Egyptian side of the border from being smuggled through tunnels into the Gaza Strip. http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1084677182465

Operation Days of Penitence an IDF

Israel Defense Forces

operation in the northern Gaza Strip, conducted between 30 September 2004 and 15 October 2004 focused on Beit Hanoun

Beit Hanoun

Beit Hanoun is a city on the north-east edge of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 32,187 in mid-year 2006. It is administered by the Palestinian Authority...

, Beit Lahia

Beit Lahia

Beit Lahia is a city located north of Jabalia, near Beit Hanoun and the 1949 Armistice Line with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of 59,540 in mid-year 2006. Hamas, an Islamist party, took control of it during the 2005 municipal...

and Jabalia

Jabalia

Jabalia also Jabalya is a Palestinian city located north of Gaza City. It is under the jurisdiction of the North Gaza Governorate, in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Jabalia had a population of 82,877 in mid-year 2006...

refugee camp, which were used as launching sites of Qassam rocket

Qassam rocket

s on Sderot

Sderot

and Israeli settlement

Israeli settlement

An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...

s 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 Israel-Gaza conflict

The 2006 Israel-Gaza conflict

2006 Israel-Gaza conflict

The 2006 Israel–Gaza conflict refers to the series of battles between Palestinian militants and the Israel Defense Forces . Large-scale conventional warfare beyond the peripheries of the Gaza Strip began when Israel launched Operation Summer Rains , the codename for an IDF military operation in the...

refers to the series of battles between Palestinian militants and the Israel Defense Forces. Large-scale conventional warfare

Conventional warfare

Conventional warfare is a form of warfare conducted byusing conventional military weapons and battlefield tactics between two or more states in open confrontation. The forces on each side are well-defined, and fight using weapons that primarily target the opposing army...

beyond the peripheries of the Gaza Strip began when Israel launched "Operation Summer Rains" the codename for Operation Summer Rains suboperations

Operation Summer Rains suboperations

Operation Summer Rains suboperations were the Israel Defense Forces' military operations launched as part of Operation Summer Rains in 2006.-Operation Southern Shalit :An operation in southern Gaza which began on June 28...

including Operation Autumn Clouds

Operation Autumn Clouds (2006)

Operation Autumn Clouds is an Israeli military operation that began on 1 November 2006, following numerous Rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel, when the Israeli Defense Forces entered the Gaza Strip triggering sporadic fighting near Beit Hanoun...

in the Gaza Strip that began on 28 June 2006, and its first major mobilization into the Gaza Strip since Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

was implemented between August and September 2005.

Palestinian militants abducted Corporal Gilad Shalit

Gilad Shalit

.

Israel maintains that it mobilized thousands of troops in order to suppress Qassam rocket

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. On the Palestinian side, over 1,300 Qassam rockets have been fired into Israel from September 2000 to 21 December 2006. Israeli forces are also continuing 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

European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah

The European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah is, after the European Union Police Mission for the Gaza Strip , the EU's second Civilian Crisis Management Mission in the Gaza Strip. It is situated at the Rafah Border Crossing on the Palestinian-Egyptian border...

) for security reasons, specifically possible weapons transfers and uninhibited return of exiled extremist leaders and terrorists. As of 18 October 2006, Israel has discovered 20 tunnels used for illegal arms smuggling under the border of the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Israel had said it would withdraw from the Strip and end the operation as soon as Shalit was released. 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

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

-led government and at destabilizing the Palestinian National Authority

Palestinian National Authority

The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...

, citing the targeting of civilian infrastructure such as a power station

Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....

and the captures of government and parliament

Palestinian Legislative Council

The Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza...

members. Some 300 terrorists had been targeted by the IDF in the Gaza Strip since the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit.
On 26 November, a ceasefire

Ceasefire

A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces...

was signed by militant 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 militant (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

Jenin

Jenin is the largest town in the Northern West Bank, and the third largest city overall. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, the city had a population of 120,004 not including the adjacent refugee...

.

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

Beit Lahia

in the Gaza Strip. The incident received considerable attention from news media worldwide, with blame for the explosion hotly disputed in the following weeks.

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

Beit Hanoun

, killing 19 Palestinians and wounding more than 40. 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.

