title: Tupolev Tu-154

text: On 2 January 2011, Russia's Federal Transport Oversight Agency advised airlines to stop using remaining examples of the Tu-154 (B variant) until the fatal fire incident in Surgut had been investigated. Its operation in Iran ceased in February 2011 due to a number of crashes and incidents involving the type (almost 9% of all Tu-154 losses have occurred in Iran). This grounding compounded the effects of US embargo on civil aircraft parts, substantially decreasing the number of airworthy aircraft in the Iranian civil fleet. In 2010 there were two fatal losses of the Tu-154 due to pilot error and/or weather conditions (a Polish presidential jet attempting a rural airfield landing in heavy fog, the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash, and a Russian-registered plane that suffered engine stall after a crew member accidentally de-activated a fuel transfer pump). Following these accidents, in March 2011 the Russian Federal Bureau of Aviation recommended a withdrawal of remaining Tu-154Ms from service.


title: Tupolev Tu-154

text: On 27 December 2016, the Russian Defence Ministry grounded all Tu-154s in Russia pending investigation into the 25 December 2016 Tupolev Tu-154 crash which killed 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, an official Red Army Choir of the Russian Armed Forces.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: The M110 Semi Automatic Sniper System (M110 SASS) is an American semi-automatic precision rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO round. It is manufactured by Knight's Armament Company, developed from the Knight's Armament Company SR-25, and adopted by the U.S. military following the 2005 US Army Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle (XM110 SASR) competition. The M110 was to be replaced by the lighter and more compact M110A1 CSASS, which is developed from the G28, a variant of the Heckler & Koch HK417, however, most M110A1 models fielded have been of the SDMR variant. In 2021, a newer variant, the M110A2, was showcased and seen in use in early 2022.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: The M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System is intended to replace the M24 Sniper Weapon System used by snipers, spotters, designated marksmen, or squad advanced marksmen in the United States Army. However, the U.S. Army still acquired M24s from Remington until February 2010. After witnessing the effects of USSOCOM snipers and extensive after-action reports from SOF snipers throughout the Iraqi theater of operations, the U.S. Army ran a competition involving several designs, including rifles from Knight's Armament Company, Remington, and DPMS Panther Arms. On September 28, 2005, the Knight's Armament Co. rifle won the competition and was selected to be the supplier of the M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System. The XM110 underwent final operational testing in May and June of 2007 at Fort Drum, New York by a mix of Special Forces troops and Sniper trained soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division. In April 2008, U.S. Army soldiers from Task Force Fury in Afghanistan were the first in a combat zone to receive the M110. The troops rated the weapon very highly, noting the quality of the weapon and its semi-automatic capabilities compared to the bolt-action M24. The United States Marine Corps will also be adopting the M110 to replace some M39 and all Mk 11 as a complement to the M40A5. It is manufactured by Knight's Armament Company in Titusville, Florida, though the complete system incorporates a Leupold 3.5–10× variable power daytime optic, Harris swivel bipod, AN/PVS-26 or AN/PVS-10 night sight and PALs magazine pouches of yet unpublished origin. The rifle has ambidextrous features such as a double-sided magazine release, safety selector switch, and bolt catch.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: The rifle is similar to the SR-25/Mk 11 Mod 0, but differs significantly in buttstock and rail system design. The SR-25, Mk 11 Mod 0, and M110 are based loosely on the original AR-10 developed by Eugene Stoner but feature additional refinements instituted by KAC to maximize parts commonality with the AR-15 design, improve weapon reliability, and increase accuracy.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: The main differences between the Mk 11 and M110 are improvements suggested by a user group meeting between NAVSPECWAR, USASOC and USA in 2007:


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: 3.4.1.1.1 Accuracy. The distance between the mean point of impact of each shot group, both unsuppressed and suppressed, shall be not greater than 1.1 inches at 300 feet.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: 3.4.1.1.2 Dispersion. The average mean radius (AMR) (see 6.11), of each shot group shall be not greater than to 0.68 inches at 300 feet. All targets shall be fired on using M118LR ammunition or equivalent, using five (5) round groups.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: In 2009, the M110 rifle and commercial equivalents were added to the list of NFA-legal US service rifles under rule 3.1.6 of the NRA High Power Rifle Rules.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: In April 2011, according to Military.com, the U.S. Army issued a request to the private sector to reconfigure or replace the current Knight Armament M110 sniper rifle, alleging that the current version of the M110 was not functioning well in the field and, according to industry officials and users in the field, required significant maintenance and replacement of parts. The U.S. Army responded directly, claiming that the rifle was functioning perfectly, citing a 100% approval rating from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and they were simply looking for a smaller, lighter version of M110 for the spotter in a sniper team.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: In July 2012, the U.S. Army requested sources to remanufacture the current M110 rifle into the Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System (CSASS). The CSASS will be a shorter and lighter version of the M110 with a collapsible stock and removable flash suppressor, giving it an overall length of and a weight of unloaded. The Army wants a capability to convert 125 rifles per month, with the ability to increase to 325 per month. The Army formally requested proposals for the CSASS in June 2014.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: On 1 April 2016, the Army announced it had awarded Heckler and Koch a contract with a maximum value of $44.5 million as winner of the competition to replace the KAC M110. The weapon selected was not specified, but was likely the H&K G28; H&K is to produce 3,643 rifles. A goal of the effort was to give snipers a weapon that didn't "stick out" as a sniper rifle; with a suppressor, the M110 is , longer than the M4 carbine and longer than the M16A4 rifle. A minimum of 30 CSASS units will be used for production qualification testing and operational testing over 24 months. H&K later confirmed that a modified G28 had indeed been selected as the CSASS rifle. The G28 is nearly 6 cm (2.5 in) shorter and 1.3 kg (3 lb) lighter than the M110 (unloaded and without a suppressor) and will cost about $12,000 per rifle. The U.S. Marine Corps was slated to begin receiving the CSASS in May 2018 to replace their M110 rifles. However, as of 2022, most of the M110A1 units delivered were configured as squad designated marksman rifles (SDMR) rather than M110A1 CSASS rifles.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: The M110A2 is an improved version of the original M110 rifle with M-LOK rails, an improved gas system, new suppressor, and adjustable stock. This fills the gap of semi-automatic sniper rifles as most all of the M110A1 rifles issued were the SMDR variant and not designed for sniper work. The M110A2 was first seen at AUSA 2021 where it was displayed alongside a 14.5" SOCOM M110 rechambered for 6.5 Creedmoor. The M110A2 was later seen at the 2022 Best Ranger Competition being used by a Ranger-qualified 101st Airborne Division soldier. The M110A2 is shorter than the original M110 and lighter as well at , which is comparable to the M110A1 SDMR's weight of with no attachments save an unloaded magazine. The decreased overall length does not come at the cost of barrel length as the M110A2 still has a barrel. KAC had a 5 year $13 million contract in 2020 to supply the Army with M110 rifles and this was amended in 2022 to include the M110A2 version of the rifle. The Navy and Marine Corps, which had previously been interested in the M110A1 CSASS, decided to instead pursue an M110 SASS PIP (Product Improvement Program) for FY2021 based on findings indicating improved range and lethality with the PIP compared to the M110A1 CSASS. Funding for subsequent fiscal years has been devoted to this PIP.


title: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System

text: The M110A3 is a 6.5mm Creedmoor conversion for SOCOM M110 rifles. In October 2019, NSWC Crane ordered KAC's self-termed M110K1 conversion kits to upgrade USSOCOM's M110s to fire 6.5mm Creedmoor, with and barreled configurations. These conversion kits included complete upper receiver assemblies chambered for 6.5 Creedmoor as well as new muzzle brakes, collapsible buttstocks, and precision adjustable buttstocks. New QD suppressors for 6.5 Creedmoor were to be ordered separately.


title: Know thyself

text: The Ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself" (Greek: , transliterated: '; also ' with the ε contracted) is the first of three Delphic maxims inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi according to the Greek writer Pausanias (10.24.1). The two maxims that follow "know thyself" were "nothing to excess" and "certainty brings insanity". In Latin the phrase, "know thyself", is given as or .


title: Know thyself

text: The maxim, or aphorism, "know thyself" has had a variety of meanings attributed to it in literature, and over time, as in early ancient Greek the phrase means "know thy measure".


title: Know thyself

text: Diogenes Laërtius attributes it to Thales ("Lives" I.40), but also notes that Antisthenes in his "Successions of Philosophers" attributes it to Phemonoe, a mythical Greek poet, though admitting that it was appropriated by Chilon. In a discussion of moderation and self-awareness, the Roman poet Juvenal quotes the phrase in Greek and states that the precept descended "e caelo" (from heaven) ("" 11.27). The 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia the "Suda" recognized Chilon and Thales as the sources of the maxim "Know Thyself".


