(Reuters) - The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas launched its biggest assault on&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;in years early on Saturday, firing a barrage of rockets from&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;and&nbsp;sending fighters across the border.
Israel&nbsp;said it was on a war footing&nbsp;and&nbsp;began its own strikes against Hamas targets in&nbsp;Gaza, with&nbsp;Israeli media reporting gunbattles&nbsp;between&nbsp;bands of Palestinian fighters&nbsp;and&nbsp;security forces in southern&nbsp;Israel.
The following timeline, which begins with&nbsp;Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;Strip, details the major flare-ups in the&nbsp;conflict&nbsp;between&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;and&nbsp;Palestinian groups in the crowded coastal enclave, which is home to 2.3 million people.
August 2005 -&nbsp;Israeli forces unilaterally withdraw from&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;38 years after capturing it from Egypt in the Middle East war, abandoning settlements&nbsp;and&nbsp;leaving the enclave under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
Jan. 25, 2006 - The Islamist group Hamas wins a majority of seats in a Palestinian legislative election.&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;and&nbsp;the U.S. cut off aid to&nbsp;Palestinians&nbsp;because Hamas refuses to renounce violence&nbsp;and&nbsp;recognise&nbsp;Israel.
June 25, 2006 - Hamas militants capture&nbsp;Israeli army conscript Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid from&nbsp;Gaza, prompting&nbsp;Israeli air strikes&nbsp;and&nbsp;incursions. Shalit is finally freed more than five years later in a prisoner exchange.
June 14, 2007 - Hamas takes over&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;in a brief civil war, ousting Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the West Bank.
Dec. 27, 2008 -&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;launches a 22-day military offensive in&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;after&nbsp;Palestinians&nbsp;fire rockets at the southern&nbsp;Israeli town of Sderot. About 1,400&nbsp;Palestinians&nbsp;and&nbsp;13&nbsp;Israelis are reported killed before a ceasefire is agreed.
Nov. 14, 2012 -&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;kills Hamas's military chief of staff, Ahmad Jabari. Eight days of Palestinian militant rocket fire&nbsp;and&nbsp;Israeli air strikes follow.
July-August 2014 - The kidnap&nbsp;and&nbsp;killing of three&nbsp;Israeli teenagers by Hamas leads to a seven-week war in which more than 2,100&nbsp;Palestinians&nbsp;are reported killed in&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;and&nbsp;73&nbsp;Israelis are reported dead, 67 of them military.
March 2018 - Palestinian protests begin at&nbsp;Gaza&rsquo;s fenced border with&nbsp;Israel.&nbsp;Israeli troops open fire to keep protestors back. More than 170&nbsp;Palestinians&nbsp;are reported killed in several months of protests, which also prompt fighting&nbsp;between&nbsp;Hamas&nbsp;and&nbsp;Israeli forces.
May 2021 - After weeks of tension during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, hundreds of&nbsp;Palestinians&nbsp;are wounded in clashes with&nbsp;Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, Islam&rsquo;s third holiest site.
After demanding&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;withdraw security forces from the compound, Hamas unleashes a barrage of rockets from&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;into&nbsp;Israel.&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;hits back with air strikes on&nbsp;Gaza. Fighting goes on for 11 days, killing at least 250 people in&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;and&nbsp;13 in&nbsp;Israel.
Aug 2022 - At least 44 people, including 15 children, are killed in three days of violence that begin when&nbsp;Israeli air strikes hit a senior Islamic Jihad commander.
Israel&nbsp;says the strikes were a pre-emptive operation against an imminent attack by the Iranian-backed militant movement, targeting commanders&nbsp;and&nbsp;arms depots. In response, Islamic Jihad fires more than 1,000 rockets towards&nbsp;Israel.&nbsp;Israel's Iron Dome air defence system prevents any serious damage or casualties.
Jan 2023 - Islamic Jihad in&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;fires two rockets towards&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;after&nbsp;Israeli troops raid a refugee camp&nbsp;and&nbsp;kill seven Palestinian gunmen&nbsp;and&nbsp;two civilians. The rockets set off alarms in&nbsp;Israeli communities near the border but cause no casualties.&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;responds with air strikes on&nbsp;Gaza.
Oct 2023 - Hamas launches the biggest attack on&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;in years from the&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;Strip, with a surprise assault combining gunmen crossing the border with a heavy barrage of rockets. Islamic Jihad says its fighters have joined the attack.
Israel's military said it was on a war footing, adding it had carried out strikes targeting Hamas in&nbsp;Gaza&nbsp;and&nbsp;had called up reservists.
&nbsp;
(Compiled by Tom Perry&nbsp;and&nbsp;Angus McDowall; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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Conflict between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza