List of wars involving Israel

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This is a list of wars and other major military engagements involving Israel. Since its declaration of independence in May 1948, the State of Israel has fought various wars with its neighbouring Arab states, two major Palestinian Arab uprisings known as the First Intifada and the Second Intifada (see Israeli–Palestinian conflict), and a broad series of other armed engagements rooted in the Arab–Israeli conflict.

Wars and other conflicts

Israel has been involved in a number of wars and large-scale military operations, including:

Table

Conflicts considered as wars by the Israeli Ministry of Defense (as they were named by Israel) are marked in bold.[3]

Conflict Combatant 1 Combatant 2 Results Israeli commanders Israeli losses
Israeli Prime Minister Defense Minister of Israel Chief of Staff of the IDF IDF
forces
Civilians
War of Independence
(1947–1949)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel Egypt Egypt
File:Flag of Iraq (1924–1959).svg Iraq
Jordan Transjordan
Syria Syria
File:Flag of Lebanon.svg Lebanon
File:Saudi Arabia Flag Variant (1938).svg Saudi Arabia
File:Flag of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen.svg Kingdom of Yemen
All-Palestine Protectorate Holy War Army
Arab League ALA
Victory David Ben-Gurion Yaakov Dori 4,074[4] ~2,000[4]
Sinai War
(1956)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel
United Kingdom United Kingdom
France France
Egypt Egypt Victory
  • Sinai demilitarized, UNEF deployed.
Moshe Dayan 231 None
Six-Day War
(1967)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of the United Arab Republic.svg Egypt
File:Flag of Syria (1963–1972).svg Syria
File:Flag of Jordan.svg Jordan
Iraq Iraq
Victory Levi Eshkol Moshe Dayan Yitzhak Rabin 776–983 20
War of Attrition
(1967–1970)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of the United Arab Republic.svg Egypt
Soviet UnionSoviet Union
File:Flag of Palestine - short triangle.svg PLO
File:Flag of Jordan.svg Jordan
File:Flag of Kuwait.svg Kuwait
Both sides claimed victory Golda Meir Haim Bar-Lev 1,424[5] 227[6]
Yom Kippur War
(1973)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of Egypt (1972-1984).svg Egypt
File:Flag of Syria (1972-1980).svg Syria
Iraq Iraq
File:Flag of Jordan.svg Jordan
File:Flag of Algeria.svg Algeria
Morocco Morocco
File:Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Saudi Arabia
Victory[7] David Elazar 2,688 None[9]
Operation Litani
(1978)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel
Lebanon FLA
File:Flag of Palestine - short triangle.svg PLO Victory
  • PLO retreat from South Lebanon.
Menachem Begin Ezer Weizman Mordechai Gur 18 None
First Lebanon War /
Operation Peace for Galilee

(1982)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel
Lebanon SLA
Lebanon Lebanese Front
File:Flag of Palestine - short triangle.svg PLO
Syria Syria
Lebanon Jammoul
File:Flag of the Amal Movement.svg Amal
"Tactical victories, strategic failure"[10]
  • PLO expulsion from Lebanon.[11]
Ariel Sharon Rafael Eitan 657 2–3
Security Zone Campaign
(1982–2000)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel
Lebanon SLA
File:InfoboxHez.PNG Hezbollah
File:Flag of the Amal Movement.svg Amal
File:Flag of Lebanon.svg Jammoul
Defeat[12]
  • Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.[13]
Shimon Peres Yitzhak Rabin Moshe Levi 559 7
First Intifada
(1987–1993)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of Palestine - short triangle.svg UNLU
File:Flag of Hamas.svg Hamas
Oslo I Accord Yitzhak Shamir Dan Shomron 60 100
Second Intifada
(2000–2005)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of Palestine - short triangle.svg PA
File:Flag of Hamas.svg Hamas
Victory
  • Palestinian uprising suppressed.[14]
Ariel Sharon Shaul Mofaz Moshe Ya'alon 301 773
Second Lebanon War /
Operation Just Reward

