עברית

A timeline of wars, battles and military operations

Place an event in sequence, then explore what happened before and after it.

The timeline arranges records by date so you can follow events across periods rather than reading each in isolation. Choose a period or event type to narrow the view, then open a record for the full account. The periods move from the late Ottoman years and British Mandate through the establishment of Israel and later conflicts. They are organizing categories, not claims that every historical transition occurred on one day. A date may identify a day, a month or a year, depending on the evidence. Overlapping records can describe different parts of the same conflict. A plain list provides another way to browse.

Late Ottoman period1900 to 1917

  1. April 12, 1909 to 1920

    Conflict

    Hashomer and the defense of Jewish settlements (1909 to 1920)

    Founded at Kfar Tavor on April 12, 1909, Hashomer replaced the Arab and Circassian watchmen of Jewish colonies with Jewish guards. It never exceeded about a hundred members, but its idea of self-reliant defense became the seed of the Haganah.

  2. January 26, 1915 to October 31, 1918

    Campaign

    The Sinai and Palestine campaign and the Jewish Legion (1915 to 1918)

    The First World War campaign between the British and Ottoman empires for Sinai and Palestine, from the Suez Canal to Megiddo and Damascus. It ended Ottoman rule in the country and brought the Jewish battalions into battle.

British Mandate1917 to 1947

  1. March 1, 1920

    Battle

    The battle of Tel Hai (1920)

    On March 1, 1920, a clash at the Tel Hai farmstead in the Upper Galilee killed six Jewish defenders, Joseph Trumpeldor among them, and five Arab attackers. The site was abandoned, but its story became a founding myth of Israeli memory.

  2. April 4, 1920 to April 7, 1920

    Riots and disturbances

    The 1920 Jerusalem riots (Nebi Musa)

    From April 4 to 7, 1920, during the Nebi Musa festival, Arab crowds attacked Jews in Jerusalem's Old City. Five Jews and four Arabs were killed and over two hundred people injured, and the riots led to the Haganah's founding.

  3. May 1, 1921 to May 7, 1921

    Riots and disturbances

    The 1921 Jaffa riots

    Between May 1 and 7, 1921, violence that began in Jaffa during May Day marches spread to Petah Tikva, Hadera and other colonies. The Haycraft Commission counted 47 Jews and 48 Arabs killed, among them the writer Yosef Haim Brenner.

  4. August 23, 1929 to August 29, 1929

    Riots and disturbances

    The 1929 riots: Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed

    A week of Arab attacks on Jews in August 1929, sparked by the dispute over the Western Wall and culminating in the Hebron and Safed massacres. The Shaw Commission counted 133 Jews and 116 Arabs killed.

  5. August 24, 1929

    Attack

    The 1929 Hebron massacre

    On August 24, 1929, Arab rioters killed 67 Jews in Hebron. About 435 survived, many hidden by Arab neighbors, and a Jewish community that had lived in the city for centuries came to an end.

  6. August 29, 1929

    Attack

    The 1929 Safed massacre

    On August 29, 1929, Arab crowds attacked the Jewish quarter of Safed, looting and burning homes. Contemporary counts put the Jewish dead at 18 to 20; the Shaw Commission saw it as the end of the riots.

  7. 1930 to November 20, 1935

    Conflict

    Izz ad-Din al-Qassam's armed group (1930 to 1935)

    A clandestine network of armed cells built in northern Palestine after 1929 by the Haifa preacher Izz ad-Din al-Qassam. Linked to attacks on Jews, it ended with his death in a 1935 police gunfight that helped precede the Arab revolt.

  8. April 19, 1936 to 1939

    Uprising

    The 1936 to 1939 Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine

    An Arab uprising against British rule and Jewish immigration that began with a general strike in April 1936, became an armed rebellion and peaked in 1938. Britain crushed it in 1939, but it led to the Peel Commission and the 1939 White Paper.

  9. June 1938 to 1939

    Campaign

    The Special Night Squads (1938)

    A mixed unit of British soldiers and Haganah members formed by Captain Orde Wingate in June 1938 to guard the oil pipeline in the Jezreel Valley and hunt rebel bands at night. Its methods are disputed; its influence on the Palmach and IDF was lasting.

  10. October 2, 1938

    Attack

    The 1938 Tiberias massacre

    On October 2, 1938 an armed Arab band attacked the Jewish neighborhood of Kiryat Shmuel in Tiberias and killed 19 Jews, 11 of them children. It was the deadliest single attack on Jews during the Arab revolt.

  11. February 1, 1944 to November 29, 1947

    Conflict

    The Jewish armed struggle against British rule (1944 to 1947)

    The armed campaign of the Irgun, Lehi and for a time the Haganah against the British Mandate, from the revolt declaration of February 1944 to the partition vote of November 1947, combining sabotage, attacks and illegal immigration.

  12. September 20, 1944 to 1946

    Campaign

    The Jewish Brigade in the Second World War (1944 to 1945)

    A British army formation of about 5,000 Jewish volunteers from Mandatory Palestine, formed in September 1944, which fought German forces on the Senio front in Italy in March and April 1945 and afterward aided Holocaust survivors.

