Israel Dossier
Since 1948, Israel has survived repeated wars — and signed peace every time a partner was willing. A factual, dated, sourced timeline.
Back to the Israel dossierEach event is summarized in two sentences, without polemics, with its source.
On May 14, 1948, immediately after Israel's declaration of independence, the armies of five Arab states invaded the territory of the former British Mandate. Fighting ended with the armistice agreements concluded between February and July 1949.
Source: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, « The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 » — https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/arab-israeli-war (consulté le 2026-07-05)
In late October 1956, after the nationalization of the Suez Canal and the blockade of the Straits of Tiran, Israel entered the Sinai, followed by a Franco-British intervention. Under U.S. and Soviet pressure, Israel withdrew from Sinai in March 1957.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, « Arab-Israeli wars » — https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-Israeli-wars (consulté le 2026-07-05)
From June 5 to 10, 1967, after the blockade of the Straits of Tiran and the massing of Egyptian troops in Sinai, Israel fought Egypt, Jordan and Syria. In six days Israel captured the Sinai, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, « Arab-Israeli wars » — https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-Israeli-wars (consulté le 2026-07-05)
After 1967, Egypt waged a war of attrition along the Suez Canal through artillery duels and raids, most intense from March 1969 to mid-1970. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect in August 1970.
Source: Tsahal (IDF), « What Was the War of Attrition? (1967–1970) » — https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/wars-and-operations/the-war-of-attrition/ ; Encyclopaedia Britannica — https://www.britannica.com/event/War-of-Attrition-1969-1970 (consultés le 2026-07-05)
On October 6, 1973, Yom Kippur day, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack in the Sinai and on the Golan. After heavy losses and an Israeli military turnaround, a ceasefire took hold with UN Resolution 340 on October 25, 1973.
Source: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, « The 1973 Arab-Israeli War » — https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/arab-israeli-war-1973 (consulté le 2026-07-05)
On June 6, 1982, after the attempted assassination of its ambassador in London and years of PLO attacks from Lebanon, Israel invaded southern Lebanon and besieged Beirut. Israel then maintained a security zone in South Lebanon until its withdrawal in May 2000.
Source: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, « The Reagan Administration and Lebanon, 1981–1984 » — https://history.state.gov/milestones/1981-1988/lebanon (consulté le 2026-07-05)
A Palestinian uprising that began in December 1987 in the Gaza Strip and then the West Bank: riots, stone-throwing, strikes and attacks, met with repression and a heavy human toll on both sides. It ended with the signing of the Oslo Accords in September 1993.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, « intifada » — https://www.britannica.com/topic/intifada (consulté le 2026-07-05)
Beginning in September 2000 after the failure of the Camp David II summit, it was marked by waves of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians and large-scale Israeli military operations. It is generally considered to have ended in 2005, after the Sharm el-Sheikh summit (February 2005).
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, « intifada » — https://www.britannica.com/topic/intifada (consulté le 2026-07-05)
On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah killed Israeli soldiers and abducted two in a cross-border raid, triggering 34 days of war. Hostilities ceased on August 14, 2006 under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (August 11, 2006).
Source: Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU, résolution S/RES/1701 (2006) — https://docs.un.org/en/S/RES/1701(2006) (consulté le 2026-07-05)
From December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009, Israel conducted an air and then ground offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas rocket fire on its southern towns. An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire ended the fighting.
Source: RAND Corporation, « From Cast Lead to Protective Edge: Lessons from Israel's Wars in Gaza » — https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1888.html (consulté le 2026-07-05)
From November 14 to 21, 2012, eight days of Israeli strikes on Hamas rocket capabilities and of rocket fire on Israel, until an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire on November 21, 2012.
Source: RAND Corporation, « From Cast Lead to Protective Edge: Lessons from Israel's Wars in Gaza » — https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1888.html (consulté le 2026-07-05)
From July 8 to August 26, 2014, fifty days of war between Israel and Hamas: airstrikes, rocket fire and a ground operation against attack tunnels. An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire was reached on August 26, 2014.
Source: RAND Corporation, « From Cast Lead to Protective Edge: Lessons from Israel's Wars in Gaza » — https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1888.html (consulté le 2026-07-05)
From May 10 to 21, 2021, eleven days of fighting: over 4,000 rockets fired from Gaza at Israel and Israeli strikes on Hamas infrastructure, until the ceasefire of May 21, 2021.
Source: American Jewish Committee (AJC), « Timeline: Key Events in the Israel-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian Conflict » — https://www.ajc.org/IsraelConflictTimeline (consulté le 2026-07-05)
War triggered by the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, the deadliest in Israel's history, followed by a major Israeli campaign in the Gaza Strip against Hamas and for the release of the hostages. A ceasefire and hostage-release agreement took effect in October 2025.
