2014 Gaza War

For other conflicts called the "Gaza War", see Gaza War (2008–2009), 2012 Gaza War, and Israel–Hamas war.

2014 Gaza War
Part of the Gaza–Israel conflict

Left, right:
Date8 July – 26 August 2014
(1 month, 2 weeks and 4 days)
Location
Gaza Strip and Israel
Result

Victory claimed by both sides[6]

  • According to Israel, Hamas was severely weakened and achieved none of its demands[7]
  • According to Hamas, Israel was repelled from Gaza[8]
Belligerents
 Israel

 Gaza Strip

Commanders and leaders
Benjamin Netanyahu
(Prime Minister)
Moshe Ya'alon
(Defense Minister)
Benny Gantz
(Chief of General Staff)
Amir Eshel
(Air Force Commander)
Ram Rothberg
(Naval Commander)
Sami Turgeman
(Southern Commander)
Mickey Edelstein
(Gaza Division)
Yoram Cohen
(Chief of Shin Bet)		 Khaled Mashal
(Leader of Hamas)
Ismail Haniyeh
(Deputy Chief of Hamas)
Mohammed Deif
(Head of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades)
Ramadan Shalah
(Leader of Islamic Jihad)
Units involved
Israel Israel Defense Forces
Israel Shin Bet		 Hamas Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
State of Palestine al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades
Popular Resistance Committees Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades
Palestinian Islamic Jihad Al-Quds Brigades
Strength
176,500 active personnel
565,000 reservists[9] (2012 figures, of which not all are directly involved)

Al-Qassam Brigades: 20,000[10]–40,000[11]

Al-Quds Brigades: 8,000[12]
Casualties and losses
67 soldiers and 6 civilians (1 Thai) killed,[13][14][15] 469 soldiers and 87 civilians wounded[16][17] Gaza Health Ministry: 2,310 killed[18] (70% civilians[19]), 10,626 wounded[18]
UN HRC: 2,251 killed[note 1][20] (65% civilians[20])
Israel MFA: 2,125 killed[note 2][21] (36% civilians, 44% combatants, 20% uncategorized males aged 16–50[21])
More than 23 Palestinians executed by Hamas or Al‑Qassam for alleged espionage.[22]

The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge (Hebrew: מִבְצָע צוּק אֵיתָן, romanized: Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan, lit. 'Operation Strong Cliff'[note 3][26][27][28]), and Battle of the Withered Grain (Arabic: معركة العصف المأكول, romanized: Maʿrakat al-ʿAṣf al-Maʾkūl[29][30]), was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that has been governed by Hamas since 2007.[note 4] Following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank by Hamas-affiliated Palestinian militants, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initiated Operation Brother's Keeper, in which it killed 10 Palestinians, injured 130 and imprisoned more than 600.[31][32][33][34] Hamas reportedly did not retaliate but resumed rocket attacks on Israel more than two weeks later, following the killing of one of its militants by an Israeli airstrike on 29 June.[35] This escalation triggered a seven-week-long conflict between the two sides, one of the deadliest outbreaks of open conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in decades. The combination of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes resulted in over two thousand deaths, the vast majority of which were Gazan Palestinians.[36] This includes a total of six Israeli civilians who were killed as a result of the conflict.[37]

The Israeli military operation aimed to stop rocket fire into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Conversely, Hamas' attacks aimed to bring international pressure onto Israel with the strategic goal of forcing the latter to lift the Israeli–Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip; among its other goals were to end Israel's military offensive, obtain a third party to monitor and guarantee compliance with a ceasefire,[38] release Palestinian political prisoners and overcome its isolation.[39] According to the BBC, Israel launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in retaliation to the rocket attacks by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and other Palestinian militant groups.[40]

On 7 July, after seven Hamas militants died in a tunnel explosion in Khan Yunis that was caused either by an Israeli airstrike (per Hamas, Nathan Thrall, BBC, and a senior IDF official)[41] or an accidental explosion of their own munitions (per the IDF), Hamas assumed responsibility for rockets fired into Israel, and subsequently launched 40 more rockets towards Israel.[42][43] The Israeli aerial operation officially began the following day, and on 17 July, it was expanded to include a full-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of destroying Gaza's tunnel system;[44] the Israeli ground invasion ended on 5 August.[45] On 26 August, an open-ended ceasefire was announced.[46] By this time, the IDF reported that Hamas, PIJ, and other Palestinian militant groups had fired 4,564 rockets and mortars into Israel, with over 735 projectiles having been intercepted mid-flight and shot down by Israel's Iron Dome. Most Gazan mortar and rocket fire was inaccurate, and consequently hit open land; more than 280 projectiles had landed within the Gaza Strip,[47][48][49] and 224 had struck residential areas.[50][51] Palestinian rocketry also killed 13 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, 11 of them children.[52][53] The IDF attacked 5,263 targets in the Gaza Strip; at least 34 known tunnels were destroyed[50] and two-thirds of Hamas's 10,000-rocket arsenal was either used up or destroyed.[54][55]

