The Middle Eastern crisis is a series of interrelated conflicts and heightened instability in the Middle East which began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, after a period of rising tensions. Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that the attack was made in response to the escalating Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel then began a destructive bombing campaign and invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Large, primarily pro-Palestinian protests have taken place across the world, calling for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war. Various experts and human rights organizations have characterized the events in Gaza as a genocide. A case accusing Israel of committing genocide is being reviewed by the International Court of Justice, while the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders. Israel received extensive military and diplomatic support from the United States, which has vetoed multiple UN Security Council ceasefire resolutions.

The war's spillover resulted in a major escalation of existing tensions between Israel and Iran, with groups in the Axis of Resistance launching attacks on American military bases, and the Yemeni Houthi movement attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea and incurring a US-led military operation. Meanwhile, by the end of 2024, a year-long exchange of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into a brief Israeli invasion of Lebanon, before it was paused after a ceasefire. The crisis has also seen the fall of the Assad regime and an ongoing Israeli invasion of Syria.

On 7 October 2023, the Palestinian militant group Hamas led a surprise attack into Israel from the Gaza Strip that captured territory in southern Israel and killed approximately 1,200 people. In addition, about 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken into Gaza as hostages by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. The attack began with a barrage of over 4,000 rockets and paraglider incursions into Israel. Hamas fighters also breached the Gaza–Israel barrier and massacred civilians in several communities. The attack marked the deadliest day in Israeli history. In response, the Israeli government declared war for the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

After the 7 October Hamas attack, Israel began a bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip, which escalated on 13 October into temporary raids into the northern Gaza Strip and on 27 October to a full-scale invasion of Gaza with the stated goals of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages. The initial phase of the invasion took place in the north of the Gaza Strip, including an Israeli siege of Gaza City that began on 2 November. Hamas and Israel agreed to a six-day truce from 24 November to 30 November that saw Hamas exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. After the truce expired in December, Israeli troops had reached the city of Khan Yunis in central Gaza. Israel began a bombing campaign of the southern city of Rafah in February, and Israel seized the Rafah border crossing on 7 May 2024 as it began an offensive in an around Rafah. Israeli forces pushed deeper into Rafah on 14 May. In July, Israel initiated a second battle in Khan Yunis. On 16 October 2024, the Israeli military killed the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, hence achieving a major goal of Israel's invasion of Gaza. The war began a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli invasion has displaced about 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.2 million pre-war residents and has killed at least 42,000.

Tensions and violence between Israeli military forces and settlers in the West Bank were escalating long before the start of the 2023 war. According to the UN, 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians on record, and the year to September 2023 already represented the deadliest year in history for children in the West Bank.

Amnesty International released a report on 5 February 2024 stating that Israel is carrying out unlawful killings in the West Bank and displaying "a chilling disregard for Palestinian lives" and that Israeli forces are carrying out numerous illegal acts of violence that constitute clear violations of international law.

Even before the war, 2023 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 20 years. Violence in the West Bank has increased since the war began with more than 607 Palestinians and over 25 Israelis killed. At the same time, Israeli settler violence further increased to around 1,270 attacks, against 856 for all of 2022. About 1,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by settlers since 7 October and almost half of clashes have included "Israeli forces accompanying or actively supporting Israeli settlers while carrying out the attacks" according to a U.N. report. According to the West Bank Protection Consortium, which is funded by the European Union, since the 7 October attacks six Palestinian communities have been abandoned due to the violence.

By 10 October, confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces had left 15 Palestinians dead, including two in East Jerusalem. On 11 October, Israeli settlers attacked the village of Qusra, killing four Palestinians. A 16-year-old child was fatally shot by the IDF in Bani Na'im, while another person was shot dead by the IDF near Bethlehem. On 12 October, two Palestinians were killed after Israeli settlers interrupted a funeral procession for Palestinians killed in prior settler attacks and opened fire.