title: Know thyself

text: The authenticity of all such attributions is doubtful; according to Parke and Wormell (1956), "The actual authorship of the three maxims set up on the Delphian temple may be left uncertain. Most likely they were popular proverbs, which tended later to be attributed to particular sages."


title: Know thyself

text: The ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus uses the maxim "know thyself" in his play "Prometheus Bound." The play, about a mythological sequence, thereby places the maxim within the context of Greek mythology. In this play, the demi-god Prometheus first rails at the Olympian gods, and against what he believes to be the injustice of his having been bound to a cliffside by Zeus, king of the Olympian gods. The demi-god Oceanus comes to Prometheus to reason with him, and cautions him that he should "know thyself". In this context, Oceanus is telling Prometheus that he should know better than to speak ill of the one who decides his fate and accordingly, perhaps he should better know his place in the "great order of things".


title: Know thyself

text: One of Socrates's students, the historian Xenophon, described some of the instances of Socrates's use of the Delphic maxim "Know Thyself" in his history titled: "Memorabilia." In this writing, Xenophon portrayed his teacher's use of the maxim as an organizing theme for Socrates's lengthy dialogue with Euthydemus.


title: Know thyself

text: Plato, another student of Socrates, employs the maxim "Know Thyself" extensively by having the character of Socrates use it to motivate his dialogues. Benjamin Jowett's index to his translation of the "Dialogues of Plato" lists six dialogues which discuss or explore the Delphic maxim: "know thyself". These dialogues (and the Stephanus numbers indexing the pages where these discussions begin) are "Charmides" (164D), "Protagoras" (343B), "Phaedrus" (229E), "Philebus" (48C), "Laws" (II.923A), "Alcibiades I" (124A, 129A, 132C).


title: Know thyself

text: In Plato's "Charmides", Critias argues that "succeeding sages who added 'never too much', or, 'give a pledge, and evil is nigh at hand', would appear to have so misunderstood them; for they imagined that 'know thyself!' was a piece of advice which the god gave, and not his salutation of the worshippers at their first coming in; and they dedicated their own inscription under the idea that they too would give equally useful pieces of advice." In Critias' opinion "know thyself!" was an admonition to those entering the sacred temple to remember or know their place and that "know thyself!" and "be temperate!" are the same. In the balance of the "Charmides", Plato has Socrates lead a longer inquiry as to how we may gain knowledge of ourselves.


title: Know thyself

text: In Plato's "Phaedrus", Socrates uses the maxim "know thyself" as his explanation to Phaedrus to explain why he has no time for the attempts to rationally explain mythology or other far flung topics. Socrates says, "But I have no leisure for them at all; and the reason, my friend, is this: I am not yet able, as the Delphic inscription has it, to know myself; so it seems to me ridiculous, when I do not yet know that, to investigate irrelevant things."


title: Know thyself

text: In Plato's "Protagoras", Socrates lauds the authors of pithy and concise sayings delivered precisely at the right moment and says that Lacedaemon, or Sparta, educates its people to that end. Socrates lists the Seven Sages as Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Solon, Cleobulus, Myson, and Chilon, who he says are gifted in that Lacedaemonian art of concise words "twisted together, like a bowstring, where a slight effort gives great force". Socrates says examples of them are, "the far-famed inscriptions, which are in all men's mouths—'Know thyself', and 'Nothing too much. Having lauded the maxims, Socrates then spends a great deal of time getting to the bottom of what one of them means, the saying of Pittacus, "Hard is it to be good." The irony here is that although the sayings of Delphi bear "great force", it is not clear how to live life in accordance with their meanings. Although, the concise and broad nature of the sayings suggests the active partaking in the usage and personal discovery of each maxim; as if the intended nature of the saying lay not in the words but the self-reflection and self-referencing of the person thereof.


title: Know thyself

text: In Plato's "Philebus" dialogue, Socrates refers back to the same usage of "know thyself" from "Phaedrus" to build an example of the ridiculous for Protarchus. Socrates says, as he did in Phaedrus, that people make themselves appear ridiculous when they are trying to know obscure things before they know themselves. Plato also alluded to the fact that understanding "thyself" would have a greater yielded factor of understanding the nature of a human being. Syllogistically, understanding oneself would enable thyself to have an understanding of others as a result.


title: Know thyself

text: In "Alcibiades I", Socrates says: "Did we agree that to ‘know thyself’ is self-control?" And Alcibiades responds: "Definitely."


title: Know thyself

text: The "Suda", a 10th-century encyclopedia of Greek knowledge, states: "the proverb is applied to those whose boasts exceed what they are", and that "know thyself" is a warning to pay no attention to the opinion of the multitude.


title: Know thyself

text: Self-knowledge was an important concept in the writings of the 12-13th century Spanish Sufi Ibn Arabi. He distinguished between various philosophical and mystical meanings of "Know Thyself" and the hadith "Who knows himself, knows his Lord."


title: Know thyself

text: One work by the Medieval philosopher Peter Abelard is titled "Scito te ipsum" ("know yourself") or "Ethica".


title: Know thyself

text: From 1539 onward, the phrase "nosce te ipsum" and its Latin variants were used in the anonymous texts written for anatomical fugitive sheets printed in Venice as well as for later anatomical atlases printed throughout Europe. The 1530s fugitive sheets are the first instances in which the phrase was applied to knowledge of the human body attained through dissection.


title: Know thyself

text: In 1651, Thomas Hobbes used the term "nosce teipsum" which he translated as "read thyself" in his work "The Leviathan". He was responding to a popular philosophy at the time that you can learn more by studying others than you can from reading books. He asserts that one learns more by studying oneself: particularly the feelings that influence our thoughts and motivate our actions. As Hobbes states, "but to teach us that for the similitude of the thoughts and passions of one man, to the thoughts and passions of another, whosoever looketh into himself and considereth what he doth when he does think, opine, reason, hope, fear, etc., and upon what grounds; he shall thereby read and know what are the thoughts and passions of all other men upon the like occasions."


title: Know thyself

text: In 1734, Alexander Pope wrote a poem entitled "An Essay on Man, Epistle II", which begins "Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, The proper study of mankind is Man."


title: Know thyself

text: In 1735, Carl Linnaeus published the first edition of "Systema Naturae" in which he described humans ("Homo") with the simple phrase ""Nosce te ipsum"".


title: Know thyself

text: In 1750, Benjamin Franklin, in his "Poor Richard's Almanack", observed the great difficulty of knowing one's self, with: "There are three Things extremely hard, Steel, a Diamond, and to know one's self."


title: Know thyself

text: In 1754, Jean-Jacques Rousseau lauded the "inscription of the Temple at Delphi" in his "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality".


title: Know thyself

text: In 1831, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem titled "Γνώθι Σεαυτόν", or Gnothi Seauton ('Know Thyself'), on the theme of "God in thee". The poem was an anthem to Emerson's belief that to "know thyself" meant knowing the God that Emerson felt existed within each person.


title: Know thyself

text: In 1832, Samuel T. Coleridge wrote a poem titled "Self Knowledge" in which the text centers on the Delphic maxim "Know Thyself" beginning "Gnôthi seauton!—and is this the prime And heaven-sprung adage of the olden time!—" and ending with "Ignore thyself, and strive to know thy God!" Coleridge's text references JUVENAL, xi. 27.


title: Know thyself

text: In 1857, Allan Kardec asks in "The Spirits Book" (question 919): "What is the most effective method for guaranteeing self-improvement and resisting the attraction of wrongdoing?" and obtains the answer from the Spirits "A philosopher of antiquity once said, 'Know thyself. Acknowledging the wisdom of the maxim, he then asks about the means of acquiring self-knowledge, obtaining a detailed answer with practical instructions and philosophical-moral considerations.


title: Know thyself

text: In 1902, Hugo von Hofmannsthal had his 16th-century alter ego in his letter to Francis Bacon mention a book he intended to call "Nosce te ipsum".


title: Know thyself

text: In 1978 Idries Shah wrote in "Learning How to Learn", p. 38, "People have to know more about themselves before they take on what are so often misconceived projects." In 1997 he explained "Know Thyself" thus in "The Commanding Self", p. 15, "'He who knows himself, knows his Lord' means, among other things, that self-deception prevents knowledge... The first self about which to obtain knowledge is the secondary, false self which stands in the way..." The theme of knowing oneself and knowing God is also featured in the above citations from Ibn Arabi, Pope, Coleridge and Emerson, in different ways.


