Recent timeline

• Late last week (prior to May 25, 2025): Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant outlines a three-stage war strategy against Hamas: airstrikes and ground campaign to destroy operatives/infrastructure, eliminating resistance pockets, and creating a new security regime in Gaza. The Wall Street Journal reports Israel agreed to delay a ground invasion until Washington puts air defenses in the region. IDF forces conduct a “targeted” tank and infantry raid in northern Gaza.
• Sunday, May 4, 2025: Israel’s security cabinet unanimously approves a plan to expand military operations in the Gaza Strip, including the “occupation” of territory. Netanyahu emphasizes the shift from raid-based operations to occupying and sustaining territory. The cabinet also ratifies a plan to overhaul food distribution in Gaza, with Israel taking control. Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir announces tens of thousands of reserve call-up orders. Yemen’s Houthis launch a missile that disrupts air traffic at Ben Gurion Airport.
• Monday, May 5, 2025: David Mencer describes the approved war objectives as “the expanding and the holding of territories, not occupation.” Israel indicates plans to move Gaza’s civilian population southward. Bezalel Smotrich states there will be “no retreat from the territories we have conquered, not even in exchange for hostages.” Yair Golan warns against the de facto occupation of Gaza. The Hostage Families Forum condemns the plan, stating the government is choosing territory over hostages. President Donald Trump tells reporters he will help get food to people in Gaza, echoing Israeli claims that Hamas is taking aid.
• Week of May 18, 2025: Massive explosions shake the Gaza Strip as Israeli warplanes launch intensive airstrikes in what the Israeli army calls “preparations to expand operations.” Airstrikes hit Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah, parts of Gaza City, and Jabalia. Remote-controlled Israeli explosive vehicles incur into north Gaza. The Israeli army drops leaflets over Gaza depicting a biblical scene. The Israeli military says the new offensive includes dividing the enclave and pushing the population out of operating areas as part of Operation Gideon’s Chariots. Israel announces it will introduce a basic amount of food to Gaza’s population. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the total death toll since October 7, 2023, reaches 53,339. Hamas frees Edan Alexander as a goodwill gesture to the Trump administration.
• Friday, May 23, 2025: Nine out of ten children of a Gaza doctor are killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home near Khan Younis.
• Saturday, May 24, 2025: The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) deploys all of its standing army infantry and armoured brigades to Gaza. The military says it struck more than 100 targets in 24 hours, targeting Hamas infrastructure. Gaza’s Health Ministry says the bodies of 79 people killed in Israeli strikes are brought to hospitals. Alaa Najjar, a pediatrician, finds her home on fire after an airstrike that killed nine of her children. Protesters gather in Tel Aviv demanding an end to the war and release of hostages. At least five Palestinians are killed and 50 wounded by an Israeli attack near an aid truck in southern Gaza.
• Sunday, May 25, 2025: Israeli strikes pound Gaza, killing dozens, including people in a school-turned-shelter. Israeli military says it targeted militants operating from the school. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed group, plans to begin operations, despite the resignation of its director.
• Monday, May 26, 2025: Israeli strikes pound Gaza early in the morning. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits a Jerusalem holy site and says Jewish worship is allowed there. Hamas warns Palestinians in Gaza not to cooperate with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visits Israel and meets Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. The Israeli military says three projectiles were fired from Gaza towards southern Israel. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says it is still going ahead with its launch despite its director’s resignation. Australia’s prime minister calls Israel’s blockade of Gaza aid “outrageous.”