  13. June 16, 1946 to June 17, 1946

    Military operation

    The Night of the Bridges (1946)

    On the night of June 16 to 17, 1946 the Palmach attacked eleven bridges linking Mandatory Palestine with its neighbors. Most were destroyed, but 14 fighters were killed at Achziv, and twelve days later Britain launched Operation Agatha.

  14. June 29, 1946 to July 1, 1946

    Military operation

    Operation Agatha, the Black Sabbath (1946)

    A large British operation launched on Saturday, June 29, 1946 against the Jewish Agency and the Haganah. About 2,700 people were arrested, including Agency leaders, and the Yagur arsenal was seized. The Irgun responded by bombing the King David Hotel.

  15. July 22, 1946

    Attack

    The King David Hotel bombing (1946)

    On July 22, 1946 the Irgun blew up the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, seat of the Mandate secretariat and military headquarters. Ninety-one people were killed, and the attack ended the Jewish Resistance Movement.

  16. May 4, 1947

    Military operation

    The Acre Prison break (1947)

    On May 4, 1947 the Irgun breached the wall of Acre Prison and freed 27 Irgun and Lehi prisoners. Nine fighters and escapees were killed, and three captured attackers were later hanged, leading to the sergeants affair.

War of Independence1947 to 1949

  1. November 30, 1947 to July 20, 1949

    War

    The 1947 to 1949 war: Israel's War of Independence

    The war that began the day after the UN partition vote, became a war against Arab state armies when Israel was declared, and ended with the 1949 armistice agreements. It fixed Israel's lines and created the Palestinian refugee problem.

  2. December 1947 to July 18, 1948

    Battle

    The battle for Jerusalem (1947 to 1948)

    Siege, bombings, street fighting and Arab Legion shelling: for about eight months Jewish Jerusalem fought to survive. The new city held, the Jewish Quarter fell, and the truces left a city divided until 1967.

  3. December 1947 to May 14, 1948

    Battle

    Gush Etzion in 1948: the siege, the fall and the Kfar Etzion massacre

    Four isolated kibbutzim in the Hebron hills held out under siege for about five months. On May 13, 1948, Kfar Etzion fell and its defenders were massacred, and the next day the other three kibbutzim surrendered.

  4. April 1948 to May 1948

    Military operation

    Operation Yiftach and the battle for Safed (1948)

    A Palmach offensive under Yigal Allon in spring 1948 to secure the eastern Upper Galilee before the Mandate ended. At its center was the battle for Safed, which fell to the Palmach on May 10, 1948.

  5. April 4, 1948 to April 15, 1948

    Battle

    The battle of Mishmar HaEmek (1948)

    In April 1948 Fawzi al-Qawuqji's Arab Liberation Army attacked kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek with artillery support. The kibbutz held, and a Haganah counteroffensive drove the attackers out of the area.

  6. April 5, 1948 to April 20, 1948

    Military operation

    Operation Nachshon (1948)

    The Haganah's first large operation, in April 1948, set out to break the blockade of the road to Jerusalem. The battle for al-Qastal and the death of Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni opened the road briefly, and large convoys reached the city.

  7. April 9, 1948

    Attack

    The Deir Yassin massacre (1948)

    On April 9, 1948, Irgun and Lehi fighters captured the village of Deir Yassin west of Jerusalem. About 100 villagers were killed, many of them women, children and elderly people, and news of the massacre hastened Arab flight.

  8. April 13, 1948

    Attack

    The Hadassah medical convoy massacre (1948)

    On April 13, 1948, a convoy bound for Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed in Sheikh Jarrah. Seventy-eight Jews, most of them doctors, nurses and students, were killed, and the mountain was cut off from Jewish Jerusalem for years.

  9. April 21, 1948 to April 22, 1948

    Battle

    The battle of Haifa (1948)

    On April 21 and 22, 1948, right after British troops pulled back from their positions, the Haganah's Carmeli Brigade took the Arab neighborhoods of Haifa. Most of the city's Arab residents left, and the port city passed to Jewish control.

  10. May 14, 1948 to June 6, 1948

    Battle

    The battle of Malkiya (1948)

    Between May and June 1948 the border village of Malkiya changed hands three times. In the third battle, on June 5, an Arab force that included regular Lebanese and Syrian units took it, and held it until Operation Hiram in October.

  11. May 15, 1948 to May 21, 1948

    Battle

    The battle of the Deganias (1948)

    After Syria's invasion in May 1948 took Tzemah and emptied two nearby kibbutzim, the defenders of Degania Alef and Degania Bet stopped the Syrian armor on May 20, 1948, and the Syrians pulled back after a surprise barrage from old mountain guns.

  12. May 19, 1948 to May 24, 1948

    Battle

    The battle of Yad Mordechai (1948)

    For five days, May 19 to 24, 1948, about 130 defenders of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai held off a much larger Egyptian force on the coastal road. The kibbutz was finally abandoned, but the delay gave Israeli forces time to organize in the south.

