The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on Israel on 7 October, with hundreds of gunmen infiltrating communities near the Gaza Strip.
About 1,200 people were killed, and more than 250 were taken to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 33,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in air and artillery strikes carried out by the Israeli military in response, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says.
What was Israel before 1948?
Britain took control of the area known as Palestine following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled that part of the Middle East, in World War One.
The land was inhabited by a Jewish minority and Arab majority, as well as other, smaller ethnic groups.
Tensions between the two peoples grew when the international community gave the UK the task of establishing a "national home" in Palestine for Jewish people.
This stemmed from the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a pledge made by then Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Britain's Jewish community.
The declaration was enshrined in the British mandate over Palestine and endorsed by the newly-created League of Nations - forerunner of the United Nations - in 1922.
To Jews Palestine was their ancestral home, but Palestinian Arabs also claimed the land and o
How and why was Israel created?
In 1948, unable to solve the problem, Britain withdrew and Jewish leaders declared the creation of the State of Israel.
It was intended to be a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution, as well as a national homeland for Jews.
Fighting between Jewish and Arab militias had been intensifying for months, and the day after Israel declared statehood, five Arab countries attacked.
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