Palestine and Israel timeline

Timeline: How the truce broke down

Published: August 22 2003 18:44 | Last Updated: August 22 2003 18:44

• June 27
Israel and the Palestinians clinch a deal for a phased military withdrawal by the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip.


Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the militant group, Hamas, announces that he is ordering the suspension of attacks on Jewish targets.

• June 29
The three main Palestinian militant groups - Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of President Yassir Arafat's Fatah faction - announce a three-month ceasefire with Israel.

Israeli troops begin to pull back from Gaza.

• July 2
Israel transfers security control over the West Bank town of Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority.

• July 3
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades says it will no longer abide by the truce after the Israeli army kills one of its leaders in the West Bank town of Qalqilya.

• July 5
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian prime minister, meets Sheikh Yassin Ahmed Yassin, Hamas spritual leader, for the first time.

• July 6
The Israeli cabinet agrees to release several hundred Palestinian prisoners - well short of the thousands of prisoner releases the Palestinians had hoped for.

• July 16
The US attempts to strengthen the Palestinian Authority by giving it $20m in aid to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure.

• July 20
Talks between Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas end without a commitment from Israel to release more Palestinian prisoners.

• August 5
Mahmoud Abbas calls off a meeting with Mr Sharon, accusing him of dragging his feet over prisoner releases and failing to implement the roadmap.

• August 6
Israel releases several hundred Palestinian prisoners.

• August 8
Four Palestinians, including two Hamas militants, and an Israeli soldier are killed in an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Nablus.

• August 12
Two teenage Palestinian suicide bombers kill two Israelis in separate attacks, one at a shopping centre near Tel Aviv, the other outside the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

• August 14
Israeli troops kill an Islamic Jihad leader in Hebron.

• August 18
Israel says it will hand over security control to Palestinian Authority police forces in four West Bank towns in response to signs that the PA is doing more to curb militants, but fails to agree a timetable.

• August 19
A Palestinian suicide attack on bus in Jerusalem kills 20 Israelis, including six children.

• August 19
Israel kills Ismail Abu Shanab, a founder of Hamas, considered to be one of the group's more moderate leaders, along with two of his bodyguards.

Islamic Jihad and Hamas declare an end to their truce.