War on Gaza Timeline

The following is a timeline of events leading to the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip that began on December 27 with ‘Israel's' aerial bombardment of Hamas-linked compounds in the coastal sliver:

2008

June 19: An Egyptian mediated ceasefire begins between Hamas and ‘Israel'. The Palestinian movement agrees to stop firing rockets as ‘Israel' accepts to gradually ease its embargo on the Gaza Strip.

July 27: Israel kills Shihab al-Natsheh, a senior Hamas fighter, in his house in the West Bank city of al-Khalil.

August 2: Three Hamas police officers and six pro-Fatah gunmen are killed in factional fighting in the Gaza Strip, the worst of such since June 2007.

October 8: ‘Israel' prevents Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) from entering the embattled Gaza Strip.

November 5: ‘Israel' raids houses in the Hamas-controlled region and arrests seven Palestinians.

'Israel' attacks areas inside Gaza, killing at least six Palestinians. Ghassan el-Taramse, a nineteen-year-old Palestinian activist, is killed in an ‘Israeli' air raid in the northern parts of the coastal sliver.

Palestinians fire several dozen rockets and mortar shells at western Negev in ‘Israel' in retaliation. No casualties or property damage is caused, but three women are treated for shock.

November 8: Israel violates the ongoing truce as its tanks and bulldozers cross the southern border of the Gaza Strip.

November 14: Hamas fires a barrage of homemade rockets at the city of Ashkelon. Four rockets are also fired into western Negev after Israeli air strikes wounded two people in Gaza.

November 15: ‘Israeli' air strike kills two Palestinians in the town of Beit Hanoun in Gaza.

November 18: ‘Israeli' tanks backed by a bulldozer and a military jeep roll half a kilometer into Gaza. The ‘Israeli' army claims the incursion is "a routine operation to uncover explosive devices near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip."

November 20: An ‘Israeli' tank fires shells, killing a Palestinian fighter east of Gaza City.

November 23: The ‘Israeli' army wounds two Palestinian residents while shelling homes in various cities in the strip.

November 28: ‘Israeli' forces backed by tanks enter the southern parts of the coastal region and kill two Palestinians.

November 29: Projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip wound eight ‘Israeli' soldiers in an army base in the town of Nahal Uz.

December 02: The ‘Israeli' army launches air strikes into southern Gaza and kills at least two civilians and wounding four others.

December 17: Five Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip injure two ‘Israelis' in the southern town of Sderot.

December 18: A Palestinian man is killed in Jabaliya as ‘Israeli' aircraft target metal workshops in the towns of Jabaliya and Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. The ‘Israeli' military claims the targets are used to manufacture rockets.

December 19: The six-month truce officially ends.

December 20: ‘Israel' launches air strikes on the northern Gazan town of Beit Lahiya, killing one Palestinian and wounding two others.

December 21: Palestinian resistance fighters fire rockets into Sderot and Negev and one ‘Israeli' is wounded.

December 22: A twenty-four hour truce is declared between ‘Israel' and armed Palestinian factions at the request of Egyptian mediators.

December 23: The twenty-four hour truce expires.

Clashes between ‘Israeli' forces and Palestinian resistance fighters leave three members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades dead along the border fence in northern Gaza.

Six Qassam rockets are fired into western Negev. The rocket attacks do not hit any targets in ‘Israel'.

December 24: Gaza fighters fire two dozen mortar shells at three different targets inside Israel.

An ‘Israeli' air raid kills a Palestinian and wounds two others in southern Gaza.

December 27: ‘Israeli' F16 bombers and apache helicopters carry out at least 30 simultaneous raids on various targets across the Gaza strip. The operation kills at least 230 and wounds hundreds of Palestinians.

Hamas launches rockets from Gaza and kills one Israeli in the southern town of Netivot.

December 28: ‘Israel' begins a fresh wave of air strikes. ‘Israel' deploys tanks and troops along the Gaza border.

A Hamas missile strikes near the largest city in the south of the occupied lands, the deepest reach into Israel to the date.

December 29: The third day of attacks on the strip brings the death toll to 345. At least 1,550 Palestinians are reported wounded.