The 2006 Franco–Italian–Spanish Middle East Peace Plan

2006 Franco–Italian–Spanish Middle East Peace Plan

On 2006-11-16, France, Italy and Spain announced a new Middle East peace plan proposed by Spanish Premier José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero during talks with French president Jacques Chirac. Later on, the plan was introduced to Romano Prodi, Italy's prime minister who gave his full support to the plan...

was proposed after Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in Operation Autumn Clouds

Operation Autumn Clouds (2006)

by Spanish Premier

Prime Minister of Spain

The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...

during talks with French president Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

. Italy's prime minister Romano Prodi

Romano Prodi

Romano Prodi is an Italian politician and statesman. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy, from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008...

gave his full support to the plan.

2007–2008 Israel-Gaza conflict

The 2007–2008 Israel-Gaza conflict refers to a series of battles between Palestinian militants

Palestinian political violence

and the Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

(IDF) that began in mid-May 2007. Palestinians fired more than 220 Qassam rocket

Qassam rocket

attacks on Israel (Sderot

Sderot

and the western Negev

Negev

) in more than a week. The Israeli Air Force fired missiles and bombs into Gaza. The fighting came amid serious Palestinian factional violence

Fatah-Hamas conflict

The Fatah–Hamas conflict , also referred to as the Palestinian Civil War , and the Conflict of Brothers , i.e...

and reports of growing level of humanitarian crisis in the region. 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

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

into ending the rocket attacks and to deprive them of the supplies necessary for the continuation of rocket attacks. Israel's decision to cut fuel supplies to Gaza were widely condemned as "collective punishment."

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.

2008 Israel-Gaza conflict

By January 2008, the economic effects of Israel's blockade on Gaza reached a critical threshold, according to a United Nations study. Finally, on 17 January 2008, Israel sealed the border completely following a rise in rocket attacks. The breach of the Gaza-Egypt border

Breach of the Gaza-Egypt border (2008)

The breach of the Gaza-Egypt border began on January 23, 2008, after Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip set off an explosion near the Rafah Border Crossing, destroying part of the Israel and Egypt – Gaza Strip barrier. The United Nations estimates that as many as half the 1.5 million population of...

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

Israeli Gaza Strip barrier

. The United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

estimates that as many as half the 1.5 million population of the Gaza Strip crossed the border into Egypt

Egypt

seeking food and supplies.

Conflict continued on 27 February 2008 as 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. On 28 February 2008 Israeli aircraft bombed a police station near the Gaza City home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya

Ismail Haniya

Ismail Haniyeh ; is a senior political leader of Hamas and one of two disputed Prime Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority, the matter being under political and legal dispute. He became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won...

, killing several children. The Israeli military says its air and ground operations against militants firing rockets from northern Gaza have hit at least 23 armed Palestinians, while Palestinian sources have reported higher death tolls and say many civilians have also been killed.

Israel began its air and ground operations on 29 February. The IDF's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 100 Palestinians in less than a week. Palestinians fired 150 rockets at Israel which killed three Israelis. The United States called for an end to clashes between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas

, has accused Israel of "international terrorism", saying its assault on Gaza constitutes "more than a holocaust." On 3 March Abbas suspended all contact with Israel over its assault on Gaza as the Israeli government sent warplanes to hit more targets early on Monday and vowed to continue its offensive.
The European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

condemned what it called "disproportionate use of force" by the Israeli military in Gaza after 54 Palestinians were killed in the highest casualty toll for a single day since fighting erupted in 2000.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...

also issued a condemnation of what he termed Israel's "excessive and disproportionate" response, and called on Israel "to cease such attacks", while denouncing the ongoing rocket attacks on Sderot

Sderot

and Ashkelon

Ashkelon

Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...

. In the Muslim world, demonstrators took to the streets to protest the IDF attacks. Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

's Supreme Leader

Supreme leader

A supreme leader typically refers to a figure in the highest leadership position of an entity, group, organization, or state, who exercises strong or all-powerful authority over it. In religion, the supreme leader or supreme leaders is God or Gods...

Ayatollah

Ayatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries. The next lower clerical rank is Hojatoleslam wal-muslemin...

