Zain Hussain
Following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which around 1200 Israelis were killed, Israel launched an intensive military campaign in Gaza, with the stated aims of destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities and bringing home 251 hostages taken during the incursion. This military campaign has continued, with little interruption, for the past two years.
As of 28 September 2025, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports a cumulative total of over 66 000 direct conflict-related Palestinian fatalities in Gaza since 7 October 2023, as well as 369 verified deaths from malnutrition. The Israeli campaign has included airstrikes and ground assaults that have damaged or destroyed hospitals, schools and emergency shelters, as well as strikes or attacks on personnel and facilities of United Nations and other humanitarian actors.
A negotiated bilateral ceasefire came into effect between Hamas and Israel on 19 January 2025, part of a planned process supposed to result in the return of all remaining Israeli hostages and an end to the war. The ceasefire collapsed on 18 March, when Israel launched extensive airstrikes into Gaza.
On 16 May 2025 Israel launched Operation Gideon’s Chariots, a major escalation of its military offensive in Gaza with the stated aims of defeating Hamas, destroying its military and governmental capabilities, and increasing pressure for the release of the remaining hostages. On 8 August 2025 it was announced that the Israeli Security Cabinet had approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal for the Israel Defense Forces to take control of Gaza City in a ground assault, which eventually began on 16 September.
The high death toll and the level of destruction in Gaza have aroused growing international concern and calls from states and international organizations for Israel to adopt a less aggressive strategy, lift restrictions on humanitarian access to Gaza, and end the conflict.
Following Israel’s announcement of the planned takeover of Gaza City, the foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom, along with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, published a joint statement ‘strongly rejecting’ the decision and arguing that the plan risked ‘violating international humanitarian law’.
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