  13. May 24, 1948 to July 18, 1948

    Battle

    The battles of Latrun (1948)

    Between May and July 1948 Israeli forces repeatedly attacked Latrun, where Jordan's Arab Legion commanded the road to besieged Jerusalem. Every assault failed, but a bypass track, the Burma Road, broke the siege of the city.

  14. June 7, 1948

    Battle

    The battle of Nitzanim (1948)

    On June 7, 1948, Kibbutz Nitzanim surrendered to the Egyptian army after a day of fighting, and more than a hundred defenders were taken prisoner. A bitter public dispute followed, until an inquiry by the chief of staff cleared their name.

  15. June 20, 1948 to June 22, 1948

    Incident

    The Altalena affair (1948)

    In June 1948, during the first truce, the Irgun arms ship Altalena reached Israel's coast. The provisional government demanded the weapons, and clashes at Kfar Vitkin and off Tel Aviv left 19 dead and ended the Irgun as an independent force.

  16. July 8, 1948 to July 18, 1948

    Military operation

    Operation Dekel (1948)

    The July 1948 Israeli offensive in Lower Galilee that took Shefa-Amr, Saffuriya and Nazareth and pushed the Arab Liberation Army north. Nazareth's residents, unlike those of most towns taken that summer, stayed.

  17. July 9, 1948 to July 18, 1948

    Military operation

    Operation Danny (1948)

    The July 1948 Israeli offensive that captured Lydda, Ramle and the airport, removing the threat to Tel Aviv, but stalled against the Arab Legion at Latrun. Tens of thousands of Arab residents of the two towns were expelled.

  18. October 15, 1948 to October 22, 1948

    Military operation

    Operation Yoav (1948)

    The October 1948 Israeli offensive that broke the Egyptian line in the northern Negev, took Huleiqat and Beersheba and trapped an Egyptian brigade in the Faluja pocket, joining the Negev settlements to the rest of Israel.

  19. October 29, 1948 to October 31, 1948

    Military operation

    Operation Hiram (1948)

    The late October 1948 Israeli offensive that routed the Arab Liberation Army in the Upper Galilee in about 60 hours and reached the Litani, completing Israeli control of the Galilee and leaving a record of killings in several villages.

  20. December 22, 1948 to January 7, 1949

    Military operation

    Operation Horev (1948 to 1949)

    The last offensive against Egypt in the 1947 to 1949 war: Israeli forces outflanked the Egyptian line through the desert, took Auja, crossed into Sinai, withdrew under British pressure and brought Egypt to armistice talks.

  21. March 5, 1949 to March 10, 1949

    Military operation

    Operation Uvda and the road to Eilat (1949)

    The last operation of the 1947 to 1949 war: a desert march by the Negev and Golani brigades, almost without fighting, to Umm Rashrash on the Gulf of Aqaba, where the Ink Flag was raised on March 10, 1949.

Early statehood1949 to 1967

  1. 1951 to October 1956

    Conflict

    Fedayeen raids and the retribution operations (1951 to 1956)

    Between the 1949 armistice and the Sinai campaign, infiltration into Israel and Israeli reprisal raids fed each other, from Qibya to Qalqilya. The raids reshaped the IDF and helped lead to the 1956 war.

  2. October 14, 1953 to October 15, 1953

    Military operation

    The Qibya raid (1953)

    On the night of October 14, 1953, Unit 101 and paratroopers under Ariel Sharon blew up about 45 houses in the Jordanian-held village of Qibya. At least 69 villagers were killed, most of them women and children.

  3. February 28, 1955 to March 1, 1955

    Military operation

    Operation Black Arrow in Gaza (1955)

    On the night of February 28, 1955, Israeli paratroopers raided an Egyptian army base near Gaza. Thirty-seven or 38 Egyptians and eight Israeli soldiers were killed, and the raid is linked to the escalation before 1956.

  4. December 11, 1955 to December 12, 1955

    Military operation

    Operation Olive Leaves on the Sea of Galilee (1955)

    On the night of December 11, 1955, Israeli paratroopers and infantry destroyed Syrian positions on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. A military success, it cost Israel an American arms deal.

  5. October 29, 1956 to November 5, 1956

    War

    The 1956 Suez crisis and the Sinai campaign (Operation Kadesh)

    In October and November 1956 Israel captured Sinai and the Gaza Strip in secret coordination with Britain and France. American and Soviet pressure forced a withdrawal, but the Straits of Tiran opened and the Gaza border went quiet.

  6. October 29, 1956 to October 31, 1956

    Battle

    The battle of the Mitla Pass (1956)

    The Sinai campaign opened with Battalion 890's drop near the Mitla Pass on October 29, 1956. On October 31 a paratroop force entering the pass was caught in Egyptian crossfire, and 38 Israeli soldiers were killed.

  7. October 29, 1956

    Attack

    The Kafr Qasim massacre (1956)

    On October 29, 1956, Border Police troops killed dozens of Arab citizens of Israel returning to Kafr Qasim after a curfew they had not been told of. The trial that followed set the "black flag" standard.