On 18 October, protests broke out over the al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, with clashes reported in Ramallah. A youth was injured by PA forces in Tubas. One Palestinian was killed in confrontations with Israeli forces in Nabi Salih, and 30 others were injured across the West Bank. On 19 October, more than 60 Hamas members were arrested and 12 people were killed in overnight Israeli raids across the West Bank. Those arrested included the movement's spokesperson in the West Bank, Hassan Yousef.

On 31 October, the IDF engaged Hamas around Shuweika.

On 1 November, Issa Amro said the situation in the West Bank had become "very hard", noting "All the checkpoints are closed. Israeli settlers and soldiers are acting violently with the Palestinians." The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned Israeli settler violence against Palestinians was on the rise.

On 20 April 14 Palestinians were killed in clashes during an Israeli raid in the West Bank. Palestinian sources identified one of the victims as a militant, while Israel said that 14 gunmen were killed.

In July 2024, Israeli authorities approved the seizure of 12.7 square kilometers of land in the occupied West Bank. According to Peace Now, this was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords." On 4 July, Israeli authorities approved plans for almost 5,300 new houses in occupied West Bank.

On 7 August, Wafa reported that Israeli forces destroyed the regional headquarters of Fatah in the Balata Camp.

On 14 August, the Israeli government approved new settlements in the occupied West Bank.

On 28 August, Israel launched the largest military operation into the northern West Bank in more than 20 years. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the operation was a "full-fledged war". Israeli forces carried out simultaneous operations in Jenin, Tubas, Nablus, Ramallah and Tulkarem. In Jenin, Israeli forces devastated civilian infrastructure with anti-tank munitions and armored bulldozers, set fire to the Jenin farmers' market, and carried out mass arrests of men and boys. Civilians were trapped in their homes and denied access to food, water and medicine. Members of the press were denied access to the city while the operation was ongoing. Eyewitnesses also reported the use of Palestinian detainees as human shields and the use of attack dogs against civilian families. The army blocked access to hospitals and ambulances. On 29 August, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded a halt to the operations. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the operations "must not constitute the premises of a war extension from Gaza, including full-scale destruction." On 3 September, Israeli media reported that the IDF had classified the West Bank as a "combat zone" and now viewed it as the second most important front in the war. Yoav Gallant said that Israel was "mowing the lawn" with its West Bank operations, but that it would eventually need to "pull out the roots". On 6 September, Turkish-American protestor Ayşenur Eygi was killed by an Israeli sniper at a demonstration near Nablus.

On 13 November, Bezalel Smotrich said that with Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 United States presidential election, Israel was "a step away" from "sovereignty in Judea and Samaria." Later comments by Mike Huckabee, chosen by Trump as the next ambassador to Israel, corroborated the possibility of an Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

On 12 October 2023, Israel conducted a raid in Jenin, West Bank, resulting in the reported detention of a Hamas fighter and injuries to other individuals. On 14 October, another raid was launched in the city, leading to the deaths of multiple people. On 18 October, a 12-year-old girl was shot dead by crossfire from Palestinian Authority security forces.

On 22 October, an airstrike carried out by the Israel Defense Forces targeted the Al-Ansar Mosque, causing extensive damage. Two people were killed, and three others were injured. The IDF asserted that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) had been operating from a compound beneath the mosque. The Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad al-Maliki, characterized the attack as a "dangerous escalation in the use of warplanes" and expressed concern over the adoption of tactics from Gaza.

On 26 October Ayser Mohammad Al-Amer, a senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was killed during a clash with IDF in the Jenin refugee camp.

On 29 November, 14-year-old Basel Abu Al-Wafa and 8-year-old Adam Al-Ghool were shot dead by Israeli forces during the Jenin incursions. CCTV footage depicting the killings show Basel Abu Al-Wafa being shot at multiple times, sustaining mortal wounds while 8-year old Adam Al-Ghool was killed with a shot to the head. A 17-year-old was reportedly shot and killed by IDF forces inside the Khalil Suleiman hospital compound near the Jenin refugee camp, accourding to accounts by the Doctors Without Borders.

