After weeks of rising tension following the killing of three Israeli teenagers, Israel launched a major offensive against Hamas in Gaza. Hamas had fired rockets into Israel on 7 July, after a series of Israeli air strikes in which several Hamas members had been killed. On 8 July, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge, aimed at stopping the rocket attacks, and destroying Hamas capabilities, particularly the smuggling tunnels built between Gaza and Egypt. The offensive lasted seven weeks, during this period, more than 2,100 people were killed in Gaza, of whom, according to the UN, 69 percent were civilians.


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