  8. November 1964 to April 7, 1967

    Conflict

    The war over water (1964 to 1967)

    After Israel completed its National Water Carrier, the Arab League decided to divert the Jordan's headwaters. Israeli fire destroyed the Syrian diversion works, and the confrontation helped lead to the Six-Day War.

  9. November 13, 1966

    Military operation

    The Samu raid (1966)

    On November 13, 1966, an Israeli armored and paratroop force raided the West Bank village of as-Samu in reprisal for a Fatah mine. Sixteen Jordanian soldiers and three civilians were killed, shaking King Hussein's rule.

Six-Day War to Yom Kippur1967 to 1973

  1. June 5, 1967 to June 10, 1967

    War

    The Six-Day War (1967)

    A six-day war in June 1967 between Israel and Egypt, Jordan and Syria that left Israel holding Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, redrawing the map of the Middle East.

  2. June 5, 1967

    Military operation

    Operation Focus: the opening air strike of the Six-Day War (1967)

    The Israeli Air Force's preemptive strike on Egypt's airfields on the morning of June 5, 1967, extended later that day to Jordan, Syria and Iraq. It gave Israel complete air superiority and shaped the war within hours.

  3. June 5, 1967 to June 7, 1967

    Battle

    The battle for Jerusalem in the Six-Day War (1967)

    Three days of fighting, June 5 to 7, 1967, in which the IDF took East Jerusalem and the Old City from the Jordanian army, joined Mount Scopus to the city and reached the Western Wall after 19 years.

  4. June 5, 1967 to June 6, 1967

    Battle

    The battle of Abu Ageila (1967)

    Ariel Sharon's division's night assault on the fortified Umm Katef and Abu Ageila complex, June 5 to 6, 1967, combining infantry, heliborne paratroopers, armor and artillery to open Sinai's central axis.

  5. June 6, 1967

    Battle

    The battle of Ammunition Hill (1967)

    A four-hour night battle on June 6, 1967, for a fortified Jordanian post in north Jerusalem, one of the hardest of the Six-Day War. Thirty-six paratroopers and 71 Jordanian soldiers were killed.

  6. June 8, 1967

    Incident

    The USS Liberty incident (1967)

    On June 8, 1967, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attacked the American intelligence ship USS Liberty off the Sinai coast, killing 34 crew members. Israel called it misidentification; whether it was deliberate remains disputed.

  7. June 9, 1967 to June 10, 1967

    Battle

    The battles for the Golan Heights and Tel Faher (1967)

    In the last two days of the Six-Day War, June 9 to 10, 1967, Israel's Northern Command broke the Syrian fortified lines, including Tel Faher, and took the Golan Heights up to Quneitra.

  8. July 1, 1967 to August 7, 1970

    War

    The War of Attrition (1967 to 1970)

    A grinding war of artillery duels, commando raids and air battles, mainly against Egypt along the Suez Canal, in which Soviet pilots and missile crews took part in its final stage. It ended in a ceasefire on August 7, 1970, with the lines unchanged.

  9. March 21, 1968

    Battle

    The battle of Karameh (1968)

    An Israeli raid on the Fatah base at Karameh in the Jordan Valley on March 21, 1968 that became a day of hard fighting with the Jordanian army. The base was destroyed, but heavy Israeli losses made the battle a political victory for Fatah.

  10. December 28, 1968

    Military operation

    Operation Gift: the Beirut airport raid (1968)

    An Israeli helicopter-borne raid on Beirut airport on December 28, 1968, in response to a PFLP attack on an El Al plane in Athens. Fourteen civilian aircraft were destroyed without casualties, and the raid drew UN condemnation and a French embargo.

  11. July 19, 1969 to July 20, 1969

    Military operation

    The raid on Green Island (1969)

    A night assault by Shayetet 13 and Sayeret Matkal on the fortified Green Island in the Gulf of Suez on July 19 to 20, 1969. The island's installations were destroyed, six Israelis were killed, and the raid opened the way for Operation Boxer.

  12. December 26, 1969 to December 27, 1969

    Military operation

    Operation Rooster 53 (1969)

    A helicopter-borne paratroop raid on an Egyptian radar site at Ras Ghareb on December 26 to 27, 1969. CH-53 helicopters flew a complete Soviet P-12 radar to Sinai, giving Israel an intact example of a system its pilots had to evade.

  13. July 30, 1970

    Military operation

    Operation Rimon 20 (1970)

    A planned air ambush on July 30, 1970 in which Israeli Mirages and Phantoms shot down five Soviet-flown MiG-21s west of the Gulf of Suez without losing an aircraft. Eight days later the ceasefire took effect.

  14. May 8, 1972 to May 9, 1972

    Military operation

    Operation Isotope: the Sabena hijacking rescue (1972)

    On May 8, 1972, four Black September members hijacked Sabena Flight 571 to Lod. The next day Sayeret Matkal under Ehud Barak stormed the plane, killed the two male hijackers, captured the two women and freed the passengers.