title: Know thyself

text: The Wachowskis used one of the Latin versions ("temet nosce") of this aphorism as inscription over the Oracle's kitchen doorway in their movies "The Matrix" (1999) and "The Matrix Revolutions" (2003). The character Nomi from the series "Sense8", also directed by The Wachowskis, has a tattoo on her arm with the Greek version of this phrase.


title: Know thyself

text: "Know Thyself" is the motto of Hamilton College of Lyceum International School (Nugegoda, Sri Lanka) and of İpek University (Ankara, Turkey). The Latin phrase "Nosce te ipsum" is the motto of Landmark College.


title: Know thyself

text: Knowing the Self is a core principle towards spiritual liberation or Moksha in Indian philosophical traditions, including Advaita Vedanta. In the Upanishads, it appears as "ātmā́naṃ viddhi", that literally translates to "know thyself". The idea is reflected through the four key statements known as Mahavakya, found in the four Vedas, which form the foundations of Vedanta philosophy.


title: Know thyself

text: In "The Art of War", the maxim 知彼知己，百战不殆 means "know others and know thyself, and you will not be endangered by innumerable battles". In this saying by Sun Tze (孙子, Sun Zi), the idea of knowing oneself is paramount.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme "Doctor Who" and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels or shares adventures with the Doctor. In most "Doctor Who" stories, the primary companion acts as an audience surrogate. They provide the lens through which the viewer is introduced to the series. The companion character often furthers the story by asking questions (often to help the audience understand too) and getting into trouble, or by helping, rescuing, or challenging the Doctor. This designation is applied to a character by the show's producers and appears in the BBC's promotional material and off-screen fictional terminology. The Doctor also refers to the show's other leads as their “friends" or "assistants"; the British press have also used the latter term.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: In the earliest episodes of "Doctor Who", the dramatic structure of the programme's cast was rather different from the hero-and-sidekick pattern that emerged later. Initially, the character of the Doctor was unclear, with uncertain motives and abilities. The protagonists were schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who provided the audience's point of view in stories set in Earth's history and on alien worlds. Ian in particular served the role of the action hero. The fourth character was the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan, who (though initially presented as an "unearthly child") was intended as an identification figure for younger viewers.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan Foreman, became unhappy with the lack of development for her character and chose to leave in its second series. The character of Susan was married off to a freedom fighter and left behind to rebuild a Dalek-ravaged Earth. Doctor Who's producers replaced Susan with another young female character, Vicki. Similarly, when Ian and Barbara left, the "action hero" position was filled by astronaut Steven Taylor. This grouping of the Doctor, a young heroic male, and an attractive young female became the programme's pattern throughout the 1960s.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: When the programme changed to colour in 1970, its format changed: the Doctor was now Earth-bound and acquired a supporting cast by his affiliation with the paramilitary organisation United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT). The Third Doctor, more active and physical than his predecessors, made the role of the "action hero" male companion redundant. In the 1970 season, the Doctor was assisted by scientist Liz Shaw and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, along with other UNIT personnel (such as Sergeant Benton). The intellectual Shaw was replaced by Jo Grant in the following season, and as the programme returned to occasional adventures in outer space, the format shifted once more: while UNIT continued to provide a regular "home base" for Earth-bound stories, in stories on other planets, the Doctor and Jo became a two-person team with a close, personal bond. This pattern, the Doctor with a single female companion, became a template from which subsequent episodes of "Doctor Who" rarely diverged.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: The character of Harry Sullivan was created by the production team when it was expected that the Fourth Doctor would be played by an older actor who would have trouble with the activity expressed by his predecessor. The role went to 40-year-old Tom Baker, and the part of Harry, no longer required for the action role, was dropped after one season.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: In the Fourth Doctor's final season, he acquired three companions (Adric, Tegan, and Nyssa), and this situation continued under the Fifth Doctor for much of his first season. Adric was written out by the unusual method within the series of being "killed off" in the serial "Earthshock". By the time of the Sixth Doctor, a single companion had become standard again.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: When the series returned in 2005 a single female companion remained the standard format, though intermittent and short-term companions also featured. More consistent exceptions occurred between series 5 and 7, when the Eleventh Doctor travelled with Amy Pond and Rory Williams, and series 10, where the Twelfth Doctor appeared alongside Bill Potts and Nardole. In conjunction with the introduction of the first female Doctor, the Thirteenth Doctor's era features multiple companions (both male and female) throughout.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Although the term "companion" is designated to specific characters by the show's producers and appears in the BBC's promotional material and off-screen fictional terminology, there is no formal definition that constitutes such a designation. The definition of who is and is not a companion becomes less clear in the newer series. For instance, Stephen Brook in the "Guardian" newspaper's Organgrinder blog discounted Michelle Ryan as a likely next companion but said that "what constitutes a "Doctor Who" companion is no longer clear". During the Doctor's latest incarnations, his primary companions, such as Rose Tyler and Martha Jones, have fulfilled a distinct dramatic role, more significant than other, less-prominent TARDIS travellers such as Adam, Jack, and Mickey. The British press referred to Martha as the "first ethnic minority companion in the 43-year television history of "Doctor Who"" despite the presence of Mickey Smith in the previous series—including several episodes in which he travelled in the TARDIS with the Doctor. Likewise, Bill Potts was promoted as the first gay companion in 2017, despite the debut of the bisexual Jack Harkness and River Song in previous years.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: The opening credits do little to clarify the situation. In the first two series of the renewed programme, the only supporting actor to receive a title credit is Billie Piper, although short-term companions Bruno Langley (Adam Mitchell), John Barrowman (Jack Harkness) and Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith) all appear. In the third series, Barrowman receives a title credit for his return to the show alongside permanent cast member Freema Agyeman, and in series four Agyeman is restored to the opening titles for her return arc as Martha Jones. Series four also gives Agyeman, Piper, Barrowman, and Elisabeth Sladen title billing for their reappearances in the final two-parter. Clarke also reprises his role in the series four finale; although listed as a companion alongside the other actors on the BBC "Doctor Who" website, Clarke is not credited in this way. In "The End of Time", John Simm receives title billing for his antagonist role as the Master, ahead of Bernard Cribbins as companion Wilfred Mott. In subsequent years, Claire Skinner, Nick Frost and Mark Gatiss have received title credits in special episodes for roles that are not considered companions, as does Piper for her non-companion return in "The Day of the Doctor".


