The Gaza War of 2008-2009 began when Israel launched an air campaign, followed by a ground invasion, against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an operation it called Cast Lead. It followed the end of a truce between Israel and Hamas and months of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel. The fighting lasted about three weeks and ended with unilateral ceasefires in January 2009. Well over a thousand Palestinians were killed, many of them civilians, along with a small number of Israelis, and much infrastructure in Gaza was destroyed. A United Nations fact-finding report accused both sides of possible war crimes, which both sides rejected.
Before and after
- 13 November 2008Discovery of Fomalhaut b
- 26 November 200826/11 Mumbai attacks
- from 29 November 2008 to 19 December 2015Premiere of The Penguins of Madagascar
- 4 December 2008Publication of The Tales of Beedle the Bard
- from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009Gaza War (2008–2009)
- 2009Discovery of Staffordshire Hoard
- 2009Discovery of tennessine
- 2009Rise of effective altruism
- 2009Premiere of As Aventuras de Gui & Estopa
More in Wars, politics & history
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- 11 February 1990Nelson Mandela is released from prison
- from 20 March 2003 to 15 December 2011Iraq War
- from 18 December 2010 to 1 December 2012Arab Spring
- from 15 March 2011 to 8 December 2024Syrian Civil War
- 28 February 20262026 Iran War
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.