Between 2,125[21] and 2,310[18] Gazans were killed during the conflict while between 10,626[18] and 10,895[56] were wounded (including 3,374 children, of whom over 1,000 were left permanently disabled).[57] Gazan civilian casualty estimates range between 70 percent by the Gaza Health Ministry,[14][19][56] 65 percent by the United Nations' (UN) Protection Cluster by OCHA (based in part on Gaza Health Ministry reports),[20] and 36 percent by Israeli officials.[58][21] The UN estimated that more than 7,000 homes for 10,000 families were razed, together with an additional 89,000 homes damaged, of which roughly 10,000 were severely affected by the bombing.[59] Rebuilding costs were calculated to run from US$4–6 billion over the course of 20 years.[60] 67 Israeli soldiers, 5 Israeli civilians (including one child)[61] and one Thai civilian were killed[14] while 469 Israeli soldiers and 261 Israeli civilians were injured.[17] On the Israeli side, the economic impact of the operation is estimated to have had an impact of ₪8.5 billion (approximately US$2.5 billion) and a GDP loss of 0.4 percent.[62]

  1. ^ a b "Qassam brigades claim rocket, mortar fire at southern Israel Archived 19 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine", Ma'an News Agency, Monday 21 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Abu Jamal: Palestinian resistance continues to confront the occupier with rockets and missiles". PFLP. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Armed wing linked to Mahmoud Abbas's faction says it shot rockets at Ashkelon, Sderot and elsewhere Wednesday night". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  4. ^ Ben Solomon, Ariel (11 July 2014). "Videos show Lebanese jihadi group active in Gaza". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
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  6. ^ Prusher, Ilene (26 August 2014). "Israel and Palestinians Reach Open-Ended Cease-Fire Deal". Time. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  7. ^ "Netanyahu: Hamas suffered its greatest blow since it was founded". The Jerusalem Post. 27 August 2014. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  8. ^ Daraghmeh, Mohammed; Laub, Karin (26 August 2014). "Israel-Gaza conflict: Hamas claims 'victory for the resistance' as long-term truce is agreed with Israel". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  9. ^ International Institute for Strategic Studies (7 March 2012). Hackett, James (ed.). The Military Balance 2012. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-85743-642-6.
  10. ^ "Rockets, naval commandos boost Hamas arsenal". Maannews.net. 25 July 2014. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Hamas growing in military stature, say analysts". Middleeasteye.net. 17 July 2014. Archived from the original on 21 July 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  12. ^ Ben Gedalyahu, Ben (7 November 2011). "Iran Backs Islamic Jihad's 8,000-Man Army in Gaza". Israel National News. Arutz Sheva. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  13. ^ "Operation Protective Edge, Casualties". Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  14. ^ a b c "Occupied Palestinian Territory: Gaza Emergency" (PDF). 4 September 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference benari was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cease fire in Operation "Protective Edge" is holding MDA sums up 50 days of saving lives Archived 26 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Magen David Adom, 29 August 2014: 'During the 50 days of Operation "Protective Edge", MDA teams treated 842 civilians, including 6 who were killed by shrapnel of rockets, and another 36 who were injured by shrapnel in varying degrees, including: 10 casualties in serious condition, 6 in a moderate condition and 20 who were slightly wounded. In addition, MDA teams also treated during Operation "Protective Edge" 33 people who were injured by shattered glass and building debris, 18 who were injured in road traffic accidents which occurred when the sirens were heard, including 1 person in a serious condition, and the rest lightly or moderately wounded. 159 people were injured as a result of falling and trauma on the way to the shelters and 581 people suffered anxiety attacks.'
  17. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference OPE-Israeli-wounded was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ a b c d 'Ministry: Death toll from Gaza offensive topped 2,310,' Archived 11 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine Ma'an News Agency 3 January 2015.
  19. ^ a b "Islamic Jihad: 121 of our fighters killed in Gaza". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  20. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference HRC_REPORT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference MFA-report-fatalities was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ "Gaza: Palestinians tortured, summarily killed by Hamas forces during 2014 conflict". Amnesty International. 27 May 2015. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2022. 'Strangling Necks': Abduction, torture and summary killings of Palestinians by Hamas forces during the 2014 Gaza/Israel conflict highlights a series of abuses, such as the extrajudicial execution of at least 23 Palestinians and the arrest and torture of dozens of others, including members and supporters of Hamas's political rivals, Fatah.
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  26. ^ Booth, William (3 September 2014). "Here's what really happened in the Gaza war (according to the Israelis)". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  27. ^ Harel, Amos (8 July 2015). "The last Gaza war–and the next". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
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  29. ^ "فلسطين.. ووهم أسلمة الصراع! =1 December 2023". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
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  32. ^ Nathan Thrall (1 August 2014). "Hamas's Chances". London Review of Books. 36 (16). Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
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  35. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sharon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  36. ^ Zonszein, Mairav (27 March 2015). "Israel killed more Palestinians in 2014 than in any other year since 1967". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
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  50. ^ a b Ynetnews (27 August 2014). "Operation Protective Edge in numbers". Ynetnews. Archived from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
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  61. ^ Israeli child 'killed by rocket fired from Gaza' Archived 30 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine, BBC
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