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Companions in the new series also have a more flexible tenure than their classical predecessors. Several companion characters have returned to the series after leaving the Doctor's company, most notably in the Series Four finale "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" (2008), which features a record eight past, present and future companions: Donna is joined by a returning Rose, Martha, Jack, Sarah Jane, and Mickey, while past companion K9 and future companion Wilfred Mott make appearances. This tendency, plus the increase in "one-off" companions like Astrid Peth and Jackson Lake, has further obscured the matter of who is and is not a companion.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: The Doctor's companions have assumed a variety of roles—involuntary passengers, assistants (particularly Liz Shaw), friends, and fellow adventurers; and, of course, he regularly gains new companions and loses old ones. Sometimes they return home, and sometimes they find new causes—or loves—on worlds they have visited. A few companions have died during their travels with the Doctor, such as the 12th Doctor's companion Bill Potts. Some have taken trips in the TARDIS by accident like Rose's mother, Jackie Tyler.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Most companions travel in the TARDIS with the Doctor for more than one adventure. Sometimes a guest character takes a role in the story similar to that of a companion, such as photographer Isobel Watkins, who plays a significant role in "The Invasion" (1968), or Lynda in "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways" (2005). In the revived era, some guest characters have gained companion status such as Mickey Smith, River Song, Wilfred Mott, and Craig Owens.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Despite the fact that the majority of the Doctor's companions are young, attractive females, the production team for the 1963–89 series maintained a long-standing taboo against any overt romantic involvement in the TARDIS: for example, Peter Davison, as the Fifth Doctor, was not allowed to put his arm around either Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) or Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka). However, that has not prevented fans from speculating about possible romantic involvements, most notably between the Fourth Doctor and the Time Lady Romana (whose actors, Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, shared a romance and brief marriage). The taboo was controversially broken in the 1996 television movie when the Eighth Doctor was shown kissing companion Grace Holloway. The 2005 series played with this idea by having various characters think that the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler were a couple, which they vehemently denied. Since the series revival, the Doctor has kissed many of his companions, including Rose and Jack, although each instance was not necessarily in a romantic context (see also "The Doctor and romance"). In series 2–3 of the revival, David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Rose have significant sexual tension. Rose mentions sharing a mortgage with him if he were to ever be trapped with her in "The Satan Pit". At the end of series 2, in "Doomsday", Rose and the Doctor are forcibly separated. The Doctor "burns up a sun to say goodbye" and responds to Rose saying "I love you" with a cut-off sentence that is almost certainly "I love you too". Donna Noble vehemently denied a sexual interest in the Doctor when he invited her to join him and explained, "I just want "a" mate," which she misheard as "I just want "to" mate." Rose and Martha each developed romantic feelings toward the Doctor. On the opposite side of the same coin, Amy reacted to the stress of her adventures by very aggressively trying to seduce the Doctor on the eve of her own wedding, despite being in love with her fiancé Rory; the Doctor forcibly pushed her off of himself, though she did not immediately cease her pursuit. The Eleventh Doctor romantically kissed Amy and Rory's daughter, sporadic companion River Song, jokingly proposed marriage to her, and soon married her.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Previous companions have reappeared in the series. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart reunited with later incarnations of the Doctor in "Mawdryn Undead" and "Battlefield". He and Sergeant Benton began as returning characters in the first place, having appeared with the Second Doctor in "The Web of Fear" and again in "The Invasion", prior to starting their full-time association with the Third and Fourth Doctors. Tegan Jovanka was the first full-time companion to part from the Doctor and subsequently return to full-time companionship, although the break in her tenure had been pre-planned.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Most reappearances of companions in the original series, however, were for anniversary specials such as "The Five Doctors" and "Dimensions in Time", both of which also featured multiple Doctors. One former companion, Sarah Jane Smith, together with the robotic dog K-9, appeared in four and two episodes, respectively, of the revived series more than twenty years after their last appearances in the 20th anniversary story "The Five Doctors" (1983). The character of Sarah Jane also headed up a "Doctor Who" spin-off, "The Sarah Jane Adventures", with K-9 until Sladen's death. Another companion, Captain Jack Harkness, is the lead character in the spin-off BBC science fiction programme "Torchwood". Not only have these former companions continued to make appearances on "Doctor Who", they have sometimes been accompanied by some of their own companions from the spin-offs when doing so, including Jack's colleagues Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones, and Sarah Jane's 'family' Mr Smith, Luke Smith and K-9 Mark IV. Other former companions from both the classic era and revived series have also returned as guest stars in the spin-offs, including Martha Jones on "Torchwood", and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Jo Grant on "The Sarah Jane Adventures". K-9 Mark I has also been spun off into its own series, albeit with an independent continuity.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: When "Doctor Who" returned to television in 2005, the companion characters played a slightly different role, partly due to a strong focus on the character of Rose Tyler and characters connected to her. For example, although Adam Mitchell was a companion by the standard definition, he appeared in only two episodes and was arguably a less significant part of the 2005 series than Rose's sometime boyfriend Mickey Smith, who was not technically a companion but appeared in five episodes (or six, including a brief appearance as a child in "Father's Day"). Mickey later gained full-fledged companion status when he travelled in the TARDIS in the 2006 episode "School Reunion". In that episode, Sarah Jane Smith referred to Rose as the Doctor's "assistant", a term to which the latter took offence. This exchange might be regarded as indicating the new series' shift in approach to the companion role. Adam was also far less significant than Rose's mother, Jackie Tyler, who was a frequently recurring character who travelled in the TARDIS, yet is not considered a companion.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: As of the end of the sixth series, Sarah Jane Smith is the only classic era companion to have travelled again with the Doctor in the revived "series", and one of two to have done so in the revived "era". She declined his invitation in "School Reunion", but subsequently met up with the Doctor aboard a Dalek ship in "Journey's End" and travelled with him, several other companions, and Jackie Tyler in the TARDIS as they towed the Earth back to the solar system. Sarah Jane, her predecessor Jo Jones (née Grant), and their own respective companions subsequently momentarily travelled in the TARDIS with the Eleventh Doctor in "The Sarah Jane Adventures" serial, "Death of the Doctor". The Eleventh Doctor attempted to have Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart travel with him again only to learn of the Brigadier's death months earlier.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: In the classic era, companions' friends and families were rarely depicted, and almost all were kept unaware of the true nature of the Doctor and the TARDIS. Exceptions include the very brief portrayals of Susan's future husband David Campbell; Dodo Chaplet's ancestor Anne Chaplet; Victoria Waterfield's father Edward; Jo Grant's future husband Prof. Clifford Jones; the companions' various co-workers at UNIT; Leela's father Sole and future husband or lover Andred; Tegan Jovanka's aunt Vanessa, maternal grandfather Andrew Verney, and cousin Colin Frazer; Nyssa's father Tremas and step-mother Kassia; Vislor Turlough's former maths teacher Lethbridge-Stewart; Peri Brown's step-father Prof. Howard Foster, and future husband King Yrcanos; Ace McShane's ex-lover Sabalom Glitz, maternal grandmother Kathleen Dudman, infant mother Audrey Dudman, and a photograph of her maternal grandfather Frank Dudman; and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's second wife Doris. Classic era spin-off media additionally introduced Sarah Jane Smith's aunt Lavinia Smith (who had been an unseen character in the original series) and foster brother Brendan Richards, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter Kate (who would later become a recurring guest in the revived series) and grandson Gordon.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Conversely, families and friends of most companions in the revived era are extensively and continually depicted, and their adventures with the Doctor are generally not kept secret. The revived era has also featured a number of companions related to other companions by blood or marriage (Donna Noble's grandfather Wilfred Mott; Amy Pond's fiancé (later husband) Rory Williams, and the couple's daughter River Song; former companions Mickey Smith and Martha Jones who married subsequent to their companionship; Graham O'Brien and step-grandson Ryan Sinclair). No such relationships occurred among companions in the classic era, although original companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright are reported in the revived era to have married subsequent to their companionship, and Ben Jackson and Polly are likewise reported to be together. The families of some classic-era companions too have been depicted in the revived era, such as Jo Grant (now known as Jo Jones)'s grandson Santiago Jones; and Sarah Jane Smith's parents, adopted son Luke Smith, adopted daughter Sky Smith, and alternate timeline fiancé Peter Dalton; and Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter Kate Stewart.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Another change in the revived era is the depiction of many companions' pre-Doctor lives, particularly their childhoods; no companion was so depicted in the classic era, aside from John Benton being temporarily 'de-aged' by The Master. Companions Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Adelaide Brooke, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song and Clara Oswald have all been portrayed in their youths by juvenile actors on "Doctor Who"; the pre-companionship lives of the Pond-Williams-Song family being particularly well-documented. Companions Jack Harkness and Sarah Jane Smith have also been depicted in their youths on their respective spin-off series. In addition to having been de-aged once in the classic era, John Benton was the first companion whose childhood was chronicled.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: A recurring theme of the new series is the toll the loss of companions takes on the Doctor. While they would more or less easily deal with their companions' departures in the classic series, the new series shows the Doctor having a harder time recovering when a companion leaves them, especially when they do so under tragic circumstances and if the Doctor develops a strong emotional tie beyond friendship. After losing Donna Noble, the Tenth Doctor refused to travel with a companion until after his regeneration, unable to cope with them leaving anymore. Later, the loss of Amy and Rory Williams – his parents-in-law by way of his marriage to River Song – drives the Eleventh Doctor into a deep depression, and he retreats to Victorian London where he refuses to get involved in the world's affairs anymore. Additionally, "Let's Kill Hitler" spotlights the Doctor's continuing guilt in relation to several past companions. Series 9 (2015) dealt with the Twelfth Doctor's growing fear over the potential of losing Clara Oswald. Her death in "Face the Raven" leads the Doctor to undertake extreme measures to undo her fate, as depicted in the Series 9 finale "Hell Bent". The impact of the death of his wife, River Song, is a subplot of both "The Husbands of River Song" and "The Return of Doctor Mysterio".


