This is a list of engagements during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, encompassing land, naval, and air engagements as well as campaigns, operations, defensive lines and sieges. Campaigns generally refer to broader strategic operations conducted over a large territory and over a long period. Battles generally refer to short periods of intense combat localised to a specific area and over a specific period.
Engagements
Massacres
Roughly 2,500 Hamas militants launched coordinated attacks on Israeli outposts and settlements on 7 October 2023, burning houses, killing hundreds of civilians, and kidnapping hundreds more to Gaza. Hamas launched over 5,000 rockets on the same day. Israel responded by declaring a state of war and initiating airstrikes on Gaza.
While the total casualties remains uncertain, at least 684 civilians were murdered in those initial attacks, and at least 200 civilians were abducted into Gaza Strip. Other civilians were kidnapped for a time but rescued through counterattacks. By the end of the first days of the attack, roughly 1,400 people had been killed in Israel — mostly Israeli civilians but including over 100 foreign nationals. This was the bloodiest massacre in Israel's history.