Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
2007
June 14: Hamas stages coup in Gaza, ousting PA. Many of the Gaza crossings are closed, limiting movement and access of people and goods.
July 5: In response to continued Qassam rocket shelling from Gaza, IDF penetrates a half-mile into the territory, killing at least 11 militants. Thousands of Gazans march in the funeral procession.
September 3: Rocket fired from Gaza lands near Sderot elementary and preschools. Parents call for school closure.
September 11: Gazan rocket injures 40 Israeli soldiers sleeping at army base near Israel-Gaza border. Politicians and parents of soldiers call for invasion of Gaza.
October 7: Gaza militants fire a rare Katyusha rocket into Israel. More sophisticated and with a longer range than the usual Gaza Qassam rockets, Katyushas must be smuggled into Gaza. Only four were previously fired into Israel since the Hamas takeover.
October 28: Israel begins reducing fuel shipments to Gaza and closes the Sufa crossing, an Israeli-controlled transit point on the Egyptian border. Food and medication are still allowed to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, another Gaza-Egypt crossing controlled by Israel.
November 1: Israel destroys seven tunnels between Gaza and Egypt used for smuggling weapons to militants.
Israel urges Egypt to do more to stop smugglers. On the same day, Palestinian militants fire nine rockets into Israel, damaging a building in Sderot. Israeli airforce also strikes militants, wounding 10.
November 27: Hamas and Islamic Jihad hold conference opposing the upcoming Annapolis peace conference in Maryland. Say they will not give up any land or recognize Israel.
December 1: Israeli Supreme Court rules that Israel may continue cutting fuel shipments to Gaza, but delays plans for electricity cuts.
December 12: Israeli forces move two miles into the Gaza strip on the eve of post-Annapolis Israeli-PA comprehensive negotiations. The operation was a routine effort to disrupt rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli army bases and the Israeli controlled Gaza-Egypt Sufa crossing.
December 18: Senior Islamic Jihad commander Majed al-Harazin killed by Israeli rocket strike. The strike also kills al-Harzin’s senior lieutenant, Jihad Daher and two other Islamic Jihad militants.
December 24: Israel rejects Hamas offer for cease-fire negotiations, on the basis that it will not negotiate with groups that did not recognize Israel’s right to exist and also renounce violence. Israeli PM Olmert describes Gaza hostilities as a “true war” between Israel and terrorist forces.
2008
January 4: Palestinians fire Katyusha rockets into Israeli city of Ashkelon. Israeli forces kill nine Gazans and demolish houses of militant leaders. The Katyusha traveled ten miles, the longest distance of any Palestinian strike. Israel blames Egypt for re-opening the Rafah crossing to returning hajj pilgrims, instead of using the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, thus depriving Israel of the chance to screen returning pilgrims for weapons and cash.
January 16: Israeli army incursion into Gaza kills 18 Palestinians, 13 of whom are from Hamas, the highest death toll in six months. Palestinian militants fire 25 Qassams and 25 mortar bombs into Israel, five land in Sderot, one lands on a house, wounding five residents.
January 18: In continuing escalation of tensions, Hamas and other militants launch 40 Qassams, half of which land in Israel, including in the town of Sderot. Israeli airstrikes kill seven Palestinians.
January 20: Citing need to halt rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel closes all crossings with the Gaza Strip. The same day, Palestinian militants fire 31 rockets, 16 land in Israel.
January 21: Palestinian officials close Gaza’s power station, cutting off electricity to Gaza City due to shortage of fuel needed to run its operations. Israel disputes that there is an energy crisis, saying that it is still providing Gaza with 70% of its energy needs, despite having halted imports, and another 5% is provided by Egypt.
January 23: Israel resumes fuel shipments to Gaza in the face of international pressure. Hamas militants demolish sections of the fence guarding the border between Egypt and Gaza. Thousands of Gazans cross into Egypt to buy scarce items.
January 28: Israel promises PA President Abbas that it will not disrupt shipments of food, medicine, or energy to the Gaza Strip.
January 31: Israeli Supreme Court rejects appeal to legally stop Israeli government from reducing electricity and fuel supplies to Gaza.
February 4: Egypt re-seals border with Gaza at Rafah crossing with the cooperation of Hamas security forces.
February 16: Senior Islamic Jihad commander Ayman Attallah Fayed killed in explosion, along with five others. Islamic Jihad blames Israel, but the IDF denies any participation.
February 25-26: Israel increases security forces at the border as about 5,000 Gazans, many fewer than expected, hold peaceful protest against Israeli embargo.
February 28: In response to an Israeli airstrike, 25 Qassams are launched from Gaza, landing on Ashkelon and Sderot and causing the first Israeli civilian death in eight months. Israel launches a second airstrike, killing two civilians and wounding 12.
February 29: Gaza militants fire eight Katyusha rockets into Ashkelon. There were no injuries, but a house was struck directly for the first time, and the strike is seen as a broadening of the conflict. Israel also launches airstrikes against rocket-launching squads.
March 2: Israeli air and ground strikes in Gaza aimed at stopping rocket fire into Israel kill 54 Palestinians and wound 100, in deadliest day of fighting in a year. Abbas suspends peace talks with Olmert, demanding that Israel stop its offensive.
March 3: Israel announces that its Gaza operations are “winding down,” begins to withdraw from northern Gaza. CNN reports that more than 110 Palestinians were killed during the recent operations.