  15. September 5, 1972 to September 6, 1972

    Attack

    The Munich Olympics massacre (1972)

    On September 5, 1972, eight Black September members broke into the Israeli team's quarters at the Munich Olympics and took hostages. Eleven Israelis were killed, nine of them during a failed German rescue attempt at Fürstenfeldbruck.

  16. April 9, 1973 to April 10, 1973

    Military operation

    Operation Spring of Youth (1973)

    An Israeli special forces raid on Beirut and the Sidon area on the night of April 9 to 10, 1973, in which three senior PLO figures were killed at home and other Palestinian targets were hit. Two Israeli soldiers were killed.

  17. October 6, 1973 to October 25, 1973

    War

    The Yom Kippur War (1973)

    On Yom Kippur, October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel in Sinai and the Golan Heights. Israel halted both offensives, crossed the Suez Canal and advanced into Syria, but the war's cost and the intelligence failure changed the country.

  18. October 6, 1973 to October 9, 1973

    Battle

    The battle of the Valley of Tears (1973)

    In the first four days of the Yom Kippur War, Israel's 7th Armored Brigade held the northern Golan between Mount Hermonit and Booster ridge against a far larger Syrian armored force, preventing a breakthrough toward the Galilee.

  19. October 6, 1973 to October 22, 1973

    Battle

    The battles of Mount Hermon (1973)

    Syrian commandos captured Israel's Mount Hermon outpost on the first day of the Yom Kippur War; a Golani counterattack failed on October 8, and Golani and paratroopers retook the mountain on October 21 to 22.

  20. October 14, 1973

    Battle

    The Sinai tank battle of October 14 (1973)

    On October 14, 1973, Egypt sent its armored reserves beyond its missile umbrella toward the Sinai passes. Israeli forces defeated the offensive within hours, opening the way for the Israeli crossing of the Suez Canal.

  21. October 15, 1973 to October 24, 1973

    Military operation

    Operation Abirey-Halev: crossing the Suez Canal (1973)

    Israel's crossing of the Suez Canal at Deversoir, beginning on the night of October 15 to 16, 1973. After a hard fight for the roads, armored divisions crossed, destroyed air-defense sites and encircled Egypt's Third Army.

  22. October 15, 1973 to October 17, 1973

    Battle

    The battle of the Chinese Farm (1973)

    Three days of close fighting, from October 15 to 17, 1973, for the Tirtur and Akavish roads leading to Israel's canal crossing point. The battle opened the way for the bridges and was among the costliest of the war.

  23. October 18, 1973 to October 22, 1973

    Battle

    The battle of Ismailia (1973)

    From October 18 to 22, 1973, Sharon's division attacked north from the canal bridgehead toward Ismailia. Egyptian paratroopers and commandos halted the advance south of the city before the ceasefire.

  24. October 24, 1973 to October 25, 1973

    Battle

    The battle of Suez city (1973)

    On October 24, 1973, Israeli armor and paratroopers entered the city of Suez. Egyptian soldiers and militia trapped the column in the streets, the troops withdrew overnight, and the city remained in Egyptian hands.

Lebanon and the first intifada1974 to 1999

  1. May 15, 1974

    Attack

    The Ma'alot massacre (1974)

    On May 15, 1974, three DFLP gunmen seized the Netiv Meir school in Ma'alot and held students from Safed hostage. When Sayeret Matkal stormed the building, 22 students were killed; the attack led to the creation of Yamam.

  2. June 27, 1976 to July 4, 1976

    Military operation

    Operation Entebbe (Operation Thunderbolt, 1976)

    After Air France Flight 139 was hijacked to Uganda, Israeli commandos landed at Entebbe on the night of July 3 to 4, 1976, and freed 102 of the 106 hostages. Yonatan Netanyahu and three hostages were killed.

  3. March 11, 1978

    Attack

    The Coastal Road massacre (1978)

    On March 11, 1978, a Fatah squad landed near Ma'agan Michael, hijacked a bus on the coastal highway and was stopped at the Glilot junction. Thirty-eight civilians, 13 of them children, were killed; Operation Litani followed three days later.

  4. March 14, 1978 to June 13, 1978

    Military operation

    Operation Litani (1978)

    After the Coastal Road massacre, about 25,000 Israeli troops entered southern Lebanon in March 1978 and reached the Litani River. The operation led to UNIFIL's creation, and in June Israel handed the border strip to Saad Haddad's militia.

  5. June 7, 1981

    Military operation

    Operation Opera: the strike on Iraq's Osirak reactor (1981)

    On June 7, 1981, eight Israeli F-16s escorted by F-15s destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. The Security Council condemned the strike, which became the founding case of the Begin doctrine.

  6. June 6, 1982 to June 1985

    War

    The 1982 Lebanon War (Operation Peace for Galilee)

    On June 6, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to push the PLO away from the Galilee, fought the Syrian army and besieged Beirut. The PLO was expelled, but the war led to Sabra and Shatila, the Kahan Commission and a long stay in southern Lebanon.

  7. June 6, 1982 to June 7, 1982

    Battle

    The battle of Beaufort (1982)

    On the night of June 6 to 7, 1982, Golani troops captured the Beaufort fortress from the PLO. Six Israeli soldiers were killed, among them Guni Harnik, and the battle became a symbol of courage and of leadership overconfidence.