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: The "last serial" column only includes the last serial in which they appeared in a companion role and excludes minor roles, cameos, flashbacks, and so forth. Also, the table refers solely to adventures with the respective Doctor. Some companions who appear with two or more Doctors appear in separate tables.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: The following three characters, all associated with UNIT during the Third Doctor's exile to Earth, are sometimes considered his companions despite appearing irregularly during his tenure.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: The "Doctor Who" spin-off media have seen the creation of new characters acting as new companions to the Doctor. Most of them have been created to feature as companions for the Sixth, Seventh and Eight Doctor, in the new products presenting themselves as a prosecution of their adventures beyond the TV series, but there also are new companions for other Doctors. None of them have been featured on television, except for the mention of some Big Finish Productions original characters in the minisode "The Night of the Doctor"; however, some of them have passed from one media to another.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: A few of the companions have died during the course of the series. In "The Daleks' Master Plan", Katarina sacrificed herself by opening her airlock to save the others from the mad fugitive Kirksen, and was blown into the vacuum of space. In the same serial, Sara Kingdom was rapidly aged to dust by a Time Destructor. While Adric attempted to divert a spaceship from crashing into Earth, a Cyberman destroyed the controls; they hurtled through time and crashed into the planet, creating the Chicxulub crater and causing the K-Pg extinction event (this fulfilled Silurians' prophecy and facilitated the evolution of mammals). The android Kamelion, after coming under the Master's control, convinced the Doctor to destroy him, and the Doctor complied. Astrid Peth sacrificed herself to kill Max Capricorn, saving the lives of millions aboard the interstellar space liner RMS "Titanic" and in the greater London area. Before River Song's formal companionship began, she sacrificed herself in order to save those trapped in the Library's computer servers' simulations. The Doctor uploaded her "data ghost" into the library servers, from which she later is able to communicate across time and space with Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, Strax, and Clara Oswald in "The Name of the Doctor". Adelaide Brooke killed herself after the Doctor altered the timeline by rescuing her; this ensured that her descendants would explore the galaxy and the wider universe as originally destined. Rory Williams is touched by a Weeping Angel in 2012 and sent back in time. With the encouragement of her daughter, River Song, and against the Doctor's pleas, Amy Pond allows herself to be touched by the same Angel in the hope of being reunited with her husband in the past. She is successful, and they grow old together in New York City, die, and are buried in Queens on the spot from which they will later be sent back in time in 2012. In fighting the Ice Governess in the final hour of Christmas Eve 1892, a Victorian era incarnation of Clara Oswald falls off of the cloud on which the TARDIS was parked, plummeting to the ground. Another incarnation of Clara Oswald (named Oswin Oswald) dies in "Asylum of the Daleks"; the character disabling the planet's shielding thus enabling the Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams to escape.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Not all companion deaths have been permanent however. Jack Harkness resurrects after each death, having been made immortal by Rose Tyler in "The Parting of the Ways". Rory Williams suffered several deaths, each of which was negated by alternate timelines, paradoxes, resurrection by advanced alien medicine, or the rebooting of the universe. Clara Oswald dies in "Face the Raven", but in a subsequent episode ("Hell Bent") her time stream is frozen at the moment of death by the Time Lords so that they can interrogate her about the Hybrid; the Doctor takes advantage of this to save her life, but she remains technically neither alive nor dead, does not age or have a pulse. After her departure as a companion of the Twelfth Doctor, she teams with the immortal Ashildr and travels in a stolen TARDIS.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Other companions died in alternate timelines or alternate lives. "Brigade Leader" Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, "Section Leader" Liz Shaw, and "Platoon Leader"


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: John Benton all died in the destruction of their universe's Earth. Sarah Jane Smith, her son Luke Smith, Maria Jackson and Clyde Langer perished while trying to stop the Plasmavore and the Judoon in Royal Hope Hospital on the Moon in the parallel universe of "Turn Left". In the same story, Martha Jones suffocated after giving up her oxygen to classmate/co-worker Oliver Morgenstern while on the Moon. Teenaged Sarah Jane Smith also died after falling from a pier in place of her friend, Andrea Yates; Maria Jackson convinces the adult Yates to correct the timeline, restoring Sarah Jane to life. After surviving decades in an alien hospice that is deadly to humans, Amy Pond compels Rory Williams to lock her out of the TARDIS in order to protect her younger self and allow the latter to have the life with Rory that the former missed. Amy and Rory jointly jumped off of a high-rise in New York on a hunch that doing so would create a paradox and deliver themselves from that timeline.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Several other companions have died subsequent to their companionships. Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart's death months earlier was revealed in "The Wedding of River Song", and he was later remembered fondly by his daughter and the Eleventh Doctor. When the series was relaunched in 2005, the Doctor believed himself to be the only Time Lord to have survived the Last Great Time War, indicating that he believes that Susan Foreman and Romana were killed, and that Leela, who settled on Gallifrey, was lost when that planet was destroyed in the Last Great Time War. However, the fiftieth anniversary episode "The Day of the Doctor" reveals that the planet still exists in a separate pocket universe, leaving their fates uncertain. In 2050, Sarah Jane Smith is implied to be dead by Rani Chandra in "The Mad Woman in the Attic". Vicki left the First Doctor "circa" 1250 BCE and passed into legend as Cressida.


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: During the course of the show's history, there have been a few occasions when companions have died while on adventures with the Doctor. They are:


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: Only Adric, Amy, Rory, Clara and Bill were ongoing, "long-term" companions of the Doctor. All others listed either appeared for the first time and died in the same storyline (Sara, Astrid, Adelaide), or died in their second on-screen appearance in a "Doctor Who" storyline (Katarina, Kamelion, K-9 Mark III).


title: Companion (Doctor Who)

text: A number of TV companions have died in spin off media. Several spin-off-exclusive characters have also died but this list is only concerned with TV companions:


title: Rachel Keller (actress)

text: Rachel Rye Keller (born December 25, 1992) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Sydney "Syd" Barrett in the FX television series "Legion" and as Simone Gerhardt in the second season of the FX black comedy crime drama anthology series "Fargo".


title: Rachel Keller (actress)

text: Keller was born in Los Angeles, and grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She attended the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists and graduated in 2014 from Carnegie Mellon University. Keller's father is Jewish, and she also celebrates Hanukkah.


title: Rachel Keller (actress)

text: Keller began her career with roles in various short films and guest starring roles in the television series "The Mentalist" and "Supernatural".


title: Rachel Keller (actress)

text: Keller received wide recognition for her recurring role as Simone Gerhardt in the second season of the FX anthology television series "Fargo".


title: Rachel Keller (actress)

text: Between 2017 and 2019, she starred as Sydney "Syd" Barrett, the female lead in the FX series "Legion".


title: Rachel Keller (actress)

text: In 2019, Keller starred as Cassandra Pressman in the Netflix mystery drama series "The Society". In 2022, she had a leading role in the HBO Max series "Tokyo Vice", replacing Odessa Young.


title: Porno for Pyros

text: Porno for Pyros is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1992, following the break-up of Jane's Addiction. The band currently consists of former Jane's Addiction members Perry Farrell (vocals) and Stephen Perkins (drums), alongside founding members Peter DiStefano (guitar) and Martyn LeNoble (bass). Bass guitarist Mike Watt was a member of the band from 1995 until 1998, and again for one-off appearances in 2020 and 2022.


title: Porno for Pyros

text: The band released two studio albums, "Porno for Pyros" (1993) and "Good God's Urge" (1996), before going on hiatus in 1998. In 2009, the original line-up reunited for a one-off appearance at frontman Perry Farrell's 50th birthday party. In 2020, the Watt-era line-up of the band reunited for Lolla2020, a free YouTube broadcast event taking place amidst global COVID-19 lockdowns. Following the appearance, members of the group continued to work on new material together, and in 2022, Farrell and Perkins reunited Porno for Pyros for their first large-scale public performances in over twenty-four years, leading to a full reunion of the band's original line-up.


title: Porno for Pyros

text: Following the demise of the critically and commercially successful Jane's Addiction, frontman Perry Farrell and drummer Stephen Perkins formed Porno for Pyros after acquiring guitarist Peter DiStefano and bass player Martyn LeNoble. Farrell named the band after seeing an ad for fireworks in a pornographic magazine. The name has also been connected through song lyrics to the LA riots which occurred in the band's hometown around the time of Porno for Pyros' inception. Prior to releasing their eponymous first album, Porno for Pyros embarked on a nationwide tour to support the new band. By the time the band's debut album was released in 1993, anticipation surrounding the project was enough to briefly drive the album to the No. 3 position on the Billboard top 200 list. The video for the album's second single, "Pets", received heavy airplay on MTV. Following the album's release, Porno for Pyros continued a heavy touring schedule, including an appearance at Woodstock '94 along with a cameo on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show". Unlike the relatively straight-ahead rock shows that were the hallmark of live Jane's Addiction, Porno for Pyros live shows relied heavily on props, extras and special effects (including pyrotechnics).


