The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where Hamas is carrying out an unprecedented offensive in Israel, has its roots in the late 19th century.
Jews fleeing anti-Semitism in Russia and central Europe began emigrating to Palestine.
Here is a timeline:
1917: Jews promised a homeland
In 1917, during World War I, the British capture Palestine from the Ottomans and, in the Balfour Declaration of November 2, promise "a national home for the Jewish people" there.
Opposition from the Palestinians first emerges at a congress in Jerusalem in 1919.
In 1922, the League of Nations sets out the obligations of a British mandate in Palestine, including securing the "establishment of the Jewish national home", the future Israel.
Britain crushes the Arab Revolt in Palestine of 1936-1939.
1947-1948: Palestine split, Israel born
Palestine is partitioned into Jewish and Arab states under United Nations Resolution 181, approved in November 1947. Jerusalem is put under international control.
In the split, the West Bank - including east Jerusalem - goes to Jordan and the Gaza Strip to Egypt.
The state of Israel is finally created on May 14, 1948, triggering an eight-month war with Arab states.
More than 400 Palestinian villages are razed by Israeli forces and around 760,000 Palestinian refugees flee to the West Bank, Gaza and neighbouring Arab countries.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is created in 1964.
1967-1973: occupation and war
In the Six-Day War of June 1967, Israel defeats Egypt, Jordan and Syria and occupies east Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights.
Jewish settlement of the occupied territories starts shortly afterwards and continues in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights today.
Arab states attack Israel on October 6, 1973, the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. Israel repels the attack.
1982: Israel invades Lebanon
Israel invades civil war-wracked Lebanon on June 6, 1982, to attack Palestinian militants after initially sending in its forces in 1978.
Israeli-backed Lebanese Christian militias kill hundreds of Palestinians in refugee camps in Beirut. Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon until 2000.
1987-1993: First intifada, Oslo accords
The first intifada, or Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule, rages from 1987 to 1993.
In 1993, Israel and the PLO sign a declaration on principles for Palestinian autonomy after six months of secret negotiations in Oslo, launching an abortive peace process.
PLO leader Yasser Arafat returns to the Palestinian territories in July 1994 after 27 years in exile to set up the Palestinian Authority.
Self-rule is established for the first time in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.
2002-2005: Second intifada
In September 2000, right-wing Israeli opposition leader and future prime minister Ariel Sharon visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in east Jerusalem, a site holy to Muslims and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount, sparking the first clashes of the second intifada.
Responding to a wave of suicide bombings, Israel in 2002 invades the West Bank in its largest operation there since the 1967 war.
Mahmud Abbas, a moderate, takes over the leadership of the Palestinian Authority in January 2005, after the death of Arafat.
The last Israeli forces leave Gaza after a 38-year occupation in September 2005.
2007: Gaza wars
In 2007, Islamist movement Hamas seizes control of Gaza after ferocious fighting with its rivals in the Fatah faction led by Abbas, who remains in power in the West Bank.
In 2014, Israel launches a new operation against Gaza to stop rocket fire from the territory. Over 1,400 Palestinian civilians are killed, compared with six civilians in Israel, according to UN figures.
2017: Trump nod on Jerusalem
On December 6, 2017, Trump recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision that outrages Palestinians and sparks international criticism.
Abbas says the US can no longer play its historic role as mediator of peace talks with the Israelis.
2021: New flare-ups
On May 10, 2021, after several days of tensions around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in east Jerusalem, Hamas launches rockets towards Israel, which hits back with deadly airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.
A 11-day war follows between Hamas and Israel, in which scores of people are killed. In August 2022, three days of clashes take place between Israel and the Islamic Jihad, whose main military chiefs are killed.
New unrest breaks out in early 2023 after an Israeli incursion in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
In May, 35 people are killed over five days in clashes and in July Jenin sees its biggest military operation for several years
