Key moments in Israel's war with Hamas

PARIS, France — Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers are fighting a war which erupted after the Palestinian Islamist movement launched a major attack on Israel, which has hit back with an ongoing bombing campaign. 

Here are the key elements:

At dawn on October 7, the last day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Hamas militants stormed across the border to launch the worst attack in Israel's 75-year history.

They fired a barrage of rockets into Israel as hundreds of their fighters breached the high-security fence around the besieged enclave.

Horror spread through Israel's border communities as more than 1,400 people were killed -- many of them shot dead, burned alive or mutilated, Israeli authorities say.

This included 270 people at a music festival as well as hundreds more in nearby kibbutzim and towns such as Ofakim, Sderot and Ashkelon.

The militants also took more than 200 people hostage, among them Israelis, dual nationals and foreigners.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the attacks demonstrated "savagery not seen since the Shoah" -- Hebrew for the Holocaust. 

Numerous countries condemned the attack and have thrown their support behind Israel, with US President Joe Biden calling it an act of "pure evil".

Hamas ally Iran expressed its support for the attack, but denied any direct involvement. 

Experts say the Hamas attack was a major failure of Israeli intelligence.

Several countries have evacuated their nationals from Israel.

Israel rapidly struck back with a large-scale air strike and artillery campaign, pounding Gaza as its forces battled Hamas fighters still inside Israel.

Since then, more than 4,600 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli bombardments, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Hamas has threatened to kill hostages in response to the bombing of civilians.

Israel -- which mobilised over 300,000 reservists and deployed tens of thousands of soldiers around Gaza and along its northern border with Lebanon -- announced a "complete siege" of the enclave on October 9.

After cutting off the power and food deliveries, Israel also cut the water supplies to Gaza's 2.4 million residents. 

On October 10, the UN said