Fact Sheet: Israel and Palestine Conflict (Updated 31 October 2023)

For more information, see ACLED’s Gaza Conflict Monitor.

Update: 31 October

Three weeks after the initial Hamas attack on southern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a ground operation into northern Gaza on 27 October following intense airstrikes. The operation has so far been carried out more incrementally than previously anticipated,¹ with the new phase of the conflict expected to be slowly advancing into urban warfare. Meanwhile, violence has surged in the West Bank amid stepped up Israeli military raids, settler attacks, and violent demonstrations by Palestinians.

Unprecedented Israeli Aerial Bombardment of Gaza Leads into Ground Operation

Israeli airstrikes have continued unabated across the coastal enclave since 7 October, with the Gaza Health Ministry indicating that the death toll has surpassed 8,000 people, the majority of whom are children and women.² The scale of Israel’s aerial campaign during the first phase of operations has been unprecedented, with the IDF firing more than 8,000 munitions into the Gaza Strip within three weeks.³ ACLED records over 600 airstrike events in 54 locations during this period. Despite Gaza’s small size of just 360 square kilometers, this represents the highest number of airstrike events recorded within a single month for any country or territory in the Middle East since 2020 (see graph below).

While Israel has conducted hundreds of airstrikes across all governorates in the Gaza Strip, Gaza City in the north has seen the most intense bombardment (see map below). Israel has issued warnings that shelters are not safe in northern Gaza, urging civilians to evacuate to the south,⁴ but 600,000 people are believed to remain in the north.⁵ IDF missiles struck a Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City, killing at least 16 Palestinians, on 19 October. Israel has been also increasingly pressuring hospitals in northern Gaza – including al-Quds hospital sheltering hundreds of patients and over 14,000 displaced people – to evacuate, conducting airstrikes in the vicinity of the health facilities.⁶ Despite the evacuation orders, Israeli forces have also continued to target areas in the south.

Following a night of heavy bombardment as well as a communications and internet outage, Israeli ground forces entered the Gaza Strip on 27 October, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially announcing the start of the “second stage” of the war a day later. While the IDF has remained vague about the location and number of Israeli troops already deployed, its forces are believed to be pushing forward slowly and cautiously in three entry zones⁷ (see map below). Tanks and armored vehicles have entered the semi-rural area to the north of Gaza City, while IDF forces have clashed with Hamas militants adjacent to the Erez crossing at entrances of the group’s underground network.⁸ By 30 October there were reports that Israeli tanks had reached Gaza’s main north-south road in an effort to cut Gaza City off from the south.⁹ On 31 October, clashes were reported in the al-Tawam area, northwest of Gaza City.¹⁰

The movements of Israeli forces north and south of Gaza City suggest that it is the focus of the ground operation.¹¹ But before reaching Hamas strongholds in Gaza City¹² – where much of the group’s forces and infrastructure are believed to be located¹³ – Israeli soldiers will have to breach defensive lines of mines, booby traps, snipers, and mortar attacks. Once entering Gaza City, the urban warfare stage of the offensive is expected to be protracted and challenging for Israel. IDF forces will have to fight Hamas militants in an extensive labyrinth of tunnels that the group has built under the densely populated strip,¹⁴ with the presence of Israeli captives likely held in these tunnels further complicating the operation.¹⁵

Violence Escalates to Levels Not Seen Since the Second Intifada in the West Bank Amid Military Raids, Settler Attacks, and Violent Demonstrations

While international attention has focused on the Gaza Strip, violence has reached levels in the West Bank that have not been seen since the Second Intifada. ACLED records over 115 fatalities in the area over the past month, marking the highest number of fatalities in a single month in the West Bank in almost two decades.¹⁶ Over 1,000 political violence incidents were reported in the West Bank between 7 and 27 October, nearly three times more than the preceding month of September. Clashes between the IDF and armed groups in the West Bank, as well as unarmed demonstrators and rioters, have significantly intensified. Additionally, settlers have escalated attacks against Palestinians and their properties. 

Even before the outbreak of the current war in Gaza, tensions were running high in the West Bank for over a year amid a significant rise in clashes between armed groups and IDF forces. Since the Hamas attack in early October, over 175 armed clashes have been reported across the West Bank. Palestinian militants have fired shots at Israeli military checkpoints and positions, while also engaging with IDF forces during their arrest raids. In the deadliest event in the West Bank since 7 October, Hamas and Katibat Tulkarm – Quick Response militants clashed with the Israeli military during an operation in the Nur al-Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm on 19 October, resulting in at least 15 fatalities, including six children, an Israeli soldier, and an unknown number of militants. On 25 October, IDF forces clashed with Katibat Jenin militants in the Jenin refugee camp, while a rare airstrike was carried out that killed four Palestinians. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have also reportedly killed approximately 80 unarmed Palestinians across nearly 600 violent demonstrations and riots that have been reported since 7 October, a record high in the ACLED dataset for the West Bank.

Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank – which has been steadily increasing in recent years – also reached an all-time monthly high in October. Notably, ACLED records over 60 incidents of violence against civilians carried out by armed settlers since 7 October. This is an increase of over 20 times compared to September and more than double the number of armed events involving settlers during the previous tensions in May 2021, when an outbreak of violence at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem triggered unrest across Palestine and Israel. At least six Palestinian civilians have been killed by settlers since 7 October. In addition to armed attacks, rioting settlers have engaged in nearly 200 mob violence events, raiding villages, throwing rocks, setting fire to homes, cars, shops, and farms, and physically assaulting Palestinians. Hundreds of Palestinians are believed to have been forced to relocate elsewhere in the West Bank due to settler violence in recent weeks.¹⁷ Emboldened by the support of far-right figures in the Israeli government,¹⁸ settlers are likely seizing the opportunity amid the ongoing war in Gaza to push forward their efforts to take control of additional territory in the West Bank.¹⁹