Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2023–present)

On 27 October 2023, Israel launched an ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip with the stated goals of destroying Hamas, a military and political movement that led an attack on Israel earlier in the month, and to free hostages taken by the group. Before the invasion, dubbed Operation Swords of Iron, Israel declared war, tightened its blockade, and ordered the evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip.

More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israeli operation, including more than 13,000 children and 9,000 women, with another 7,000 people missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. By mid-December, Israel had dropped 29,000 munitions on Gaza, destroying or damaging 70 percent of homes, destroying hundreds of cultural landmarks, and damaging dozens of cemeteries. Experts say that the scale and pace of destruction in Gaza is among the most severe in recent history.

A severe humanitarian crisis has developed, with healthcare in a state of collapse, shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel due to the blockade, electricity and communications blackouts, and the UN warning of potential famine. It was widely reported that there is "no safe place in Gaza" as Israel struck areas it had previously told Palestinians to evacuate to. The widespread civilian deaths have led to accusations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million population have been internally displaced and around 250,000–500,000 Israelis were internally displaced, while thousands of Palestinians have been detained by Israel, and Israel has stated it lost 225 additional soldiers in its invasion as of 4 February 2024.

As a result of the invasion, South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), charging that Israel was guilty of committing a genocide, and requesting that the ICJ render provisional measures of protection.