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Two years ago today, Palestinian resistance group Hamas launched a surprise operation against Israel. In response, Tel Aviv announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, and launched a military campaign which has since decimated the Palestinian enclave and claimed more than 67,000 lives.
Here is a timeline of key events in the conflict over the past two years.
Palestinian group Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood inside Israel, combining gunmen breaching security barriers and a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza at dawn during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, killing 1,163 people and taking more than 240 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Two days later, Israel announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip. “We are putting a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no gas — it’s all closed,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a video statement.
