It started with the mass killings and forced displacement of Palestinians in 1948, continuing through over half a century of military occupation, repeated military assaults on Gaza, and official Israeli statements that openly express support for the elimination of Palestinians.

Historical accounts suggest that, during this turbulent period, both Israeli and Yishuv (later Israeli) soldiers were involved in at least 33 massacres and other indiscriminate acts of violence against Palestinians. Examples include the Sa'sa' Massacre, in which 60 Arabs lost their lives in their own homes, including children, as well as the tragic Husayniyya incident, resulting in the deaths of more than 30 children and women.

Here is a list of major Israeli massacres and killings that occurred after the British decided in February 1947 to terminate their mandate and implement a partition plan for Palestine:

Deir Yassin Massacre (April 1948)
 

The Deir Yassin massacre was a massacre of at least 107 Palestinians. The victims included scores of children, women, and elders.

The massacre was committed by the Zionist militias groups in Palestine’s Deir Yassin town, near Jerusalem, on 9 April 1948. The carnage was carried out by Irgun and Stern Gang groups, led by Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, respectively. Both Begin and Shamir later became prime minister of Israel.

Some victims were found maimed, raped, and then killed. Entire families were murdered. Masses of men were put in trucks to be paraded across Jerusalem before being taken to a quarry to be killed.

The precursor to the Israeli army, the Haganah militia, played a significant role in the attack by providing mortar fire support and assisting in the disposal of the victims' bodies. Notably, the Haganah was under the control of David Ben-Gurion, who would assume the role of Israel's first prime minister just over a month after the massacre occurred.

This tragic event had far-reaching consequences, as it triggered a mass exodus of Palestinians from their homes and lands, not only in and around Jerusalem but also further afield. The Deir Yassin massacre marked a pivotal moment in the broader campaign of ethnic cleansing carried out by Zionist militias and the emerging Israeli army. This campaign aimed to establish Israel as a Jewish-majority state in Palestine, reshaping the demographics and geography of the region.

The Deir Yassin massacre and the resulting feeling of terrified Palestinians across their borders played a crucial role in convincing the leaders of neighbouring Arab countries, who had initially been hesitant to intervene, to take military action. Ultimately, this led to their involvement in the conflict.

As a consequence of these events, and during Israel's establishment on 78 percent of Palestine, around three-quarters of the Palestinian population were forcibly expelled from their homeland. This mass displacement significantly shaped the demographics and boundaries of the region and has remained a key aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Abu Shusha Massacre (May 1948)
 

Abu Shusha was subjected to multiple assaults, culminating in the decisive attack that commenced on 13 May. Despite the valiant efforts of the village's residents to protect their homes, Abu Shusha fell to occupation on 14 May.

The initial assault was orchestrated by the Givati Brigade, leading to the tragic loss of approximately 60 residents. In 1995, a mass grave containing 52 skeletons was discovered. There were reports of a Haganah soldier making two attempts to assault a 20-year-old female prisoner. The remaining inhabitants of the village were subsequently forcibly displaced on 21 May.

Tantura Massacre (May 1948)
 

Tantura, a coastal fishing village with a population of around 1,500 people in 1945, was situated near Haifa. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the village surrendered to Israeli forces. However, instead of a peaceful transition, Israeli forces launched an assault on the village, resulting in the tragic massacre of nearly 200 Palestinians.

Young men from the village were mercilessly shot and buried in communal graves. In a subsequent investigation of this atrocity in the now-destroyed Palestinian village, three possible mass graves have been identified beneath a beach resort.

Lydda Massacre (July 1948)
 

Lydda and Ramle, two towns originally designated to be part of an Arab state in Palestine as per the UN Partition Plan of 1947, ultimately came under Israeli control. The Israeli assault on Lydda began on July 11, 1948.

The city's defenders initially put up a fierce resistance but eventually depleted their ammunition. Israeli forces entered the city in the evening, and upon gaining entry, they carried out indiscriminate violence, opening fire on anyone attempting to escape.

Israeli soldiers made deceptive assurances of safety, urging residents to remain in their homes or places of worship, only to betray those seeking refuge. By 12 July, the Israelis had secured complete control of the city, even though it had not formally surrendered. They ordered male residents to gather in mosques and churches, imposing a curfew. Heartbreakingly, both the Great Mosque and the Dahmash Mosque, where hundreds had sought shelter, became harrowing scenes of violence. While estimates of the death toll vary, it is believed that over 400 Lydda residents lost their lives. Unfortunately, the tragedy did not conclude with the massacre.

Israel made the decision to forcibly remove all residents from the city. In a callous response to the plight of the residents of Lydda and Ramle, David Ben-Gurion's directive was straightforward: "Expel them." On 13 July, Israeli forces compelled the residents to depart, subjecting them to a perilous journey towards Ramallah. Tragically, many succumbed to thirst, dehydration, and exhaustion during the harrowing journey.

