It’s been two years since Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, plunging the region into war. Photos taken by Associated Press journalists have charted the turmoil and devastation. The first images were of bodies in the streets in southern Israel, scorched homes and triumphant Palestinian fighters parading hostages and captured military vehicles into Gaza. Then came […]
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Photos from 2 years of war between Israel and Hamas bear witness to its horrors
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It’s been two years since Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, plunging the region into war. Photos taken by Associated Press journalists have charted the turmoil and devastation.
The first images were of bodies in the streets in southern Israel, scorched homes and triumphant Palestinian fighters parading hostages and captured military vehicles into Gaza. Then came the Israeli airstrikes lighting up the skies and toppling high-rises. Troops and tanks moved in weeks later.
In Gaza, there have been funerals nearly every day, with Palestinians holding tearful Muslim prayers in hospital courtyards over rows of white shrouds — often holding the remains of children. Israelis have wept over the flag-draped caskets of fallen soldiers and the remains of hostages.
Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and 251 others were abducted. Forty-eight remain in Gaza, around 20 of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.
More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says women and children make up around half the dead.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled from one end of the blockaded territory to the other and back again, some in trucks stacked high with mattresses, others on foot carrying their children. People returning to their homes have often found their entire neighborhood blasted to rubble.
There have been brief flashes of joy: Israelis cheering the release of hostages, and Palestinians celebrating ceasefire deals — sometimes prematurely.
In recent months, AP photographers have documented starvation in Gaza, where experts say parts of the territory have been driven to famine by Israel’s offensive and blockade.
Mariam Dagga, a freelance visual journalist who had reported on malnourished children, was among 22 people, including five journalists, killed in Israeli strikes on a hospital in August. It was a devastating reminder of the perils of covering the deadliest war for journalists in recent memory.
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.