Saturday 7 October
Hamas launches an unprecedented sea, air and ground offensive against Israel. The group fires a barrage of rockets towards Israeli cities and thousands of militants breach the frontier fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel.
This footage shows a section of the border fence being bulldozed:
The militants murder Israeli civilians in their homes, on the streets of their communities and at other locations along a broad swathe of territory bordering Gaza. Dozens of people are taken hostage.
This map shows the Israeli communities infiltrated by Hamas militants:
This composite image shows houses, cars and fields on fire in some of the communities attacked by Hamas:
Israel retaliates with major strikes across the Gaza Strip.
Sunday 8 October
Israel formally declares war on Hamas and orders the evacuation of civilians from towns villages and kibbutzim near the Gaza border, as the horror of Saturday’s atrocities emerges in more detail.
This annotated satellite image shows some of the communities that were overrun by militants:
This drone footage shows the aftermath of the attack on the Supernova festival, where at least 260 people were gunned down as part of the deadliest attack on Israel in decades.
Monday 9 October
Israel bombards Gaza, declaring a “complete siege” of the Strip, cutting off water, food and power supplies, and drafts 300,000 reservists.
The death toll on Israeli soil rises to 900, while in Gaza medics say 680 Palestinians have died. This map identifies the Israeli communities ordered to evacuate around Gaza in advance of a possible ground invasion:
Tuesday 10 October
Israel recovers the bodies of more than 1,500 Hamas fighters, as more stories emerge of Israelis killed near the border.
Residents of Gaza describe bombardments striking residential buildings, hospitals and schools across the enclave. This map and image composite shows some of the sites hit in Gaza City on Tuesday:
Wednesday 11 October
Gaza’s sole power station runs out of fuel amid a tightening siege, as the Israeli bombardment continues. This satellite image composite shows the impact of the power cut:
Israel says it has regained full control of the area around Gaza and designates it a closed military zone.
Footage emerges showing Hamas fighters entering Israeli communities on Saturday:
Thursday 12 October
Israel says there will be no humanitarian break to its siege of the Gaza Strip until all its hostages are freed, amid growing concern over dwindling water, food and fuel supplies after a fifth night of bombardment.
This footage shows buildings reduced to rubble in Gaza City’s Rimal neighbourhood:
The UN says the number of people internally displaced by the airstrikes has soared 30% within 24 hours, two-thirds of them crowding into UN schools. This annotated map shows where people are displaced as of Thursday:
Friday 13 October
Israel’s military delivers sweeping evacuation orders for almost half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people before an expected ground offensive. The military tells civilians of Gaza City to flee farther south into the Gaza Strip:
A group of journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon are hit by shelling, with one killed and six injured.
Saturday 14 October
Details emerge of an Israeli airstrike along one of the roads – Salah-al-Din – on Friday that hit a civilian evacuation convoy, killing a reported 70 people including children. It happened less than an hour before the IDF said it had identified two “safe routes” for people evacuating south through Gaza.
Sunday 15 October
Netanyahu convenes the first meeting of Israel’s expanded emergency war cabinet at a military headquarters in Tel Aviv, as the number of people moving into the southern part Gaza near the Egyptian border city of al-Arish reaches 600,000.
An Israeli airstrike causes extensive damage to the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza:
Hamas’s weekend attack and rocket fire have killed more than 1,300 people in Israel, mostly civilians. The Palestinian health ministry said 2,329 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, had been killed by Israeli bombardment on Gaza.