Saliha Massacre (October 1948)
 

Saliha marked the first village where a massacre was perpetrated by the 7th Brigade of the Israeli forces. Upon their entry into the village, they detonated a mosque and tragically took the lives of 60 to 94 individuals who had sought refuge inside.

Al-Dawayima Massacre (October, 1948)

The massacre in the village of al-Dawayima is regarded as one of the major atrocities of the 1948 war, and arguably one of the most horrific. What sets it apart from other massacres carried out by Zionist paramilitary groups is that the perpetrators were regular Israeli armed forces with operational planning capacity. Al-Dawayima was one of the largest villages in the Hebron area, and the subsequent massacre unfolded in three distinct stages: first in homes and alleyways, followed by the village mosque, and ultimately within a cave.

On 29 October, the Israeli military initiated the assault on the village. The soldiers deployed tanks, artillery, and machine guns, launching a simultaneous attack on the village from three different directions, subjecting it to intense firepower. The defenders of the village, numbering no more than 20 armed men, attempted to resist but were swiftly overwhelmed by the Israeli forces.

By midday, the Israeli forces had entered the village, encountering minimal resistance. Firing began at a distance of half a kilometer as the semi-circular arc of forces closed in. The Israeli troops fired indiscriminately for over an hour, during which time many villagers fled. Two groups of residents sought refuge, one in the mosque and the other in a nearby cave known as Iraq Al-Zagh, but the Israeli forces hunted them down and tragically shot them dead.

In the mosque, 60 bodies were discovered, primarily those of elderly men, while numerous corpses of men, women, and children lay strewn across the streets. Additionally, the entrance to the Iraq Al-Zagh cavern held the bodies of 80 men, women, and children. Upon conducting a census, it was revealed that a total of 455 individuals lost their lives, consisting of 280 men and the rest women and children.

Qibya Massacre (October 1953)
 

A force of 250 to 300 Israeli soldiers, under the leadership of Ariel Sharon, launched an assault on the village of Qibya in the West Bank, which was under Jordan's control at the time. This tragic event resulted in the loss of Palestinian civilian lives. Israeli forces used explosives to demolish dozens of buildings throughout the village, leading to the massacre of over 69 Palestinian villagers, with approximately two-thirds of the victims being women and children. The devastating attack also resulted in the destruction of 45 houses, a school, and a mosque.

Kafr Qasim Massacre (October 1956)
 

The massacre took place on the day the Tripartite Aggression was launched against Egypt, although the incident's location was considerably distant from the battlefront in the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula. Border policemen, acting on orders from Israeli military commanders, carried out the killings.

On 29 October 1956, the Israeli government and military decided to enforce a curfew on the Arab villages near the border with Jordan. At 4:30pm on that day, a border police sergeant informed the mayor of Kafr Qasim that a curfew would be in effect starting at 5pm that evening. This presented a significant challenge as hundreds of villagers who had left their homes in the morning for work had no way of being aware of the curfew until they returned home.

Soldiers were instructed that they should "shoot to kill at any person seen outside their home after 17:00, making no distinction between men, women, and children."

When the villagers returned to their homes after 5 pm, border police halted them on the western side of the village. Soldiers required them to disembark from their vehicles, cars, or bicycles and began firing at them from close range. In just one hour, they ruthlessly killed 49 residents of Kafr Qasim, including children.

Khan Yunis Massacre (November 1956)

 

The Khan Yunis massacre was perpetrated by Israeli forces in the Palestinian town of Khan Yunis and its adjacent refugee camp in the Gaza Strip during the Suez Crisis. This tragic event unfolded as part of an Israeli operation aimed at reopening the Egyptian-blockaded Straits of Tiran.

During the operation, Israeli soldiers conducted a brutal house-to-house search for fedayeen, resulting in the tragic shooting of approximately two hundred Palestinians in Khan Yunis and Rafah. This ruthless action led to the estimated loss of 275 to 400 Palestinian lives.

The curfew imposed by Israel on the citizens of Gaza tragically hindered their efforts to retrieve the bodies of their fellow villagers. However, due to international pressure, Israel withdrew from Gaza and the Sinai in March 1957. Shortly after the withdrawal, a mass grave was uncovered in the vicinity of Khan Yunis, revealing the remains of 40 Palestinian men who had been bound and fatally shot in the back of the head.

Sabra and Shatila Massacres (September 1982)
 

The massacres unfolded within the context of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in September 1982. Israeli forces had surrounded the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in West Beirut. The Israeli military authorized the entry of the right-wing Christian Phalangist militia, which was aligned with Israel, into the camps.