A dozen raids were reported on 2 January 2024, with a violent raid in Jenin and violent confrontations in Azzun, resulting in the death of four Palestinians. Raids were reported in Ya'bad on 5 January, with an eleven-year-old wounded. A doctor described a drone strike on 7 January, stating one man "was decapitated. It seemed the missile directly hit him. Others had their limbs severed." All entrances into Jenin were reported blocked on 9 January. The chair of the Jenin high-level committee stated Israel had destroyed streets, electric poles, water lines, and a monument to Shireen Abu Akleh.

On 30 January, Israeli forces disguised as medical personnel raided a hospital in Jenin, killing three Palestinian men they alleged as fighters, but whom doctors at the hospital reported as a paralyzed man in a wheelchair along with his brother and a friend of his.

In the Nur Shams camp, a drone deployed by Israel resulted in casualties among a group of Palestinians. The Israeli army reported the death of one officer and injuries to nine soldiers due to the detonation of an explosive device in the Nour Shams camp, with the wounded soldiers transported to the Meir Hospital.

On the second day of the raid, 20 October, explosions occurred at dawn and in the morning hours. The Tulkarm Battalion reported that additional armed groups had reached Tulkarm to support their efforts. At 7 am, Israeli forces concluded their 30-hour raid, withdrawing from the city and its two camps. The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed 13 casualties, including 5 children, with the deceased and injured transported to Martyr Dr. Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital.

Five people were injured during a raid on 3 January 2024, including one person hit by a live bullet, three people beaten by Israeli soldiers, and one person who was rammed by an Israeli jeep. A forty-hour raid on Nur Shams concluded on 4 January, with more than a dozen wounded from soldi

On 3 October, an Israeli airstrike in Tulkarm Camp killed at least 20 people.

During the Israel–Hamas war, there have been escalating clashes between the Palestinian Authority (PA)– which autonomously governs the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank– and local anti-Israel militias which the PA sees as a threat to its rule.

Region-wide violent unrest against the PA by militants and protestors broke out in July 2024 as a result of the alleged arrest attempt of "Abu Shujaa", the leader of the Tulkarm Brigade, on 26 July. Protestors and militants clashed with security forces in Tulkarm, Jenin, Bethlehem, Tubas, and Nablus. By August, the unrest had been "contained", according to Tulkarm officials.

In October 2024, PA forces launched a month-long operation against the Tubas Brigade in the city of Tubas, aiming to demonstrate they were capable of suppressing anti-Israel militancy.

In December 2024, PA forces launched another operation into Jenin against the Jenin Brigades, based in that city's refugee camp. The operation marks the first time in several years that security forces have entered the Jenin refugee camp. As a result of the operation, the Israeli security cabinet directed the IDF to bolster collaboration with the PA security forces on the recommendation of the Central Command.

Additionally, the PA's National Security Forces have remained in their barracks during IDF raids and have actively interfered with militants' defenses against those raids.

A series of border clashes between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah along the Israel–Lebanon border began 8 October 2023, when Hezbollah attacked the Shebaa Farms region in support of Hamas's attack on Israel the day prior, and Israel responded by attacking Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. Skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah then continued in southern Lebanon and northern Israel, including in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah initially said that it would attack Israel until the latter ended its attacks in Gaza, and Hezbollah's attacks caused 96,000 Israelis to be displaced from northern Israel.

On 2 January 2024, Israel conducted an airstrike that in the Dahieh suburb of Beirut that assassinated Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri. Hezbollah responded on 6 January by launching rockets at an Israeli base near Mount Meron; two days later, Israel assassinated the Hezbollah commander it said carried out that attack. On 27 July, 12 children in the Golan Heights were killed in an attack for which Israel accused Hezbollah; in response, Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut on 30 July.

In September 2024, an Israeli operation resulted in the simultaneous explosion of thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah on 17 September and hundreds of walkie-talkies the next day, killing 42 people. The attacks marked the beginning of an intensive Israeli campaign against Hezbollah, and in the ensuing days Israel continued attacks in Lebanon and conducted a massive aerial bombardment that killed more than 700 people, including a 20 September attack that killed Hezbollah Redwan Force commander Ibrahim Aqil. On 27 September 2024, Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, in an attack on the group's headquarters in Beirut.