Source: Gouvernement d'Israël, « Swords of Iron: War in the South – Hamas' Attack on Israel » — https://www.gov.il/en/pages/swords-of-iron-war-in-the-south-7-oct-2023 (référencé le 2026-07-05)
From October 8, 2023, Hezbollah opened a front on Israel's north; over a year of cross-border fire displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides, before a major escalation in September-October 2024. A cessation-of-hostilities agreement took effect on November 27, 2024.
Source: Texte de l'accord du 26-27 novembre 2024 (PA-X, Univ. d'Édimbourg) — https://www.peaceagreements.org/media/documents/IL_LB_241126_Announcement_of_a_Cessation_of_Hostilities_and_Related_Commitments.pdf ; CNN, 27/11/2024 — https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-hezbollah-ceasefire-deal-gaza-war-11-27-24-intl-hnk (consultés le 2026-07-05)
On April 13-14, 2024, Iran launched about 300 drones and missiles at Israel, 99% of which were intercepted by Israel and a coalition of partners; on October 1, 2024, about 200 Iranian ballistic missiles were fired. Israel responded with targeted strikes on April 19 and October 26, 2024.
Source: Al Jazeera, 14/04/2024 — https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/14/iran-attacks-israel-with-over-300-drones-missiles-what-you-need-to-know ; CNN, 13/04/2024 — https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/13/middleeast/iran-drones-attack-israel-intl-latam (consultés le 2026-07-05)
From June 13 to 24, 2025, open war between Israel and Iran: Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities, Iranian ballistic-missile retaliation against Israel. A ceasefire mediated by the United States and Qatar took effect on June 24, 2025.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, « 12-Day War (June 2025) » — https://www.britannica.com/event/12-Day-War ; Al Jazeera, 24/06/2025 — https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/24/israel-and-iran-agree-ceasefire-amid-waves-of-missiles (consultés le 2026-07-05)
The same timeline also contains peace: Egypt, Jordan, Oslo, the Abraham Accords.
Under UN auspices and the mediation of Ralph Bunche (1950 Nobel Peace Prize), Israel signed armistices with Egypt (Feb 24), Lebanon (Mar 23), Jordan (Apr 3) and Syria (Jul 20, 1949). These agreements set the "Green Line", the reference until 1967.
Source: Bibliothèque numérique de l'ONU, « Armistice agreements between Israel and Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt 1949 » — https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/413258 (consulté le 2026-07-05)
The Camp David Accords, negotiated September 5-17, 1978 between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat under Jimmy Carter's auspices, led to the Israel-Egypt peace treaty signed on March 26, 1979 — the first peace between Israel and an Arab state. Begin and Sadat received the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.
Source: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, « Camp David Accords and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process » — https://history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/camp-david (consulté le 2026-07-05)
On September 13, 1993, Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles in Washington establishing mutual recognition and interim Palestinian self-government. The Oslo II Agreement (Taba, September 28, 1995) divided the West Bank into Areas A, B and C.
Source: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, « The Oslo Accords and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process » — https://history.state.gov/milestones/1993-2000/oslo (consulté le 2026-07-05)
On October 26, 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty at the Arava (Wadi Araba) border crossing, ending 46 years of formal state of war and settling border and water-sharing issues. It was Israel's second peace with an Arab state.
Source: ONU Peacemaker, « Treaty of Peace Between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 26 October 1994 » — https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/default/files/document/files/2024/05/il20jo941026peacetreatyisraeljordan.pdf (consulté le 2026-07-05)
On September 15, 2020, at the White House, Israel normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain through the Abraham Accords declaration, later joined by Morocco (December 2020) and Sudan (January 2021). The first Arab-Israeli normalizations since 1994.
Source: U.S. Department of State, « The Abraham Accords » — https://www.state.gov/the-abraham-accords ; texte signé du 15/09/2020 — https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Abraham-Accords-signed-FINAL-15-Sept-2020-508-1.pdf (consultés le 2026-07-05)
The established facts of the Hamas attack — the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Every fact is sourced.
About 1,200 people were killed in Israel on October 7, 2023, most of them civilians — the official figure given by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to AFP and Reuters in November 2023, after victim identification.
Source: MAE israélien via AFP/Reuters ; The Times of Israel, 12/11/2023 — https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-revises-death-toll-from-oct-7-hamas-assault-dropping-it-from-1400-to-1200/ ; NPR, 11/11/2023 — https://www.npr.org/2023/11/11/1212458974/israel-revises-death-toll-hamas-attacks-oct-7
251 people — men, women, children and the elderly, including many foreign nationals — were abducted and taken hostage into the Gaza Strip.
Source: Décompte officiel israélien repris par AFP, Reuters et The Washington Post — https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/hamas-hostages-israel-war-gaza/ (consulté le 2026-07-05)
At the Nova music festival near Re'im, Israeli police announced on November 17, 2023 a toll of 364 killed and 40 abducted; the IDF investigation published in 2025 raised the final toll to 378 killed, including 344 civilians.