During a grim two-day span, from 16 to 18 September, the Phalangists executed a brutal operation that resulted in the loss of a substantial number of Palestinian refugees and Lebanese civilians, with nearly 3,000 lives tragically taken. This massacre triggered international outrage and stirred criticism within Israel.

The Kahan Commission determined that Israeli authorities bore indirect responsibility for the massacre, resulting in the resignation of Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon.

Al-Aqsa Massacre (October 1990)
 

The Al-Aqsa Massacre, also known as Black Monday, took place in the Al-Aqsa compound in occupied Jerusalem in October 1990, during the third year of the First Intifada. This tragic event was instigated by Israel's decision to lay the cornerstone for the presumed Israeli Temple, which subsequently led to widespread riots. In the ensuing confrontations, Israeli security forces were responsible for the deaths of 17 Palestinians, and more than 150 Palestinians suffered injuries.

The Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre (February 1994)
 

The Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre, which occurred in February 1994, is also referred to as the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre or the Hebron massacre. It was carried out by Baruch Goldstein, an American-Israeli physician and an extremist associated with the Zionist Kach movement.

During the holy month of Ramadan, Goldstein opened fire with an assault rifle on a large congregation of Palestinian Muslims who were in prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. This horrifying act resulted in the deaths of 29 people, including some as young as 12 years old, and left 125 others wounded.

This heinous event immediately triggered widespread protests by Palestinians throughout the West Bank, and during the subsequent clashes, an additional 20 to 26 Palestinians lost their lives at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces.

Jenin Refugee Camp (April 2002)
 

During the Second Intifada, Israeli forces launched a military operation in the Jenin Refugee Camp situated in the West Bank. Israel deployed infantry, commando forces, assault helicopters, tanks, and bulldozers, resulting in the tragic loss of at least 54 Palestinian lives.

Killing in Gaza
 

Multiple Israeli attacks in Gaza have led to significant Palestinian casualties:

2008-09: The Gaza Massacre commenced when Israel initiated a large-scale military campaign in the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008. This action followed the expiration of a fragile six-month truce between Hamas and Israel on 19 December.

The Israeli attack commenced with a severe bombardment, targeting civilian infrastructure, which included mosques, residences, medical facilities, and schools.

Israeli forces repeatedly deployed white phosphorus munitions in the air over populated areas.

On 3 January 2009, the Israeli ground invasion was launched, resulting in the estimated deaths of 1,166 to 1,417 Palestinians.

The UN Fact-Finding Mission led by Judge Goldstone concluded that Israel's military assault was "a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate, and terrorize a civilian population."

2012: In October 2012, Israel initiated a series of assassinations targeting Hamas leaders, provoking a response from the movement, which began launching numerous projectiles into Israeli territory. In November, Israel's assault on Gaza escalated with the assassination of Ahmad Jabari, the deputy commander-in-chief of Ezzeddin Al-Qassam Brigades, and another member, Mohamed Al-Hams.

Israeli attacks intensified, murdering 165 Palestinians, including 42 children, and injuring 1,220 Palestinians, including 430 children.

2014: Another extensive Gaza War, even more devastating than the one in 2008-2009, commenced on 8 July 2014, and endured for a period of 50 days. The immediate trigger for the conflict was the abduction of three Israelis in the West Bank, which was followed by Israeli retaliatory attacks against Palestinians in East Jerusalem, thereby escalating tensions with Gaza. Israel initiated the hostilities with a series of air strikes. This marked the third major military confrontation between Israel and Hamas since Hamas assumed control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Israel then launched a ground invasion into Gaza, resulting in the loss of 2,205 Palestinian lives.

2018-2019: The Gaza border protests, also referred to as the Great March of Return, encompassed a series of peaceful demonstrations that occurred every Friday along the Gaza-Israel border, starting on 30 March 2018, and continuing until 27 December 2019. Over the course of these protests, Israeli forces were responsible for the loss of 223 Palestinian lives, while more than 13,000 Palestinians sustained injuries, the majority of which were severe, and approximately 1,400 individuals were struck by three to five bullets.

The demonstrators' key demands included the right for Palestinian refugees to return to the lands from which they had been displaced by Israel. Additionally, they protested against Israel's land, air, and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip.

2021: The crisis initially began with the impending eviction of six Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied Jerusalem, which led to protests by Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

The situation escalated on 7 May when Israeli police forcefully entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, employing tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades, resulting in over 600 reported injuries.

In response, Hamas fired a multitude of rockets towards Israel, prompting Israel to carry out hundreds of air strikes. These air strikes resulted in the tragic loss of 260 Palestinian lives, with half of the casualties being children and women. Additionally, 1,948 individuals sustained injuries, including 610 children and 400 women.