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2023
October 7: Hundreds of Hamas-led gunmen launched an unprecedented attack in southern Israel, bursting through the border fence and targeting nearby communities, police stations and army bases. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages were taken back to Gaza. Hamas also fired thousands of rockets at Israel. The Israeli military immediately responded with air and artillery strikes on Gaza.
October 27: Israel launched a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel’s massive military campaign will devastate Gaza, displace most of its 2.3 million residents, and kill more than 46,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
November 21: The deal brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt saw Hamas release 105 hostages in return for some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails during the week-long ceasefire. Israel and Hamas blame each other for causing the collapse of the ceasefire.
December 28: Shuttle diplomacy on a new ceasefire and hostage release deal begins.
2024
May 31: US President Joe Biden outlined Israel’s proposal for a three-phase ceasefire to free Israeli hostages. This formed the basis of a deal that was agreed upon eight months later.
June 10: The UN Security Council passed a resolution supporting the ceasefire plan.
July 31: The talks were suspended following the Israeli assassination of Hamas political leader and chief negotiator Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Discussions resumed two weeks later, initially without Hamas.
October 17: Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in southern Gaza. Netanyahu called it the “beginning of the end” of the war.
November 9: After months without a breakthrough, Qatar suspended its efforts as a mediator in the negotiations. It says Israel and Hamas should change their position. Both sides blame each other for the impasse.
November 20: The US vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, saying it “abandoned” the need for there to be “a link between the ceasefire and the release of the hostages”.
November 27: Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Lebanon to end a 13-month conflict with the armed group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, which was sparked by the Gaza war. This reignites hope for a deal in Gaza, and Biden says he will make another push with regional powers.
December 2: US President-elect Donald Trump said there will be “all hell to pay” if the hostages still held in Gaza are not released when he returns to the White House on January 20, 2025.
December 17: A senior Palestinian official said indirect talks were in a “decisive and final phase”, while Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said a deal was closer than ever.
2025
January 13: Biden and Netanyahu spoke by phone about the talks during Biden’s last week in office, after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a deal was “very close” and he hoped to “get over the line” before Trump takes office.
January 15: Qatar’s prime minister said Israel and Hamas agreed to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, and that it will take effect on January 19. Biden said it would “stop the fighting in Gaza, provide much-needed humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families”.