(2006)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:InfoboxHez.PNG Hezbollah Stalemate Ehud Olmert Amir Peretz Dan Halutz 121 44
Operation Cast Lead
(2008–2009)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of Hamas.svg Hamas Victory Ehud Barak Gabi Ashkenazi 10 3
Operation Pillar of Defense
(2012)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of Hamas.svg Hamas Victory
  • Cessation of rocket fire into Israel.
Benjamin Netanyahu Benny Gantz 2 4
Operation Protective Edge
(2014)
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of Hamas.svg Hamas Both sides claim victory Moshe Ya'alon 67 6
Israel–Palestine crisis

(2021)

File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of Hamas.svg Hamas Both sides claim victory
  • Truce declared
Benny Gantz Aviv Kochavi 1 14
Operation Iron Swords (2023–present) Israel Israel Hamas Hamas
File:InfoboxHez.PNG Hezbollah
File:Ansarullah Flag Vector.svg Houthi Movement
File:Flag of Iraq.svg Islamic Resistance in Iraq

File:Flag of Iran.svg Iran

Ongoing Yoav Gallant (until November 2024)

Israel Katz (currently)

Herzi Halevi 882+ 953+
Operation Northern Arrows (2024–present) Israel Israel File:InfoboxHez.PNG Hezbollah Ongoing 58+ 19+

Other armed conflicts involving the IDF

See also

References

  1. "Q&A: Israel-Gaza violence". BBC News. 19 November 2012.
  2. "Israel and Hamas Trade Attacks as Tension Rises". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  3. Israeli military decorations by campaign
  4. 4.0 4.1 Sandler, Stanley (2002). Ground Warfare: An International Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 160. ISBN 9781576073445.
  5. Lorch, Netanel (2 September 2003). "The Arab-Israeli Wars". Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 9 March 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2007.
  6. Schiff, Zeev, A History of the Israeli Army (1870–1974), Straight Arrow Books (San Francisco, 1974) p. 246, ISBN 0-87932-077-X
  7. References:
    • Herzog, The War of Atonement, Little, Brown and Company, 1975. Forward
    • Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, Yom Kippur War, Doubleday and Company, Inc, 1974, page 450
    • Luttwak and Horowitz, The Israeli Army. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Abt Books, 1983
    • Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, Schocken Books, 2004. Page 498
    • Revisiting The Yom Kippur War, P. R. Kumaraswamy, pages 1–2 ISBN 0-313-31302-4
    • Johnson and Tierney, Failing To Win, Perception of Victory and Defeat in International Politics. Page 177
    • Charles Liebman, The Myth of Defeat: The Memory of the Yom Kippur war in Israeli Society[permanent dead link] Middle Eastern Studies, Vol 29, No. 3, July 1993. Published by Frank Cass, London. Page 411.
  8. Loyola, Mario (7 October 2013). "How We Used to Do It – American diplomacy in the". National Review. p. 1. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  9. Siniver, Asaf. "Introduction." In The Yom Kippur War: Politics, Legacy, Diplomacy, 5. Oxford University Press.
  10. Eligar Sadeh Militarization and State Power in the Arab–Israeli Conflict: Case Study of Israel, 1948–1982 Universal-Publishers, 1997 p.119.
  11. References:
    • Armies in Lebanon 1982–84, Samuel Katz and Lee E. Russell, Osprey Men-At-Arms series No. 165, 1985
    • Hirst, David (2010). Beware of Small States. NationBooks. pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-1-56858-657-1. In time, however, Arafat and his guerrilla leadership decided that they would have to withdraw, leaving no military and very little political or symbolic presence behind. Their enemy's firepower and overall strategic advantage were too great and it was apparently ready to use them to destroy the whole city over the heads of its inhabitants. The rank and file did not like this decision, and there were murmurings of 'treason' from some of Arafat's harsher critics. Had they not already held out, far longer than any Arab country in any former war, against all that the most powerful army in the Middle East – and the fourth most powerful in the world, according to Sharon – could throw against them? (...) But [Palestinians] knew that, if they expected too much, they could easily lose [Lebanese Muslim support] again. 'If this had been Jerusalem', they said, 'we would have stayed to the end. But Beirut is not outs to destroy.
  12. Helmer, Daniel Isaac. Flipside of the Coin: Israel's Lebanese Incursion Between 1982–2000. DIANE Publishing, 2010.
  13. References:
  14. Sources:

External links