title: Porno for Pyros

text: For the band's follow-up album, "Good God's Urge", bass player LeNoble quit after completing the majority of the bass tracks. Ex-Minutemen bassist Mike Watt was brought in to finish up the album tracks and join the band on tour. The album also featured the post-Jane's reunion of Farrell with guitarist Dave Navarro, who made a guest appearance on "Freeway", along with Red Hot Chili Peppers' bass player Flea. The band again set forth on a heavy touring schedule with Watt on bass, then with Flea on bass with Perkins and Farrell's former Jane's Addiction bandmate Dave Navarro on guitar. In reality, the end of Porno For Pyros bled into the "relapsed Jane's Addiction" situation, as Jane's guitarist Dave Navarro and his Red Hot Chili Pepper bandmate Flea guested on 2 songs from the Good God's Urge sessions, "Freeway" and "Hard Charger." As "Hard Charger" was released and charted as a single from the Howard Stern Private Parts movie, the final touring dates for Porno For Pyros featured 3/4 of Jane's Addiction Dave Navarro and Flea onstage with Peter DeStefano and touring members Sunny Reinhart and Thomas "TJ" Johnson. On several tour stops Porno for Pyros played "Mountain Song", a popular Jane's Addiction tune, a foreshadowing of the later Jane's Addiction reunion efforts. Further touring by the band was scuttled when DiStefano was diagnosed with cancer.


title: Porno for Pyros

text: Perkins and Watt subsequently formed the jazz-punk improvisation group Banyan and, along with DiStefano, occasionally perform sets of Stooges cover versions in the Los Angeles area under the band name Hellride.


title: Porno for Pyros

text: In April 2009, the original lineup of Farrell, Perkins, DiStefano, and LeNoble performed at Farrell's 50th birthday party. In April 2011, Farrell wrote on his Twitter account: "One day, more Porno For Pyros", suggesting that the band would reunite in the future. On September 3, 2012, DiStefano stated that the band would be active in 2013, which was later also announced by Farrell on his Facebook page on July 6, 2013. In 2018, the band were rumoured to be part of an immersive entertainment experience in Las Vegas, named Kind Heaven, created by Farrell, which never came to fruition.


title: Porno for Pyros

text: On July 27, 2020, it was announced that for the first time in 22 years, Porno for Pyros (featuring the lineup of Perry Farrell, Stephen Perkins, Mike Watt and Peter DiStefano) would be reuniting to play Lolla2020, a free four-night YouTube broadcast event taking place on the original dates of the 2020 Chicago-based Lollapalooza festival, Thursday, July 30 through Sunday, August 2.


title: Porno for Pyros

text: On July 20, 2021, DiStefano announced on his Facebook page that he, Farrell and Perkins were working on what will be new material from Porno for Pyros in over two decades.


title: Porno for Pyros

text: On May 18, 2022, Farrell shared Jane’s Addiction will not be playing Welcome to Rockville concert in Daytona Beach, Florida, on May 22 due to guitarist Dave Navarro suffering from a “long bout” of COVID-19, but is reuniting his band Porno for Pyros for the performance. “The gang and the government are no different. That makes me 1%. Rockville, although we are blue that Jane’s cannot be with you at this time due to Dave’s long bout with COVID, I am still coming to Daytona, bringing to you for the first time in 26 years Porno For Pyros Featuring myself, Perry Farrrell, Stephen Perkins, Peter DiStefeno and Mike Watt. We’ll play some Jane’s songs for you as well, but for now let’s recall: My boat’s capsized it’s gonna sink to the bottom. I can see the lights on the shore…” noted Farrell on the Welcome to Rockville Facebook page. Drummer Stephen Perkins was replaced by his drum tech Mike Cryciuk for the performance due to a stomach virus, with Nick Maybury, formerly of Scott Weiland & the Wildabouts on additional guitar.


title: Porno for Pyros

text: For the band's subsequent summer shows and appearance at Lollapalooza, founding bassist Martyn LeNoble rejoined the band. The band has since confirmed on Instagram that they are working on new material.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: A major outbreak of violence in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict commenced on 10 May 2021, though disturbances took place earlier, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. It was marked by protests and police riot control, rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. The crisis was triggered on 6 May, when Palestinians in East Jerusalem began protesting over an anticipated decision of the Supreme Court of Israel on the eviction of six Palestinian families in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Under international law, the area, effectively annexed by Israel in 1980, is a part of the Palestinian Territories; Israel applies its laws there. On 7 May, according to Israel's Channel 12, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli police forces, who then stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compoundl using tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades. The crisis prompted protests around the world as well as official reactions from world leaders.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: The violence coincided with Qadr Night (8 May), observed by Muslims, and Jerusalem Day (9–10 May), an Israeli national holiday. The confrontations occurred ahead of a planned Jerusalem Day parade known as the Dance of Flags by far-right Jewish nationalists, which was later canceled. More than 600 people were injured, mostly Palestinians, drawing international condemnation. Israel's Supreme Court ruling on evictions from Sheikh Jarrah was then delayed for 30 days as Avichai Mandelblit, the erstwhile attorney general of Israel, sought to reduce tensions.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On the afternoon of 10 May, Hamas gave Israel an ultimatum to withdraw its security forces from both the Temple Mount complex and Sheikh Jarrah by 6 p.m. When the ultimatum expired without a response, both Hamas and PIJ launched rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel; some of these rockets hit Israeli residences and a school. Israel then began a campaign of airstrikes against Gaza; by 16 May, some 950 targeted attacks had demolished, completely or partially: 18 buildings, including four high-rise towers; 40 schools and four hospitals; and also struck the al-Shati refugee camp. Additionally, at least 19 medical facilities were damaged or destroyed by the Israeli bombardment. By 17 May, the United Nations estimated that Israeli airstrikes had destroyed 94 buildings in Gaza, comprising 461 housing and commercial units, including the al-Jalaa Highrise; housing offices of the Associated Press, the Al Jazeera Media Network, and other news outlets; and 60 condominiums.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: As a result of the violence, at least 256 Palestinians, including 66 children, were killed (including at least seven from friendly fire). In Israel, at least 13 people were killed, including two children. The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that more than 1,900 Palestinians were injured, and as of 12 May, at least 200 Israelis were reported to have been injured. As of 19 May, at least 72,000 Palestinians have been displaced. Around 4,360 Palestinian rockets were fired towards Israel, of which 680 landed within the Gaza Strip, and over 90 percent of rockets bound towards populated areas were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome. Israel conducted around 1,500 aerial, land, and sea strikes on the Gaza Strip. Calls for a ceasefire were first proposed on 13 May by Hamas, but rejected by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On 18 May, France, along with Egypt and Jordan, announced the filing of a United Nations Security Council resolution for a ceasefire. Egypt mediated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on 21 May 2021, ending 11 days of fighting in which both sides claimed victory. On 16 June 2021, incendiary balloons were launched from Gaza into Israel, which the Israeli Air Force responded to with multiple airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, resuming the fighting.