Decades of US efforts have failed to achieve a “two-state solution”, in which Israel remains coterminous with a Palestinian state, including the West Bank, governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Gaza, which occupies the coastal zone. Since then it has been ruled by the Hamas Islamic movement. Captured from the PA in a brief civil war in 2007.
Israel launched its offensive into Gaza on October 7 after Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israeli forces, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Health officials in the Hamas-run territory say more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then.
Israel is now attacking Rafah in southern Gaza, saying it wants to root out Hamas militants. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled Rafah since the start of the assault, and the main access routes for aid into Gaza have been blocked.