Devastation Israel exacted a terrible price for 7 October attack

Israel began bombing Gaza on 7 October 2023 after Hamas crossed the border, killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage to Gaza.

- Emma Graham-Harrison

When ground operations began a week later, most observers expected the fighting to last weeks. Instead, it extended for 15 months, until yesterday's announcement of a ceasefire, to become Israel's longest war since the 1948 conflict that led to the country's creation.

The majority of those killed by militants on 7 October were civilians, and the scale and ferocity of the attack was unprecedented. So was the scale and ferocity of Israel's response. After one brief ceasefire and hostage release deal in November 2023, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to keep fighting, promising "total victory" over Hamas.

The impact of the campaign on civilians in Gaza led to accusations of genocide, including from rights groups and foreign governments. South Africa brought a case to the international court of justice. Omer Bartov, a former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier and historian of genocide, wrote that by May 2024 "it was no longer possible to deny that Israel was engaged in systematic war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal actions". The UN Human Rights Office said in November that data on verified deaths indicated "an apparent indifference to the death of civilians and the impact of the means and methods of warfare".

Even Israel's staunchest ally, the US, restricted some weapons shipments over the concerns, and in September the UK suspended some arms export licences over Israel's conduct of the war. Netanyahu and his former minister of defence Yoav Gallant have been issued with arrest warrants by the international criminal court for alleged war crimes relating to the conflict. Hamas's military leader, Mohammed Deif, has also been issued with an arrest warrant.

Below is a summary of the cost of the war for Gaza and its people.

The dead and wounded in Gaza