  8. June 9, 1982

    Military operation

    Operation Mole Cricket 19 (1982)

    On June 9, 1982, the Israeli Air Force destroyed the Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries in the Beqaa Valley and shot down dozens of Syrian jets without losing a plane in air combat, securing control of Lebanon's skies.

  9. June 10, 1982 to June 11, 1982

    Battle

    The battle of Sultan Yacoub (1982)

    On the night of June 10 to 11, 1982, an Israeli tank battalion was ambushed by Syrian forces near Sultan Yacoub in the Beqaa Valley. Three tank crewmen went missing; two were recovered only in 2019 and 2025.

  10. June 13, 1982 to September 1, 1982

    Battle

    The siege of Beirut (1982)

    From mid-June 1982 Israeli forces besieged the PLO in West Beirut. After about ten weeks of bombardment, blockade and American mediation, some 14,000 PLO fighters left the city under multinational supervision.

  11. September 16, 1982 to September 18, 1982

    Attack

    The Sabra and Shatila massacre and the Kahan Commission (1982)

    From September 16 to 18, 1982, Lebanese Forces militiamen killed hundreds of civilians in Sabra and Shatila, an area surrounded by the IDF. The Kahan Commission found Israel indirectly and Sharon personally responsible.

  12. June 1985 to May 24, 2000

    Conflict

    The South Lebanon security zone conflict (1985 to 2000)

    For fifteen years the IDF and the South Lebanon Army held a strip of southern Lebanon along the border against a sustained Hezbollah guerrilla campaign, until Israel's unilateral withdrawal on May 24, 2000.

  13. October 1, 1985

    Military operation

    Operation Wooden Leg: the strike in Tunis (1985)

    On October 1, 1985, Israeli Air Force F-15s bombed the PLO headquarters at Hammam Chott near Tunis, about 2,000 kilometers from Israel, in response to the killing of three Israelis at Larnaca.

  14. December 9, 1987 to September 13, 1993

    Uprising

    The first intifada (1987 to 1993)

    A mass Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that broke out in December 1987, lasted about six years and reshaped the conflict on the road to the Oslo Accords.

  15. January 18, 1991 to February 1991

    Attack

    Iraqi Scud missile attacks on Israel in the Gulf War (1991)

    During the Gulf War, Iraq fired dozens of modified Scud ballistic missiles at Israel, mainly at greater Tel Aviv and Haifa, while Israel refrained from retaliating at the request of the United States.

  16. July 25, 1993 to July 31, 1993

    Military operation

    Operation Accountability (1993)

    A seven-day IDF bombardment campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in July 1993 that ended in unwritten, US-brokered understandings setting the rules of the northern front.

  17. April 11, 1996 to April 27, 1996

    Military operation

    Operation Grapes of Wrath (1996)

    A 17-day bombardment campaign against Hezbollah in April 1996, during which more than a hundred civilians were killed in the shelling of the UN compound at Qana, ending in the written April Understanding.

Second intifada to the Gaza operations2000 to 2023

  1. September 29, 2000 to 2005

    Uprising

    The second intifada (2000 to 2005)

    An armed Palestinian uprising that began in September 2000 after the Camp David summit failed, marked by suicide bombings in Israeli cities and Israeli operations in the West Bank and Gaza. It buried the Oslo process and faded in 2005.

  2. June 1, 2001

    Attack

    The Dolphinarium bombing (2001)

    On June 1, 2001, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a line outside a club at the Dolphinarium on the Tel Aviv seafront, killing 21 people, most of them teenagers from families of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

  3. March 27, 2002

    Attack

    The Park Hotel Passover massacre (2002)

    On March 27, 2002, the first night of Passover, a Hamas suicide bomber entered the dining hall of the Park Hotel in Netanya during the seder and killed 30 people. Two days later Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield.

  4. March 29, 2002 to May 10, 2002

    Military operation

    Operation Defensive Shield (2002)

    Israel's largest military operation in the West Bank since 1967: after the Passover bombing in Netanya, the IDF entered Ramallah, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Bethlehem, Jenin and Nablus and besieged Arafat in his Mukataa compound.

  5. April 3, 2002 to April 11, 2002

    Battle

    The battle of Jenin (2002)

    The fiercest fighting of Operation Defensive Shield, in the Jenin refugee camp in April 2002. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers and at least 52 Palestinians were killed, and claims of a massacre of hundreds were not substantiated by UN and human rights investigations.

  6. September 12, 2005 to October 7, 2023

    Conflict

    Gaza and Israel: the armed conflict from the 2005 disengagement to 2023

    Eighteen years of rocket fire, blockade, rounds of fighting and ceasefires between Israel and Hamas and the other armed groups in the Gaza Strip, from Israel's 2005 withdrawal to the attack of October 7, 2023.

  7. June 28, 2006 to November 26, 2006

    Military operation

    Operation Summer Rains (2006)

    The IDF's first major ground and air operation in Gaza after the disengagement, launched three days after Gilad Shalit was captured near Kerem Shalom and continued, with Operation Autumn Clouds, until a ceasefire in November 2006.

