2008–2009 Gaza War: December 2008-January 2009 armed conflict in the Gaza Strip

It was codenamed Operation Cast Lead (Hebrew: מבצע עופרת יצוקה Mivtza Oferet Yetzuka) by the Israeli government.

Gaza War
Part of the Gaza–Israel conflict
Israeli advances in Gaza during 2009
Date 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009 (3 weeks and 1 day) Location Gaza Strip and Southern Israel Result Israeli military victory IDF declared unilateral ceasefire, 12 hours later Hamas announced a one-week ceasefire. Humanitarian crisis and deterioration of infrastructure and basic services in Gaza. Number of rockets being fired from Gaza reduced. See results
Belligerents
Israel Israel Defense Forces Israel Security Agency	Gaza Strip Hamas Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades  Palestinian Islamic Jihad Al-Quds Brigades Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Popular Resistance Committees
Commanders and leaders
Ehud Olmert Prime Minister Ehud Barak Minister of Defense Gabi Ashkenazi Chief of General Staff Yoav Galant Southern Command Ido Nehoshtan Air Force Eli Marom Navy Eyal Eisenberg Gaza Division Yuval Diskin Internal Security Service	Khaled Mashal Ismail Haniyeh Said Seyam † Mohammed Deif Abu Zakaria al-Jamal † Ahmed Jabari Tawfik Jaber † Osama Mazini Nizar Rayan † Mahmoud al-Zahar Ramadan Shallah Jamil Mezher
Strength
IDF: 4,000–20,000 deployed in ground invasion and tens of thousands of reservists mobilized (176,000 total active personnel)	Hamas (Izzedine Al-Qassam Brigades and paramilitary police): 20,000 (est. total) Other Palestinian paramilitary forces: 10,000
Casualties and losses
Total killed: 13 Soldiers: 10 (friendly fire: 4) Civilians: 3 Total wounded: 518 Soldiers: 336 Civilians: 182	Total killed: 1,166–1,417 Militants and police officers: 491* (255 police officers, 236 fighters) (PCHR), 600* (B'Tselem), 709 (IDF), 600–700 (Hamas) Civilians: 926 (PCHR), 759 (B'Tselem), 295 (IDF) Total wounded: 5,303 (PCHR) Total captured: 120 (IDF)
One Egyptian border guard officer killed and three wounded, and two children wounded. Over 50,800 Gaza residents displaced. Over 4,000 homes destroyed; around $2bn worth of damage to Gaza
*255 (PCHR) or 265 (B'Tselem) police officers were killed.

The Gaza War is said to have begun when Israel started an air strike against the Gaza Strip on Dec. 27. This was after a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas had run out and Hamas had resumed rocket attacks against Israel. Israel's said its aim was to stop Hamas' rocket attacks on Israel from and arms import into the territory. Israeli forces attacked military targets, police stations and government buildings. Hamas intensified its rocket and mortar attacks against Southern Israel, reaching the major cities of Beersheba and Ashdod for the first time. An Israeli ground invasion began on January 3, 2009. The war ended on January 18, when Israel first declared a unilateral(one-sided) ceasefire, followed by Hamas' announcing a one-week ceasefire twelve hours later. Israel completed its withdrawal on January 21. The conflict resulted in between 1,166 and 1,417 Palestinian and 13 Israeli deaths.

Notes