Source: Police israélienne (17/11/2023) et enquête de Tsahal (2025) ; The Times of Israel — https://www.timesofisrael.com/death-count-from-music-festival-massacre-on-oct-7-up-to-over-360/ (consulté le 2026-07-05)
At Kibbutz Be'eri, one of the hardest hit, 101 civilians and 31 security personnel were killed and 32 people taken hostage — about one resident in ten died, according to the IDF investigation published in July 2024.
Source: Enquête de Tsahal (juillet 2024) ; The Times of Israel — https://www.timesofisrael.com/failure-and-slaughter-idfs-beeri-probe-shows-armys-colossal-errors-residents-bravery/ (consulté le 2026-07-05)
At Kibbutz Kfar Aza, about 62 people were killed and 19 abducted; at Kibbutz Nir Oz, 117 of roughly 400 residents were killed or abducted — nearly a quarter of the community.
Source: The Times of Israel, 06/10/2024 — https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-year-after-oct-7-kfar-aza-and-nir-oz-are-mostly-empty-with-residents-in-anguish/ (consulté le 2026-07-05)
About 6,000 attackers from Gaza, led by Hamas, breached the border fence at multiple points on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah — the first large-scale invasion of Israeli territory since 1948.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, « October 7 attack » — https://www.britannica.com/event/October-7-attack (consulté le 2026-07-05)
October 7, 2023 was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and the deadliest in Israel's history — a finding echoed notably by the USC Shoah Foundation, which is recording survivors' testimonies.
Source: CNN / USC Shoah Foundation, 09/11/2023 — https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/09/us/shoah-foundation-records-october-7-testimonies/index.html ; The Times of Israel — https://www.timesofisrael.com/was-hamass-attack-on-saturday-the-bloodiest-day-for-jews-since-the-holocaust/
On October 7, Hamas came to murder Jews: 1,195 people killed in a single day (non-Jewish victims were collateral) and 251 taken hostage. Measured against Israel's Jewish population (~7.2 million), that is 0.0166% of the targeted people killed in one day. Pick your country to understand what that represents, at equal population.
Method: the October 7 casualty ratios measured against Israel's JEWISH population (1,195 killed, 251 hostages, 7.18M Jews — Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, end 2023), applied to each country's total population (UN 2023 estimates). The attack targeted Jews; non-Jewish victims were collateral.
To go further, the official sites and reference documentation:
Gouvernement d'Israël — portail « Swords of Iron »
Official Israeli government portal on the Swords of Iron war: information, services and official communications.
Gouvernement d'Israël — « War in the South: Hamas' Attack on Israel »
Official page describing the October 7, 2023 attack and its aftermath.
Ministère israélien des Affaires étrangères
Official Ministry of Foreign Affairs site (mfa.gov.il), source of the official October 7 figures given to AFP and Reuters.
Nova Exhibition — « October 7th, 06:29 AM »
Official traveling memorial exhibition of the Nova festival community (Tribe of Nova Foundation), shown in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, London…
Oct7Map — « Mapping the Massacres »
Interactive map documenting, site by site, the attacks of October 7, 2023.
Hamas-Massacre.net
Visual documentation database of the October 7 atrocities (Nova festival massacre, attacks on homes, abductions). Warning: extremely graphic content.
A single country — about 0.12% of humanity (~10 million people) — draws more condemnation from international institutions than any other nation on Earth. The figures below are dated and sourced.
In 2024 the UN General Assembly adopted 17 resolutions singling out Israel — versus 6 for the entire rest of the world combined. From 2015 to 2024 it passed 173 resolutions against Israel and 80 against all other countries together.
Source: UN Watch — décompte des résolutions de l'AGNU 2024 (unwatch.org, déc. 2024)
Israel is the only country in the world assigned a permanent standing item on the UN Human Rights Council's agenda (“Item 7”), debated at every single session — unlike Iran, Syria or North Korea. Since 2006 the Council has adopted about 85 resolutions against Israel, more than any other state. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon himself criticised this singling-out.
Source: UN Watch ; World Jewish Congress ; déclaration du secrétaire général de l'ONU (2016)
As of 2026, about 28 UN member states still do not recognise the very existence of the State of Israel — the large majority Muslim-majority countries (16 Arab League members and 10 other members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation).
Source: Wikipedia — International recognition of Israel (2026)
While international institutions focus overwhelmingly on Israel, far deadlier conflicts draw only a fraction of that scrutiny: Syria — 350,000 to over 600,000 dead since 2011; Yemen — about 377,000 dead since 2014; Sudan — from tens of thousands to an estimated 150,000 since 2023; Boko Haram in Nigeria — over 35,000 killed and more than 2 million displaced since 2009.