On 1 October 2024, Israel began an invasion of southern Lebanon that it said was to eliminate the threat posed by Hezbollah and allow the 63,000 Israelis still displaced to return to their homes. By 15 October, over 25 percent of Lebanon was under Israeli evacuation orders, and during the invasion Israel captured and destroyed several villages and towns in southern Lebanon while it continued airstrikes across the country. During the conflict, more than 3,700 people in Lebanon were killed and about 1.3 million were displaced. On 27 November, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a 60-day ceasefire intended to lead to a lasting end to the conflict. Despite both Israel and Hezbollah continuing to exchange attacks and accusing the other of violating the ceasefire, the agreement has largely held.

Houthi militants in Yemen have launched strikes against Israel and commercial ships in the Red Sea. On 19 October 2023, the United States Navy destroyer USS Carney shot down several missiles that were traveling north over the Red Sea towards Israel. On 31 October, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the group had launched ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel, and that they would continue to do so "to help the Palestinians to victory." On 19 November, the Galaxy Leader, a cargo ship chartered by a Japanese logistics company with 25 individuals on board, was hijacked by the Houthis using a Mil Mi-17 helicopter.

On 3 December, the Houthis said that they had attacked two ships, the Unity Explorer and Number 9 in order "to prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Red Sea". Any ship destined for Israel, according to the group, was a "legitimate target". Saree announced in a post on X that the "horrific massacres" against the Palestinians in Gaza was the reason for this decision and that they will not stop until the Gaza Strip is supplied with food and medicine. Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi called this development a "global issue" and that Israel is "giving the world some time to organize in order to prevent this" otherwise, the country would "act in order to remove this naval siege".

On 3 January 2024 the United States and a group of countries issued an ultimatum to the Houthis to stop their activities.

Since 12 January 2024 the United States and the United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, have launched a series of Tomahawk cruise missile and airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Houthi attacks on shipping were condemned by the United Nations Security Council the day before the initial strike. US President Joe Biden ordered the strikes, and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak convened his cabinet to authorize British participation. American officials said the strikes were intended to degrade Houthi capabilities to attack Red Sea cargo ships rather than to target leaders and Iranian trainers; the Houthis said at least five people were killed and six wounded.

In the week that followed, seven additional Tomahawk missile strikes on targets in Yemen were conducted by the US Navy.

On 19 July, a Houthi drone strike killed one person and wounded 10 near the US embassy in Tel Aviv. On 20 July Israeli planes struck military facilities and oil depots at the port of Hodeidah in response, killing at least 6 people and wounding at least 83 people. On 29 September, the Israeli Air Force struck power plants and port facilities in Al Hudaydah and Ras Issa killing at least six people and injuring 57 others. The Ministry of Information claimed that the group had emptied the facilities used to store fuel prior to the attack.

On 19 December, 14 Israeli warplanes dropped dozens of munitions on five locations in Yemen in two waves of airstrikes. The first wave saw four strikes hit Hudaydah Port, two hit the Ras Isa oil terminal, and other strikes hit the Port of Salif. The second wave targeted two power stations north and south of Sanaa. The IDF said that the strikes hit targets "used by Houthi forces for their military operations." Houthi-affiliated media outlet Al Masirah reported that Israeli attacks killed at least nine civilians and wounded three others. On 26 December, 25 IAF jets carried out airstrikes in Yemen against Houthi targets, hitting the Sanaa International Airport, where an air traffic control tower, the departure lounge and runway were damaged; the Hezyaz power station near Sanaa; as well as infrastructure in Al Hudaydah, As-Salif, and Ras Qantib ports, including a power plant. At least six people were killed and at least 40 others were wounded in the attacks according to the Houthis, with Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was visiting Yemen to negotiate the release of UN staff members as well as employees of diplomatic missions and NGO workers arrested by the Houthis, narrowly escaping being killed, and an employee of the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service being seriously wounded. On 10 January, Israeli strikes hit the Heyzaz power plant and infrastructure at the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Isa. Al-Masirah reported that one person was killed and six others were wounded in Israeli strike in Ras Isa port.