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: At the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2021, Jerusalem Islamic Waqf officials said that on the night of 13 April, the Israeli police entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and severed the loudspeaker cables used to broadcast the muezzin's ritual call to prayer so that the Memorial Day speech being delivered by President Reuven Rivlin below at the Western Wall would not be disturbed. Israeli police declined to comment. The incident was condemned by Jordan, and the Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the incident "a racist hate crime", but it did not draw other international attention. In the same month, Israeli police closed the staired plaza outside the Old City's Damascus Gate, a traditional holiday gathering spot for Palestinians. The closure triggered violent night clashes, the barricades were removed after several days. On 15 April, a TikTok video of a Palestinian teen slapping an ultra-orthodox Jewish man went viral, leading to several copycat incidents. The next day, tens of thousands of Palestinian worshippers were turned away from al-Aqsa, on the first Friday of Ramadan when Israel imposed a 10,000-person limit on prayers at the mosque. On the same day, a rabbi was beaten in Jaffa, causing two days of protests. On 22 April, the far-right Jewish supremacist group Lehava held a march through Jerusalem chanting "death to Arabs." On 23 April, after fringe military groups fired 36 rockets at southern Israel, the IDF launched missiles at Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. The barrage of rocket fire came as hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem and on 25 April, the United Nations envoy Tor Wennesland condemned the violence and said, "The provocative acts across Jerusalem must cease. The indiscriminate launching of rockets towards Israeli population centers violates international law and must stop immediately." On 26 April, after more than 40 rockets have been launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel while one projectile exploded inside the Gaza Strip over of the previous three days, the Security Cabinet of Israel voted in favor after an hours-long debate of an operational plan to strike Hamas if rocket fire from Gaza continues. In the following days, a Palestinian boy and a 19-year-old Israeli settler were killed. On 6 May, the Israel Police shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian during a raid of Nablus in the West Bank. According to Addameer, Israeli police arrested at least 61 children from mid-April during clashes in and about East Jerusalem, and 4 were shot dead in three weeks.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: Itamar Ben-Gvir visited Sheikh Jarrah shortly before the clashes began, where he said that the houses belonged to Jews and told police to "open fire" on protesters. Agence France-Presse reported that Israeli settlers had been seen in Sheikh Jarrah openly carrying assault rifles and revolvers leading up to the clashes. According to author Ramzy Baroud, a video was posted of Ben-Gvir, in a joking exchange with the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Arieh King, mocking a Palestinian resident shot by Israeli police during a protest.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: The Sheikh Jarrah district houses the descendants of refugees expelled or displaced from their homes in Jaffa and Haifa in the Nakba of 1948. Today, around 75 Palestinian families live on this disputed land. The long-running dispute over land ownership in Sheikh Jarrah is considered a microcosm of the Israeli–Palestinian disputes over land since 1948. Currently, more than 1,000 Palestinians living across East Jerusalem face possible eviction. Israeli law allows Israeli land owners to file claims over land in East Jerusalem which they have owned prior to 1948, except where expropriated by the Jordanian government, but rejects Palestinian claims over land in Israel which they owned. The international community considers East Jerusalem to be Palestinian territory held under Israeli occupation and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on Israel to stop all forced evictions of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah, saying that if carried out the expulsions of the Palestinians would violate Israel's responsibilities under international law which prohibit the transfer of civilians in to or out of occupied territory by the occupying power. A spokesman for the OHCHR said that such transfers may constitute a "war crime". Human rights organizations have been critical of Israeli efforts to remove Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah, with Human Rights Watch releasing a statement saying that the disparate rights between Palestinian and Jewish residents of East Jerusalem "underscores the reality of apartheid that Palestinians in East Jerusalem face." Israeli human rights group estimate that over 1,000 Palestinian families are at risk of eviction in East Jerusalem.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: A Jewish trust bought the land in Sheikh Jarrah from Arab landowners in the 1870s in Ottoman Palestine. However, the purchase is disputed by some Palestinians, who have produced Ottoman-era land titles for part of the land. The land came under Jordanian control following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Following the war, Jewish residents were expelled from East Jerusalem, and Palestinians from Israel. In 1956, the Jordanian government, in cooperation with the United Nations' organization for refugees, housed 28 of these Palestinian families on land owned by Jewish trusts. After the Six-Day War the area fell under Israeli occupation. In 1970, Israel passed a law that allowed previous owners to reclaim property in East Jerusalem that had been taken by Jordan without having ownership transferred. Under this law, in 1972, the Israeli Custodian General registered the properties under the Jewish trusts which claimed to be the rightful owners of the land. In 1982, an agreement was endorsed by the courts which the families later said had been made without their knowledge and disputed the original ownership claims by the Jewish trusts. These challenges were rejected by Israeli courts. The trusts then demanded that the tenants pay rent. Eviction orders began to be issued in the 1990s. Palestinian tenants say that Israeli courts have no jurisdiction in the area since the land is outside Israel's recognized borders; this view is supported by the UN Human Rights Office.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: In 2003, the Jewish trusts sold the homes to a right-wing settler organization, which then made repeated attempts to evict the Palestinian residents. The company has submitted plans to build more than 200 housing units, which have not yet been approved by the government. These groups succeeded in evicting 43 Palestinians from the area in 2002, and three more families since then. In 2010, the Supreme Court of Israel rejected an appeal by Palestinian families who had resided in 57 housing units in the area of Sheikh Jarrah, who had petitioned the court to have their ownership to the properties recognized. An Israeli court had previously ruled that the Palestinians could remain on the properties under a legal status called "protected tenants", but had to pay rent. The move to evict them came after they refused to pay rent and carried out construction. In 2021 Israel's Supreme Court was expected to deliver a ruling on whether to uphold the eviction of six Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood on 10 May 2021, after a court ruled that 13 families comprising 58 people had to vacate the properties by 1 August. On 9 May 2021, the Israeli Supreme Court delayed the expected decision on evictions for 30 days, after an intervention from Attorney General of Israel Avichai Mandelblit. On 26 May 2021, the court ordered Mandelblit to submit his legal opinion on the matter within two weeks. In a related case, the Jerusalem District Court is holding a hearing on appeals filed on behalf of seven families subject of eviction orders from the Batan al-Hawa section of Silwan. According to Haaretz, Mandelblit notified the court on 7 June that he would decline to present a view on the case; a new hearing date of 2 August was set.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: According to the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, this approach to property rights is unacceptable in international law. The Jerusalem-based non-profit organization B'Tselem and the international Human Rights Watch cited discriminatory policies in East Jerusalem in recent reports, alleging that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid. Israel rejected the allegations. East Jerusalem is effectively annexed by Israel, and Israel applies its laws there. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the area is a part of the Palestinian territories that Israel currently occupies. United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel that evicting Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem is among the actions by both sides that could lead to "conflict and war."


