The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and Israel, fought as part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflicts. The war began on 7 October 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas led a surprise attack on Israel, in which 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Since the start of the Israeli offensive that followed, over 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed. A wide consensus of scholarship has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Following the October 7 attacks, Israel launched a bombing campaign and later invaded Gaza on 27 October after clearing militants from its territory.