Starting on 17 October 2023 and in response to United States support for Israel in the Israel–Hamas war, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq initiated a coordinated series of more than 130 attacks on U.S. military bases and assets in Syria and Iraq. These attacks resulted in injuries to dozens of U.S. service members and on 28 January 2024 killed three. In response, the U.S. has launched multiple counterattacks, resulting in the death of over 30 militants including a senior commander of the Nujaba Movement, Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi.

Since November 2023, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility for drone and missile attacks against targets within Israel in retaliation for Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The group stated it would continue to "strike enemy strongholds." Strikes were recorded in Eilat, the Dead Sea coastline, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Karish rig, Haifa Bay, Ashdod, Kiryat Shmona and in Tel Aviv. and in Elifelet.

In late January, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced it had entered its second phase of operations which included blockading the Mediterranean maritime routes to Israeli ports and disabling the ports. Since then, the group has launched joint military operations on Israel with the Houthis targeting ships in Haifa port.

On 3 October 2024 the Islamic Resistance in Iraq launched a drone strike on an IDF base in the Golan Heights, which killed two IDF soldiers and injured 24 others, which the IRI denied. By late October, the Iraqi resistance had launched drones on an average of around five times a day. In one 24-hour period in October, the ISI launched eight drones at Israel. By December 2024, Iran-backed militias in Iraq decided to stop their attacks on Israel, as requested by the Iraqi government, in light of Assad's fall in Syria.

On 15 January 2024, Iran carried out a series of aerial and drone strikes within Iraq and Syria, claiming that it had targeted the regional headquarters of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and several strongholds of terrorist groups in response to the Kerman bombings on 3 January, for which the Islamic State took responsibility. The city of Erbil, which is the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region, was the target of 11 of the 15 total missiles that were fired. The remaining four missiles were directed at Syria's Idlib Governorate, targeting areas held by the Syrian opposition. In Erbil itself, the Iranian attack killed four civilians and injured 17 others. Iran's claims of having targeted the Israeli presence in Kurdistan and terrorist groups in Syria were rejected by the Iraqi government and the autonomous Kurdish government, both of which condemned the attack.

From the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war in October 2023 to October 2024, Israel launched more than 220 attacks on Syria through air raids and artillery attacks, killing 296 people, but the Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad largely stayed out of the regional conflict.

During the first month of the war, Israeli attacks on airports in Syria killed two workers, and attacks in southwestern Syria killed eight Syrian soldiers. Israel continued strikes in Syria in 2024, including in Damascus and Aleppo. In January, Israel killed an Iranian general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force in Damascus alongside 12 others. On 1 April, Israel bombed the consulate annex of Iran's embassy in Damascus, killing 16, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the commander of the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon. In September 2024, Israel launched a raid and airstrikes in Masyaf that killed at least 18 people, and in October, Israeli strikes killed 13 people in Damascus and 10 in al-Quasyr. In November, Israeli strikes targeting Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) killed 23 in Syria, including two PIJ leaders; later that month, Israeli strikes in Palmyra killed 92 Iran-backed fighters, including four from Hezbollah.

On 27 November 2024, a coalition of Syrian opposition groups launched a surprise offensive against the Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad in the country's northwest. The offensive came after key allies of the Assad government — Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah — were weakened by other conflicts. Led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported by Turkish-backed rebels, the offensive was the first since the 2020 ceasefire that largely halted major fighting in the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011.

