Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip in the context of "Gaza war"

The siege of North Gaza was an engagement of the Gaza war in the North Gaza Governorate, Gaza Strip, between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian forces. It began on 5 October 2024 when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reinvaded Jabalia and its refugee camp for the first time in months since earlier fighting.

The siege was reportedly part of Israel's "generals' plan" to force Palestinians out of northern Gaza by designating it a combat zone and issuing evacuation orders to civilians under threat of death. The IDF imposed a complete siege on northern Gaza, cutting it off from Gaza City by destroying most of the roads leading south and preventing the entry of aid. Evacuations were hindered, however, by Israeli bombardments and shootings of fleeing civilians, leaving many trapped. Human rights groups raised concerns of war crimes, and Israeli actions were characterized as ethnic cleansing and genocide. Israel attacked hospitals and medical infrastructure, as international bodies warned of disastrous conditions in Jabalia.

The population of the Gaza Strip is undergoing a famine as a result of an Israeli blockade during the Gaza war that prevents basic essentials and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, as well as airstrikes that have destroyed food infrastructure, such as bakeries, mills, and food stores, causing a widespread scarcity of essential supplies. Humanitarian aid has also been blocked by protests at borders and ports. Increasing societal breakdown in Gaza, including looting, has also been cited as a barrier to the provision of aid.

As of August 2025, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projections show 100% of the population are experiencing "high levels of acute food insecurity", and 32% are projected to face Phase 5 catastrophic levels by 30 September 2025. On 22 August 2025, the IPC said that famine is taking place in one of the five governorates in the Gaza Strip: specifically, the Gaza Governorate which includes Gaza City. The IPC added that, within the next month, famine was likely to also occur in both the Deir al-Balah Governorate and Khan Yunis Governorate. The IPC had insufficient data on the North Gaza Governorate for a classification but concluded that conditions were likely similar or worse than in the Gaza Governorate. Within the next 6 weeks as of 16 August, the number of people in IPC Phase 5 is expected to rise from 500,000 to over 640,000.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been accused of targeting municipal services in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, as part of the ongoing Gaza war. The service sector in the region has been repeatedly bombed by the IDF, with a large number of workers in this field killed as a result and the destruction of several municipal facilities and vehicles that provide services to Palestinian citizens.

Those attacks also included the destruction of roads and most of the essential service infrastructure such as water tanks, sewage stations, and wells, which the IDF say are built on top of tunnels belonging to Hamas. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in October 2023 that typically, 90% of Gaza's tap water is considered undrinkable, and this situation is exacerbated during times of conflict.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted attacks (including numerous airstrikes) on more than 200 educational facilities, including universities, in the Gaza Strip.

By late March 2024, the United Nations recorded more than 200 Israeli attacks on schools in Gaza, with at least 53 schools totally destroyed. By July 2024, all 19 Gaza universities had suffered severe damage with 80% of university buildings destroyed, 103 academics killed, and 90,000 students enrolled in higher education no longer able to pursue their studies. In June 2024, UNOCHA stated 76 percent of Gaza's schools required "full reconstruction or major rehabilitation", and in August 2024, UNICEF stated 564, or 85 percent, of all schools in Gaza had been hit by Israeli attacks. In May 2025, an estimated 95% of school buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, the Israeli military and authorities committed numerous war crimes, such as the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, attacks on civilians in densely populated areas (including bombings of hospitals and medical facilities, refugee camps, schools and educational institutions, and municipal services); the torture and executions of civilians; sexual violence including rape; and genocide. Further war crime charges against Israel include forced evacuations, mistreatment and torture of Palestinian prisoners, and the destruction of cultural heritage. Humanitarian organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B'tselem, and Oxfam, as well as human rights groups and experts, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry and United Nations special rapporteurs, have documented these actions.

Israel has faced legal charges for its conduct in the war. At the International Court of Justice, Israel was charged with committing genocide in Gaza. In May 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including using starvation as a weapon of war.

The Middle Eastern crisis, also known as the October 7 War, is an ongoing regional conflict comprising a series of interrelated wars, conflicts, and heightened instability in the Middle East during the Gaza war and genocide. The Gaza war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals—including 815 civilians—and taking 251 hostages. Israel then launched an offensive with bombardment and a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. Israel's intensified blockade, bombardment, and invasion of the Gaza Strip has killed over 70,000 Palestinians, with some estimates suggesting more than 90,000 killed. On 10 October 2025, a ceasefire went into effect.

Shortly after the Gaza war began, several Iran-backed militias in the Axis of Resistance joined the conflict against Israel. In Lebanon, Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, igniting a fourteen-month conflict that escalated in October 2024 to an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon and largely ended with a ceasefire at the end of November. In the Red Sea, the Yemen-based Houthis attacked shipping vessels in solidarity with Hamas, drawing international rebuke—including a series of airstrikes against Houthi positions carried out by the United States and the United Kingdom—which ended with the U.S.–Houthi ceasefire in May 2025. Iraqi militias led by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq also carried out attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, but mostly halted in December 2024.