Operation Might and Sword

Overview

In the early hours of 18 March 2025, Israel launched a surprise attack on the Gaza Strip, effectively ending the January 2025 Gaza war ceasefire. Israel's missile and artillery attack killed more than 400 Palestinians, including 263 women and children according to the Gaza Health Ministry, making it one of the deadliest in the Gaza war. Codenamed Operation Might and Sword by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it was carried out in coordination with the United States. The next day, the Israeli military announced that it was conducting a ground offensive to retake the Netzarim Corridor, from which it had withdrawn in February.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

Operation Might and Sword, launched on 18 March 2025, ended the ceasefire that had been in place since January 2025, marking Israel's return to large-scale offensive operations in the Gaza Strip. Carried out in coordination with the United States, the missile and artillery strikes killed more than 400 Palestinians, including 263 women and children according to the Gaza Health Ministry, making it one of the deadliest single episodes of the Gaza War. The operation signaled a deliberate collapse of the ceasefire framework and set the conditions for a renewed ground campaign. The following day, the IDF announced a ground offensive to retake the Netzarim Corridor, a strategic axis from which Israeli forces had withdrawn in February 2025, indicating that the operation served as the opening strike of a broader effort to reassert territorial control over key areas Israel had previously vacated under the ceasefire terms.