Ali Khamenei

Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...

called on Muslims to rise up and their leaders to hit Israel "in the face with their nations' anger." In Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

, hundreds of Hezbollah supporters gathered at the Fatima Gate at the border between Lebanon and Israel, shouting "Death to Israel" and waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags. In Egypt

Egypt

, thousands of students held protests at universities across the country calling on Arab leaders to stop Israeli aggression and support the Palestinians. Some protesters burned Israeli and American flags. About 10,000 protesters, mainly from Jordan's mainstream Muslim Brotherhood

Muslim Brotherhood

The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...

and smaller opposition groups, took to the streets in one of the country's most vocal and largest anti-Israeli demonstrations in recent years. Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

meanwhile compared the IDF offensive to "Nazi war crimes" and called on the international community to stop what it called the "mass killings" of Palestinians. Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...

said that the IDF attacks can have "no humanitarian justification" and added that Israel was rejecting a "diplomatic solution" to the dispute. Most Israeli tanks and troops pulled out of northern Gaza 3 March 2008, and an Israel Defense Forces spokesman confirmed that the Israeli military was ending offensive operations there after five days.

On 29 February 2008, the Israeli military launced Operation Hot Winter

Operation Hot Winter

Operation Hot Winter, also called Operation Warm Winter was an Israel Defense Forces military campaign in the Gaza Strip, launched on February 29, 2008 in response to Qassam rockets fired from the Strip by Hamas...

, also called "Operation Warm Winter", in response to Qassam rocket

Qassam rocket

s fired from the Strip by Hamas. The Israeli army killed 112 Palestinians, and Palestinian militants killed three Israelis. More than 150 Palestinians and seven Israelis have been injured.

There was widespread international alarm at the scale of the operation, with the US state department encouraging Israel to exercise caution to avoid the loss of innocent life, and the European Union

European Union

and the United Nations

United Nations

criticising Israel's "disproportionate use of force". The European Union also demanded an immediate end to Palestinian militant rocket attacks on Israel and urged Israel to halt activities that endanger civilians, saying they were "in violation of international law

International law

Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

2009 Israel-Gaza conflict

The Gaza War started when Israel launched a military campaign in the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008, codenamed Operation Cast Lead , with the stated aim of stopping Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel and arms smuggling into Gaza. The conflict has also been called the Gaza massacre in the Arab world

Arab world

The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...

. A fragile six-month truce between Hamas and Israel

2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire

-Background: After its victory in the 2006 municipal legislative elections, Hamas assumed administrative control of Gaza. Hamas consolidated this control over Gaza after a military conflict with Fatah. Israel and Egypt then partially sealed their border crossings with Gaza, on the grounds that...

expired on 19 December 2008. The Israeli operation began with an intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip, targeting Hamas bases, police training camps, police headquarters and offices. 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. Hamas intensified its rocket and mortar attacks against targets in Israel throughout the conflict, hitting previously untargeted cities such as Beersheba

Beersheba

Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....

and Ashdod. On 3 January 2009, the Israeli ground invasion began. Human rights groups and aid organisations have accused Hamas and Israel of war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s. An estimated 1,166-1,417 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the conflict. The conflict came to an end on 18 January after first Israel and then Hamas announced unilateral ceasefires. On 21 January, Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. 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.

January 2010 Gaza Tunnels airstrike

The January 2010 Gaza Tunnels air strike took place on 2 January 2010, when the Israeli Air Force

Israeli Air Force

The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...

were ordered to attack two tunnels along the Gaza-Israel border and to attack militants in the area however no militants were killed, but two were injured. The two tunnels were blown up and rendered useless after the attacks.

The attacks were called on after rocket and mortar fire from Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. It escalated the current political violence in the enclave, along the border. The militants had previously launched attacks into Israel, and it appeared the early warning system for such attacks, installed after the Gaza War, did not go off. Many say the 'lull' in violence after the December 2008-January 2009 war was 'broken'.

26 March 2010 clash

On 26 March 2010, Two Israeli soldiers and two Hamas militiants 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.

Ascendancy of Hamas

Second Intifada

Israeli Gaza Strip barrier

Israel's Unilateral Disengagement

2004 Israel-Gaza conflict

2006 Israel-Gaza conflict

2007–2008 Israel-Gaza conflict

2008 Israel-Gaza conflict

2009 Israel-Gaza conflict

January 2010 Gaza Tunnels airstrike

26 March 2010 clash

See also