By 30 November, HTS had taken control of most of Aleppo, after which Russia intervened to conduct airstrikes on rebel positions there. By 1 December, the rebels had gained control of significant amounts of land in the governorates of Hama, Idlib, and Aleppo, and were beginning an offensive into the city of Hama. Hama fell to the HTS on 5 December, and on 7 December they had moved south to capture the city of Homs, effectively separating the government in Damascus from Syria's coast. Meanwhile, the Southern Operations Room began an assault on the government in Daraa and began pushing into the southern suburbs of Damascus, while the Syrian Free Army, which had captured Palmyra, approached Damascus from the east.

Damascus fell to the rebels in the early morning of 8 December, 11 days after the offensive began, and HTS proclaimed the end of the Assad regime as Assad fled the country for Moscow. HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa became the de facto leader of Syria and established a transitional government led by Mohammed al-Bashir as the country's caretaker prime minister until March 2025.

After the fall of the Assad regime, Netanyahu said that the 1974 Israel–Syria border agreement had "collapsed" and ordered the Israeli military to begin an invasion of the buffer zone in Syria along the Golan Heights. Israel seized Syria's side of Mount Hermon, occupied border villages in Syrian-controlled parts of the Golan Heights, and bombed targets across Damascus and southern Syria in addition to abandoned Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF) weapons stockpiles and airbases. On 9 December, Israel carried out over 100 airstrikes across Syria, including a strike on the Port of Latakia. Israel justified its attacks, which destroyed much of the former SAAF's naval and air assets and its air defenses, as necessary to prevent extremists from capturing abandoned weapons; al-Sharaa condemned Israel's actions but said Syria would not enter a new conflict.

On 13 April 2024, Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones towards Israel, of which Israel said it intercepted more than 99 percent. The attack, which was the first-ever direct strike by Iran on Israel, was launched from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen and came after the 1 April Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed two Iranian generals among others, for which Iran had pledged retaliation. Ballistic missiles from the attack damaged an air base in southern Israel, but the base remained operational. The Israeli defense was aided militarily by the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Jordan, and several Arab states including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates provided intelligence support. In response, on 19 April Israel launched a limited airstrike on Iran that targeted an air defense facility.

On 1 October 2024, in retaliation for several Israeli assassinations — the July killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and the 27 September Beirut strike that killed Hassan Nasrallah and Abbas Nilforoushan — Iran launched a second direct attack on Israel that consisted of roughly 200 ballistic missiles. The U.S., U.K., France, and Jordan again helped Israel repel most of the Iranian attack. Shrapnel from the attack killed one Palestinian civilian in the West Bank. Israel retaliated on 26 October, in the largest attack on Iran since the Iran–Iraq War, with over 100 Israeli aircraft targeting Iran's radar and air defense systems. Israel said the attack severely damaged Iran's air defense and missile production capabilities.

As of December 2024, more than 44,000 people have been killed in Gaza.

Israel has been accused of carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people by a number of experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations during its invasion and bombing of the Gaza Strip in the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. Various observers, including the UN Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices and the United Nations Special Rapporteur, have cited statements by senior Israeli officials that may indicate an "intent to destroy" (in whole or in part) Gaza's population, a necessary condition for the legal threshold of genocide to be met. A majority of mostly US-based Middle East scholars believe Israel's actions in Gaza were intended to make it uninhabitable for Palestinians, and 75% of them say Israel's actions in Gaza constitute either genocide or "major war crimes akin to genocide". On 5 December 2024, Amnesty International became the first major global human rights organization to formally accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

In the West Bank, related violence during the conflict killed 243 Palestinians and wounded at least 2,472. Several thousand Gazan workers were in Israel at the time when the conflict started. As of 16 October some of them were detained at a "holding facility" in the West Bank while others sought refuge in the Palestinian communities of the West Bank. The Minister of Labor for the Palestinian Authority estimated 4,500 workers are unaccounted for while Israeli media outlet N12 reported 4,000 Gazans were in Israeli holding facilities. The Palestinian Prisoners Society said that Israeli forces had arrested over 1,450 West Bank Palestinians since 7 October. On 29 October, thirty Israeli human rights organizations addressed settler violence in the West Bank, asking the international community to "act urgently" to end it. On 30 October, the German government called on Israel to protect Palestinians in the West Bank. On 31 October, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell "firmly condemned" settler attacks in the West Bank. Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated the United States was "deeply concerned," and condemned the killings of Palestinians in the West Bank.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 76,000 Lebanese were displaced from their homes. As of 8 January 2024, the Ministry of Public Health of Lebanon reported 570 people wounded.

