The Israel-Hamas war — in maps and charts

Latest situation in Gaza: Death toll in Gaza crosses 40,000 as US-led mediators present ‘bridging proposal’ to end war

The death toll from Israel’s offensive in Gaza has passed 40,000, according to Palestinian health officials.

The US, Qatar and Egypt have presented a proposal that aims to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas after months of deadlock in talks to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages. 

After two days of crunch negotiations in Doha this week involving US and Israeli spy chiefs and senior Qatari and Egyptian officials, the mediators said they would meet in Cairo before the end of next week “with the aim to conclude the deal under the terms put forward today”.

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According to data from UN OCHA and Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, 594 Palestinians in the West Bank and 1,870 Israelis and foreign nationals in Israel have also been killed since October 7.

The Israel Defense Forces launched air and land offensives in Gaza in response to Hamas’s cross-border assault in southern Israel. Hamas killed more than 1,200 people during the attack and seized about 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials, who say around 100 hostages are still in captivity.

Humanitarian workers inside Gaza have faced significant danger during the conflict, with an unprecedented number also being killed.

Seven international aid workers were killed in an April strike, with Israel later admitting that its soldiers had made errors in targeting the humanitarian convoy. More than 200 employees of UNRWA, a UN agency that provides aid and support to Palestinians, have also been killed.

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After October 7, the IDF initially moved into northern Gaza before sweeping south towards Khan Younis and then Rafah. On May 24 the International Court of Justice said conditions in Rafah were “disastrous” and ordered Israel to “immediately halt” its military offensive in the city.

More than 2mn people in Gaza have been displaced by the conflict, with many leaving Rafah and some moving to al-Mawasi or other IDF-declared “humanitarian areas”.

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Regional impact: Israeli air strike kills 10 in Lebanon

An Israeli air strike in Lebanon killed 10 people on Saturday, according to local authorities, just hours after the latest round of talks to prevent the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza spiralling into a regional war wrapped up.

Israel’s military said the strike targeted a weapons storage facility near Nabatieh belonging to Hizbollah.

Lebanon’s ministry of health said that in addition to the fatalities, all of whom had Syrian nationality, the strike in the south of the country had injured at least five people. In response, Hizbollah said that it had launched a salvo of rockets at Ayelet HaShahar in northern Israel.

Hizbollah has pledged to retaliate against Israel for the killing of Fuad Shukr in response to a suspected Hizbollah missile strike that killed 12 youngsters on a football pitch in the occupied Golan Heights.

Food and water insecurity: Israel’s allies condemn far-right minister’s Gaza starvation remarks

Israel’s European allies have condemned remarks by far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich after he said the country may be justified in starving 2mn Gazans in order to force Hamas to release hostages.

Aid deliveries containing urgently needed food, water and medical supplies have not been able to enter Gaza at their usual levels since the war began.

The shortages have worsened since IDF troops took “operational control” of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on May 6.

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The struggle to access food aid, which is urgently needed to prevent Gazans slipping into famine, is forecast to have reached “catastrophic” levels.

The US built a $230mn floating pier to help get more aid into Gaza, but shipments have been affected by storms and poor sea conditions, and the project is now being mothballed.

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Since Israel launched its Gaza offensive, damage to infrastructure and lack of fuel and electricity have also led to a severe water shortage.

Before the war, Gaza sourced most of its water from an underground aquifer or Israeli state-owned water company Mekorot. According to an April UN OCHA report, two of the Mekorot pipelines have been closed and the third is operating at only partial capacity. Israel has recently moved towards reopening them after pressure from the US.

Meanwhile, only one of the six wastewater treatment plants and two of three desalination plants are partially working.

Infrastructure damage: More than half of Gaza’s buildings damaged by fighting

According to damage assessments from researchers at the CUNY Graduate Center and Oregon State University, more than half of all buildings across the Gaza Strip have suffered damage, rising to nearly 80 per cent in Gaza City.

The damage in Khan Younis and Rafah has also increased as Israel expanded its offensive from northern Gaza to the rest of the territory.

October 7 2023: Hamas attacks Israel

As much of Israel slept, Hamas militants launched an multipronged dawn assault on the country from the Gaza Strip.

The assault began in the early hours of the morning on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, with thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities. Many were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system, but satellite imagery showed fires and smoke rising from locations that were hit.

Hundreds of Hamas fighters simultaneously attacked by land, air and sea, breaching the fortified barrier between Gaza and Israel.

Militants used motorised paragliders to attack the Supernova music festival, which was taking place not far from the Gaza border. After flying in, they shot many Israelis and took others as hostages.

After breaching the Gaza fence, armed Hamas fighters targeted Israeli communities and military sites at several locations, going door-to-door and performing execution-style killings as well as taking hostages.

More than 1,200 Israeli civilians and troops were killed on October 7, according to Israeli officials — making it the deadliest attack on the country since its foundation.

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Visual and data team: Aditi Bhandari, Jana Tauschinski, Janina Conboye, Peter Andringa, Steven Bernard, Chris Campbell, Sam Joiner, Lucy Rodgers, Ian Bott, Dan Clark and Alan Smith