Source: ONU OHCHR ; Lancet / LSHTM (2024) ; ACLED ; Global Centre for R2P
About 21% of Israel's citizens are Arab (~2.1 million in 2024), a majority of them Muslim — full citizens who vote, sit in the Knesset and serve on the Supreme Court. And the Palestinian population has grown continuously: Gaza rose from roughly 240,000 in 1950 to over 2 million; some 15 million Palestinians live in the world today — a demographic trajectory hard to reconcile with the repeated charge of extermination.
Source: Bureau central des statistiques d'Israël (2024) ; Bureau central palestinien des statistiques (2024)
Israel's military issues advance warnings before strikes — phone calls, text messages, leaflets and non-lethal “roof-knocking” — and, through COGAT, has coordinated the entry of hundreds of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid, food, water and medical supplies into Gaza. Few armies in the world take comparable steps to warn an enemy's civilians.
Source: Tsahal (idf.il) ; COGAT / Gaza Aid Data (gaza-aid-data.gov.il)
Israel is about 22,000 km² — the size of a handkerchief. Pick a country to see how many times larger it is than Israel.
Israel's area: ~22,072 km² (borders including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights). National areas: standard estimates, in km².
The world's only Jewish state occupies a tiny fraction of the land held by the Arab-Muslim and Christian worlds.
Israel is the only Jewish-majority state. The totals are the summed national land areas of the member states of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC); the Christian figure is an approximate sum of Christian-majority countries. Sources: Arab League (~13.15M km²) and OIC (~31.6M km²) — worlddata.info; national areas — standard estimates.
Every civilian death is a tragedy, whoever the victim. The point is not to rank suffering, but to document a measurable disproportion: the sheer volume of attention, condemnation and institutional machinery aimed at one small country, compared with conflicts many times deadlier.
Every statement below is attributed and sourced to a primary authority. Israel has signed peace whenever a partner was willing — see the peace agreements above.
On 14 May 1948 Israel declared independence; the next day, 15 May 1948, the regular armies of five Arab states — Egypt, Transjordan (Jordan), Syria, Lebanon and Iraq — invaded, having rejected the UN Partition Plan (General Assembly Resolution 181 of 29 November 1947).
Source: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Milestones (2020)
Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States (Foreign Terrorist Organization since 8 October 1997), the European Union (extended to the whole movement by Common Position 2003/651/CFSP of 12 September 2003), the United Kingdom (proscribed in its entirety on 26 November 2021, having earlier proscribed its military wing in 2001), and Canada (listed under the Criminal Code since 2002).
Source: U.S. Dept of State FTO list (1997); UK Home Office (2021); EU Council (2003); Public Safety Canada
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has been designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States since 8 October 1997, is listed on the European Union's terrorist list (since 27 December 2001), and is a listed terrorist entity in Canada.
Source: U.S. Dept of State FTO list (1997); EU Council (2001); Public Safety Canada
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has been designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States since 8 October 1997, appears on the European Union's terrorist list, and is a listed terrorist entity in Canada.
Source: U.S. Dept of State FTO list (1997); EU Council; Public Safety Canada
The Hamas Covenant issued on 18 August 1988 calls for the destruction of the State of Israel (its Article 7 states that the movement will fight until "Islam will obliterate" Israel) and contains explicitly antisemitic passages; a 2017 Hamas document restated rejection of the State of Israel while presenting its language in softer terms and did not revoke the 1988 charter.
Source: The Avalon Project, Yale Law School — Hamas Covenant 1988
In May 1967 Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser expelled the UN Emergency Force from Sinai (19 May), massed troops in Sinai, and on 22–23 May closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping — an act Israel had declared would be a casus belli; in a 26 May 1967 speech Nasser stated that "our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel." Israel launched a preemptive strike on 5 June 1967, opening the Six-Day War.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Milestones; Nasser speech, 26 May 1967
On 6 October 1973, during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack on Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, beginning the 1973 Arab–Israeli (Yom Kippur) War.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Milestones
The 1968 Palestinian National Charter of the PLO declared the establishment of Israel "entirely illegal" (Article 19) and named armed struggle "the only way to liberate Palestine" (Article 9); in 1993 Oslo letters PLO chairman Yasser Arafat recognized Israel's right to exist and renounced terrorism, and the PLO stated the charter provisions inconsistent with that commitment were superseded. The slogan "from the river to the sea," understood by bodies such as the U.S. State Department and civil-rights groups as denying Israel's existence within any borders, has no single dated authoritative origin and is used by various parties with contested meanings.
Source: The Avalon Project, Yale Law School — Palestinian National Charter (1968)
This section documents who launched or provoked the wars and the aims stated by states, organizations and named leaders — not a claim about any people. The site's purpose is understanding through facts, to build bridges and reduce hatred.