An Israeli strike on 13 October killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Al Jazeera. A February 2024 report by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon concluded that an Israeli tank killed Abadallah when it fired at "clearly identifiable journalists", and that this broke international law. The report "assessed that there was no exchange of fire across the Blue Line at the time of the incident", with no records of any exchange of fire across the border for the 40 minutes before the tank firing. The Israel Defense Forces responded to the United Nations report by claiming that Hezbollah attacked them, so tank fire was used to retaliate.

Israel's attacks in Lebanon included several on journalists reporting on the conflict; according to Lebanon's health ministry, fourteen journalists have been killed by Israel during the conflict.

At least 200 militants were killed. 157 Hezbollah members, including at least 10 in Syria, 16 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members, one Amal Movement member and one SSNP member. One Lebanese army soldier was killed and three others were injured.

On 7 October 2023, 1,189 people, including 796 civilians were killed and 3,400 were injured in the Hamas-led attack on Israel. At least 200,000 civilians were internally displaced from both Israel's northern and Gaza border regions, though this number decreased to approximately 60,000 by early 2024. In the subsequent fighting, 378 Israeli soldiers died in the Gaza Strip and 2,448 were wounded. On the northern border and in Lebanon, 44 civilians and 70 soldiers were killed.

U.S.-led airstrikes in Yemen killed 10 and wounded 2 Houthi rebels on 31 December 2023. Five more were killed and 6 wounded in attacks on 12 January 2024.

Two American Navy Seals were declared dead after being missing during an operation to seize Iranian weapons supplying Houthis in Yemen.

In 2023 before the conflict, Israel and Saudi Arabia were reported to be working on normalizing relations. These talks have since ceased.

On 29 December 2023, South Africa brought a case against Israel before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war, in violation of the Genocide Convention. South Africa requested that the ICJ order an immediate halt to Israel's military operations in Gaza among other provisional measures of protection. Israel has contended that its actions in Gaza are targeted only at Hamas and are in legitimate self-defense in accordance with international law. On 26 January 2024, the ICJ said in a preliminary ruling that South Africa's allegations are "plausible" and that Israel must "take all measures within its power" to prevent genocide in Gaza.

Over the course of the Israel–Hamas war, the United Nations Security Council has made numerous attempts to negotiate a ceasefire. A February 2024 resolution demanding a ceasefire was vetoed by the United States for not including a condemnation of the 7 October attack, and on 22 March Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-drafted resolution that would have called for an immediate six-week ceasefire conditional on the release of hostages. On 25 March, the UNSC passed Resolution 2728, which called for a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, the "immediate and unconditional" release of all hostages, and the allowance of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The U.S. vetoed a later ceasefire resolution in November 2024, saying this was due to the fact that the resolution did not require the immediate release of all hostages.

• List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

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• Amnesty International (2024). 'You Feel Like You Are Subhuman': Israel's Genocide Against Palestinians In Gaza (PDF) (Report). Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 December 2024.
• Burga, Solcyré (13 November 2023). "Is What's Happening in Gaza a Genocide? Experts Weigh In". Time. Archived from the original on 25 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
• Corder, Mike (2 January 2024). "South Africa's genocide case against Israel sets up a high-stakes legal battle at the UN's top court". ABC News. Archived from the original on 7 January 2024. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
• Quigley, John (3 July 2024). "The Lancet and Genocide By "Slow Death" in Gaza". Arab Center Washington DC. Archived from the original on 13 July 2024. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
• Soni, S. (December 2023). "Gaza and international law: The global obligation to protect life and health". South African Journal of Bioethics and Law. 16 (3): 80–81. doi:10.7196/SAJBL.2023.v16i3.1764.