  8. July 12, 2006 to August 14, 2006

    War

    The Second Lebanon War (2006)

    Thirty-four days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, triggered by a cross-border raid on July 12, 2006 and ended by UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Close to 4,000 rockets struck northern Israel.

  9. July 23, 2006 to August 11, 2006

    Battle

    The battle of Bint Jbeil (2006)

    A series of battles for the southern Lebanese town where Nasrallah gave his 2000 "spider web" speech. Eight Golani soldiers were killed on July 26, 2006, and the town was never taken before the ceasefire.

  10. August 12, 2006 to August 13, 2006

    Battle

    The battle of Wadi Saluki (2006)

    The last major battle of the Second Lebanon War: a 401st Brigade tank column crossing Wadi Saluki on August 12, 2006 ran into a Hezbollah anti-tank ambush, after the Security Council had already adopted Resolution 1701.

  11. September 6, 2007

    Military operation

    Operation Orchard: the strike on Syria's reactor site (2007)

    Shortly after midnight on September 6, 2007, Israeli jets destroyed a building at Al Kibar in eastern Syria that Israel and the United States said was a reactor under construction with North Korean help. Israel acknowledged it only in March 2018.

  12. December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009

    Military operation

    Operation Cast Lead (2008 to 2009)

    A 22-day operation in the Gaza Strip that opened with a wave of airstrikes on December 27, 2008 and included a ground invasion from January 3, 2009, aimed at stopping Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel.

  13. November 14, 2012 to November 21, 2012

    Military operation

    Operation Pillar of Defense (2012)

    Eight days of fighting in November 2012 that began with the killing of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari. About 1,500 rockets were fired at Israel, Iron Dome faced its first broad test, and Egypt brokered a ceasefire without a ground invasion.

  14. January 30, 2013 to December 8, 2024

    Conflict

    The campaign between the wars: Israeli strikes in Syria (2013 to 2024)

    Hundreds of Israeli strikes in Syria, most never formally claimed, against weapons shipments to Hezbollah and Iran's military entrenchment, from the first reported strike in January 2013 to the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.

  15. July 8, 2014 to August 26, 2014

    Military operation

    Operation Protective Edge (2014)

    A 50-day Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014, combining an air campaign with a ground push against Hamas tunnels, and the longest and deadliest Israel-Hamas round before 2023.

  16. December 4, 2018 to January 13, 2019

    Military operation

    Operation Northern Shield (2018 to 2019)

    An IDF engineering and intelligence operation to find and neutralize attack tunnels Hezbollah had dug from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Six tunnels were exposed in six weeks, and the operation ended without an exchange of fire.

  17. November 12, 2019 to November 14, 2019

    Military operation

    Operation Black Belt (2019)

    A two-day round of fighting in November 2019 between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, opened by the killing of the group's northern Gaza commander, Baha Abu al-Ata. Hamas stayed out of the fighting.

  18. May 10, 2021 to May 21, 2021

    Military operation

    Operation Guardian of the Walls (2021)

    An 11-day round between Israel and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in May 2021, opened by rocket fire at Jerusalem and accompanied by an unprecedented wave of violence in Israel's mixed Jewish and Arab cities.

  19. March 31, 2022 to 2025

    Conflict

    Israeli counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank (2022 to 2025)

    A sequence of IDF and Shin Bet operations in the northern West Bank and beyond, from Operation Break the Wave in 2022 to Operation Iron Wall in 2025, against local armed brigades in refugee camps during the region's deadliest years since the second intifada.

  20. August 5, 2022 to August 7, 2022

    Military operation

    Operation Breaking Dawn (2022)

    A three-day round of fighting in August 2022 between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in which two of the group's senior commanders were killed. Hamas did not join, and an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire ended the round.

  21. May 9, 2023 to May 13, 2023

    Military operation

    Operation Shield and Arrow (2023)

    A five-day round of fighting in May 2023 between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, opened by the killing of three of the group's senior commanders. It was the last Gaza round before October 7, 2023.

Since October 7, 20232023 to the present

  1. October 7, 2023 to ongoing

    War

    The Israel and Hamas war (from October 7, 2023)

    The war that began with the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and was fought mainly in the Gaza Strip. A ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025 and all living hostages were freed, but the war has not formally ended.

  2. October 7, 2023 to October 10, 2023

    Attack

    The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel

    The Hamas-led assault from Gaza on army posts and more than twenty communities in southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli official figures, 251 were taken hostage, and the attack opened the Gaza war.

  3. October 7, 2023

    Attack

    The Nova music festival massacre (2023)

    On October 7, 2023, Hamas fighters attacked the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re'im. According to the IDF's investigation, 378 people were killed there, the largest single massacre of the day, and 44 were abducted.

  4. October 7, 2023 to October 8, 2023

    Attack

    The Be'eri massacre (2023)

    On October 7, 2023, hundreds of Hamas-led fighters overran Kibbutz Be'eri. According to the IDF's inquiry, 101 civilians and 31 security personnel were killed and 32 people abducted; the army admitted it failed to protect the kibbutz.

