Israel plans to reoccupy all of Gaza: What happened when it did so the last time

Note that the United Nations has over the years regarded Gaza as Israeli-occupied territory given the level of control Israel has, even before October 7, 2023.

Here is a look at what happened in 1967, and why Israel left Gaza in 2005.

The Six-Day War of 1967

The roots of the war go back to 1948 when Israel was established, leading to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians. At least 7,50,000 Palestinians either were forcibly expelled or fled outside of their homeland between 1947 and 1949.

The declaration of independence by Israel also triggered a war between the Jewish state and five of its Arab neighbours — Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The war ended in March 1949 with the signing of armistice agreements that created a de-facto border which separated Arab-controlled territory (i.e., the Jordanian-occupied West Bank and the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip) from Israel.

However, despite the agreements, tensions over Israel’s boundaries continued to soar in the following years, and there was a military buildup in the region along Cold War lines. Israel was supported by the West, specifically the US, whereas the Arab states received military support from the Soviet Union and its allies.

In 1956, Egypt’s ruler Gamal Abel Nasser decided to nationalise the Suez Canal, and denied passage to Israeli ships both there and in the Straits of Tiran (narrow sea passages between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas) that led to the Red Sea.

“Israel responded by invading and occupying the Sinai Peninsula for several months until a United Nations peacekeeping force was put in place and the right of free shipping restored,” according to a report by PBS.

1992 map of Sinai Peninsula. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

But in late May 1967, Naseer told UN forces to leave the peninsula, and once again closed the straits. This happened after Soviet officials falsely told Egypt that Israel was assembling its troops to invade Syria. Under an Egyptian-Syrian treaty signed in 1955, the two countries were obliged to protect one another in the case of an attack on either.

The shutdown of the Straits of Tiran prompted Israel to launch a military strike against Egyptian airfields on June 5, marking the beginning of the 1967 war. The Jewish state also launched a ground operation into Sinai and the Egypt-occupied Gaza Strip. In response, Jordan and Syria attacked Israel from the north and south.

Israel won the war in just six days, and seized control of the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan.

The occupation

It is estimated that during and shortly after the 1967 war, some 40,000 to 45,000 civilians fled or were expelled from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli troops stayed back in Gaza to administer the territory, and guard Jewish settlements that Israel built in the following decades — between 1967 and 1993, more than 20 settlements were constructed.

This fueled resentment among Palestinians, paving the way for the first intifada, or uprising, in 1987. For nearly six years, there were sustained protests and bloody violence — more than 1,000 Palestinians, including children, were killed by Israeli forces, and around 100 Israeli civilians died. Notably, it was during these years that Hamas, a militant Islamist group and political party, was founded.

The intifada came to an end in 1993 with the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians. The historic peace treaty aimed to bring about Palestinian self-determination, in the form of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It also led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority, an interim body to govern parts of Gaza and the West Bank (except East Jerusalem) till an agreed solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

However, Hamas opposed the accords, arguing that “a two-state solution would forgo the right of Palestinian refugees to return to the historic lands seized from them in 1948 when Israel was created,” a report by Al Jazeera said. To break down the deal, Hamas launched suicide bombings.

The treaty was further jeopardised as Israel continued to build its settlements in occupied territories. With the rise of Benjamin Netanyahu, who was a staunch opponent of the Oslo Accords, to power in 1996, the peace process finally broke down in 2000.

The withdrawal

The continued Israeli occupation, failure of the Oslo Accords, and the infamous visit of then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem sparked the second intifada.

This began a period of suicide bombings and shooting attacks by Palestinian militant groups, and targeted killings, tank attacks and airstrikes by Israeli forces. During the second intifada, approximately 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis died. The uprising petered out in 2005.

The same year, under the leadership of Sharon, Israel decided to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza. One of the main reasons for Israeli disengagement was that it could not sustain the cost of fighting with Hamas and other Palestinian militant organisations in the enclave.

However, Israel continued to retain control of its shared border, airspace and shoreline, giving it effective control of the movement of people and goods in Gaza.