  5. October 7, 2023 to October 10, 2023

    Attack

    The Kfar Aza massacre (2023)

    On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led fighters took most of Kibbutz Kfar Aza within an hour. According to the IDF, 62 residents were killed and 19 people abducted, and fighting to retake the kibbutz lasted until October 10.

  6. October 8, 2023 to November 27, 2024

    War

    The Israel and Hezbollah war (2023 to 2024)

    A 14-month war on Israel's northern border that Hezbollah opened on October 8, 2023, which became an Israeli offensive in September 2024, killed Hassan Nasrallah and ended with a ceasefire on November 27, 2024.

  7. October 19, 2023 to ongoing

    Conflict

    Israel and the Houthis in Yemen (from 2023)

    Since October 2023 the Houthis in Yemen have fired missiles and drones at Israel and attacked Red Sea shipping, and since July 2024 Israel has struck ports, power stations and leaders in Yemen; the conflict continued into 2026.

  8. October 27, 2023 to April 7, 2024

    Military operation

    The Gaza ground offensive (2023 to 2024)

    The first phase of Israel's ground war in Gaza: from October 27, 2023 the IDF took Gaza City and the north and fought in Khan Yunis, until it withdrew its last division from the south on April 7, 2024.

  9. November 24, 2023 to October 13, 2025

    Incident

    Ceasefires and hostage releases in the Gaza war (2023 to 2025)

    Three ceasefires in the Gaza war, in November 2023, January 2025 and October 2025, that freed most of the 251 hostages taken on October 7 in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, without settling Gaza's future.

  10. December 1, 2023 to April 7, 2024

    Battle

    The battle of Khan Yunis (2023 to 2024)

    Four months of fighting by the IDF's 98th Division in Khan Yunis, the largest city in southern Gaza and Yahya Sinwar's hometown, from December 2023 until the withdrawal on April 7, 2024.

  11. April 13, 2024 to April 19, 2024

    Attack

    Iran's April 2024 attack on Israel and Israel's response

    On the night of April 13 to 14, 2024, Iran attacked Israel directly for the first time with about 170 drones and over 150 missiles, nearly all intercepted; on April 19 Israel struck near Isfahan.

  12. May 6, 2024 to October 2024

    Military operation

    The Rafah offensive (2024)

    The offensive Israel opened on May 6, 2024 in Rafah on the Egyptian border, despite international objections: it took the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi corridor, and Yahya Sinwar was killed in the city on October 16, 2024.

  13. June 8, 2024

    Military operation

    Operation Arnon: the Nuseirat hostage rescue (2024)

    On June 8, 2024, Yamam, the Shin Bet and the IDF rescued four Nova festival hostages from two buildings in Nuseirat. Yamam officer Arnon Zmora was killed, and the Gaza Health Ministry reported more than 270 Palestinians killed.

  14. September 17, 2024 to September 18, 2024

    Military operation

    The pager and radio explosions in Lebanon (2024)

    On September 17 and 18, 2024, thousands of pagers and hundreds of radios used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon, killing 42 people according to the Lebanese government; Israel acknowledged responsibility in November 2024.

  15. September 23, 2024 to November 27, 2024

    Military operation

    Operation Northern Arrows and the ground operation in Lebanon (2024)

    Israel's offensive against Hezbollah from September 23, 2024: an air campaign across Lebanon, the killing of Hassan Nasrallah and a ground operation in border villages from October 1, until the ceasefire of November 27, 2024.

  16. October 1, 2024 to October 26, 2024

    Military operation

    Iran's October 2024 missile attack and Operation Days of Repentance

    On October 1, 2024, Iran fired about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel; on October 26, in Operation Days of Repentance, Israeli aircraft struck air defense batteries and missile production sites in Iran.

  17. December 8, 2024 to ongoing

    Military operation

    Israeli operations in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime (from December 2024)

    When the Assad regime fell on December 8, 2024, Israel entered the Golan buffer zone and the Syrian summit of Mount Hermon and destroyed most of Syria's strategic weapons; its forces remained in 2026.

  18. June 13, 2025 to June 24, 2025

    War

    The Israel and Iran war of June 2025 (Operation Rising Lion)

    The 12-day war of June 13 to 24, 2025: Israel struck Iran's nuclear program, missile forces and commanders, Iran fired about 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, and the United States bombed Fordow.

  19. February 28, 2026 to ongoing

    War

    The Israel and Iran war of 2026 (Operation Roaring Lion)

    The war Israel and the United States opened against Iran on February 28, 2026, which killed Ali Khamenei and brought about 650 ballistic missiles on Israel; the April 8 ceasefire collapsed between Washington and Tehran in July.

  20. March 2, 2026 to ongoing

    War

    The 2026 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon

    The renewed war with Hezbollah from March 2, 2026, two days into the Iran war: an air campaign, a ground operation from March 16, a truce on April 16 and a framework on June 26, with Israeli troops still in southern Lebanon.