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: The 2021 Palestinian legislative election for the Palestinian Legislative Council, originally scheduled for 22 May 2021, was indefinitely postponed on 29 April by President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas, which was expected to do well in the elections, called the move a "coup", and some Palestinians believed Abbas had delayed the election to avoid political defeat for his party Fatah. Analysts say the postponement contributed towards the current crisis, and encouraged Hamas to resort to military confrontation rather than diplomatic tactics. Opinion pieces in NBC News, the "Wall Street Journal" and "Foreign Policy" argued that by taking responsibility for the rocket fire, Hamas had improved its standing among Palestinians wary of the delayed elections.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: In Israel, the 2019–2021 Israeli political crisis saw four inconclusive elections which left Israel functioning under a caretaker government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to persuade several extreme-right politicians to form a coalition. The presence of right-wing Israeli politicians Ben-Gvir and King contributed to the crisis. "The New York Times" said Netanyahu was trying to instigate a crisis to build support for his leadership, and thus allowed tensions to rise in Jerusalem. An article in "The Conversation" dismissed this as "conspiratorial", arguing that although the crisis has given Netanyahu a political opportunity, he "was not looking or hoping for a major conflict with the Palestinians to help him hold onto power".


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: Palestinian protests began on 6 May in Sheikh Jarrah, but clashes soon spread to the al-Aqsa Mosque, Lod, other Arab localities in Israel, and the West Bank. Between 10 and 14 May Israeli security inflicted injuries on approximately 1,000 Palestinian protesters in East Jerusalem.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: Palestinians and Israeli settlers first clashed on 6 May in Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families are at risk of being evicted. Palestinian protesters had been holding nightly outdoor iftars. On 6 May, Israeli settlers and members of the far-right political party Otzma Yehudit set up a table across the street from Palestinians. Social media videos showed both sides hurling rocks and chairs at each other. Israeli police intervened and arrested at least 7 people. Israeli police subsequently engaged in extensive spraying of Sheikh Jarrah's Palestinian homes, shops, restaurants, public spaces and cultural institutions with Skunk, a lasting stench used to contain protests.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 7 May, large numbers of police were deployed on the Temple Mount as around 70,000 worshippers attended the final Friday prayers of Ramadan at al-Aqsa. After the evening prayers, some Palestinian worshippers began throwing previously stockpiled rocks and other objects at Israeli police officers. Police officers fired stun grenades into the mosque compound, and into a field clinic. A mosque spokesman stated the clashes broke out after Israeli police attempted to evacuate the compound, where many Palestinians sleep over in Ramadan, adding that the evacuation was intended to allow access to Israelis. More than 300 Palestinians were wounded as Israeli police stormed the mosque compound. Palestinians threw rocks, firecrackers, and heavy objects, while Israeli police fired stun grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets at worshippers. The storming came ahead of a Jerusalem Day flag march by Jewish nationalists through the Old City. More than 600 Palestinians were injured, more than 400 of whom were hospitalised. Militants in Gaza fired rockets into Israel the following night.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: More clashes occurred on 8 May, the date of the Islamic holy night of Laylat al-Qadr. Palestinian crowds threw stones, lit fires, and chanted "Strike Tel Aviv" and "In spirit and in blood, we will redeem al-Aqsa", which "The Times of Israel" described as in support of Hamas. The Israel Police, wearing riot gear and some on horseback, used stun grenades and water cannons. At least 80 people were injured.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 10 May, Israeli police stormed al-Aqsa for the second time, injuring 300 Palestinians and 21 Israeli police. According to the Red Crescent, 250 Palestinians were hospitalized for injuries and seven were in critical condition.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: Also on 10 May, a video showing a tree burning near al-Aqsa began to circulate on social media. Below in the Western plaza, a crowd of Jewish Israelis was singing and dancing in celebration of Jerusalem Day. Yair Wallach accused them of singing "genocidal songs of vengeance." The crowd cheered the flames with words from a song from Judges 16:28 in which Samson cries out before he tears down the pillars in Gaza, "O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!" Witnesses differed as to whether the fire was caused by an Israeli police stun grenade or by fireworks thrown by Palestinian protesters. Although the fire happened just 10 meters away from al-Aqsa, there was no damage to the mosque.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: After Friday prayers on 14 May, Palestinians protested in more than 200 locations in the West Bank. Protesters hurled stones and Israeli soldiers responded with live fire and tear gas. As a result, 11 Palestinians were killed in the clashes. A Palestinian man who attempted to stab a soldier was shot, but survived; no Israeli soldiers were wounded in the incident. More than 100 Palestinians were injured. There have been daily demonstrations since the escalation in Gaza. As of 16 May, a total of 13 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank in clashes with Israeli troops by 14 May. On 17 May, three Palestinian demonstrators were killed in clashes with the IDF.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: According to Al Arabiya, Fatah has backed a call for a general strike on 18 May in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Palestinians in Israel have been asked to take part. In an unusual display of unity by "Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up 20% of its population, and those in the territories Israel seized in 1967" the strike went ahead and "shops were shuttered across cities in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and in villages and towns inside Israel". During the day of protests and strikes, a Palestinian man was killed and more than 70 wounded in clashes near Ramallah and two Israeli soldiers were injured in a shooting attack. Large crowds also gathered in Nablus, Bethlehem and Hebron while police deployed water cannons in Sheikh Jarrah.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: During the evening and night of 10 May, Arab rioters in Lod threw stones and firebombs at Jewish homes, a school, and a synagogue, later attacking a hospital. Shots were fired at the rioters, killing one and wounding two; a Jewish suspect in the shooting was arrested.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: Widespread protests and riots intensified across Israel, particularly in cities with large Arab populations. In Lod, rocks were thrown at Jewish apartments and some Jewish residents were evacuated from their homes by the police. Synagogues and a Muslim cemetery were vandalized. A Jewish man was critically wounded after being struck in the head by a brick, and died six days later. In Acre, the Effendi hotel was torched by Arab rioters, injuring several guests. One of them, Avi Har-Even, a former head of the Israel Space Agency, suffered burns and smoke inhalation, and died on 6 June. In the nearby city of Ramle, Jewish rioters threw rocks at passing vehicles. On 11 May, Mayor of Lod Yair Revivio urged Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu to deploy the Israel Border Police to the city, stating that the municipality had "completely lost control" and warning that the country was on the brink of "civil war". Netanyahu declared a state of emergency in Lod on 11 May, marking the first time since 1966 that Israel has used emergency powers over an Arab community. Border Police forces were deployed to the city. A nighttime curfew was declared and entry to the city was prohibited for non-resident civilians. Minister of Public Security Amir Ohana announced the implementation of emergency orders.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: Unrest continued on 12 May. In Acre, a Jewish man was attacked and seriously injured by an Arab mob armed with sticks and stones while driving his car. In Bat Yam, Jewish extremists attacked Arab stores and beat pedestrians. An Arab motorist was pulled from his car and severely beaten in the street. The incident was caught live by an Israeli news crew.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: As of 13 May, communal violence including "riots, stabbings, arson, attempted home invasions and shootings" was reported from Beersheba, Rahat, Ramla, Lod, Nasiriyah, Tiberias, Jerusalem, Haifa and Acre. An Israeli soldier was severely beaten in Jaffa and hospitalized for a skull fracture and cerebral hemorrhage, a Jewish paramedic and another Jewish man were shot in separate incidents in Lod, a police officer was shot in Ramla, Israeli journalists were attacked by far-right rioters in Tel Aviv, and a Jewish family that mistakenly drove into Umm al-Fahm was attacked by an Arab mob before being rescued by other local residents and police. Israel Border Police forces were deployed throughout the country to quell the unrest, and 10 Border Police reserve companies were called up. In an address to police in Lod, Prime Minister Netanyahu told them not to worry about future commissions of inquiry and investigations into their enforcement during the riots, reminding them of the way the police had suppressed the Palestinian Land Day riots of 1976.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: By 17 May, the rioting had mostly died down. However, on 18 May, Israeli-Arabs, together with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, held a general strike in protest against Israeli policies toward Palestinians. Numerous employers threatened to fire Arab workers who participated in the strike. The management of Rambam Hospital in Haifa sent letters to their Arab employees warning against participating in the strike, and the Ministry of Education came under heavy criticism from teachers throughout Israel after it sent requests to the principals of schools in Arab towns asking for a list of teachers who participated in the strike. There were some instances of employees who participated in the strike being unlawfully dismissed without a prior hearing as required under Israeli law. The Israeli telecommunications company Cellcom paused work for an hour as an act in support of coexistence. The move led to calls for a boycott of Cellcom among Israeli right-wingers who accused it of showing solidarity with the strike, and several Jewish settlement councils and right-wing organizations cut ties with it. Cellcom's stock subsequently dropped by two percent.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: Throughout the riots, Arab rioters set 10 synagogues and 112 Jewish homes on fire, looted 386 Jewish homes and damaged another 673, and set 849 Jewish cars on fire. There were also 5,018 recorded instances of stone-throwing against Jews. By contrast, Jewish rioters damaged 13 Arab homes and set 13 Arab cars on fire, and there were 41 recorded instances of stone-throwing against Arabs. One Arab home was set on fire by Arab rioters who mistook it for a Jewish home. No mosques were set on fire and no Arab homes were reported looted during the unrest. By 19 May, 1,319 people had been arrested for participating in the riots, of whom 159 were Jewish, and 170 people had been criminally charged over the riots, of whom 155 were Arab and 15 Jewish. On 23 May, it was reported that 10% of those arrested over the riots were Jews, with the vast majority of those arrested being Arabs. On 24 May, the police launched a sweeping operation to arrest rioters called Operation Law and Order, deploying thousands of police officers to carry out mass arrests of suspected rioters. By 25 May, over 1,550 people had been arrested. On 3 June, the police announced the completion of arrests, of 2,142 arrested, 91% were Arab. As of May 2022, around 90% of 600 people indicted are Arabs.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: According to Amnesty International, most of the arrests of Israeli-Arabs were for "insulting or assaulting a police officer" or "taking part in an illegal gathering" while right-wing Jewish extremists were mainly able to organize freely. The organization claimed that a "catalogue of violations" was committed by Israeli police against Palestinians in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem. "On at least two occasions in Haifa and Nazareth, witness accounts and verified videos showed police attacking groups of unarmed protesters without provocation", Amnesty reported.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: Hamas delivered an ultimatum to Israel to remove all its police and military personnel from both the Haram al Sharif mosque site and Sheikh Jarrah by 10 May 6 p.m. If it failed to do so, they announced that the combined militias of the Gaza Strip ("joint operations room") would strike Israel. Minutes after the deadline passed, Hamas fired more than 150 rockets into Israel from Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that seven rockets were fired toward Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh and that one was intercepted. An anti-tank missile was also fired at an Israeli civilian vehicle, injuring the driver. Israel launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip on the same day. Hamas called the ensuing conflict the "Sword of Jerusalem Battle." The following day, the IDF officially dubbed the campaign in the Gaza Strip "Operation Guardian of the Walls."


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 11 May, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched hundreds of rockets at Ashdod and Ashkelon, killing two people and wounding more than 90 others. A third Israeli woman from Rishon LeZion was also killed, while two more civilians from Dahmash were killed by a rocket attack.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 11 May, the 13-story residential Hanadi Tower in Gaza collapsed after being hit by an Israeli airstrike. The tower housed a mix of residential apartments and commercial offices. IDF said the building contained offices used by Hamas, and said it gave "advance warning to civilians in the building and provided sufficient time for them to evacuate the site"; Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired 137 rockets at Tel Aviv in five minutes. Hamas stated that they fired their "largest ever barrage." In addition, an Israeli state-owned oil pipeline was hit by a rocket.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 12 May, the Israeli Air Force destroyed dozens of police and security installations along the Gaza Strip; Hamas said its police headquarters were among the targets destroyed. Over 850 rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel on 12 May. According to the IDF, at least 200 rockets launched by Hamas failed to reach Israel, and fell inside the Gaza Strip. Hamas also struck an Israeli military jeep near the Gaza border with an anti-tank missile. An Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded in the attack.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 13 May, Israeli forces and militant groups in Gaza continued to exchange artillery fire and airstrikes. Hamas attempted to deploy suicide drones against Israeli targets, with an Israeli F-16 engaging and shooting down one such drone. The Iron Dome intercepted many of the rockets fired at Israel. A series of Israeli strikes targeted the headquarters of Hamas' internal security forces, its central bank, and the home of a senior Hamas commander. On 14 May, Israel Defense Forces claimed to have troops on the ground and in the air attacking the Gaza Strip, although this claim was later retracted and followed with an apology for misleading the press. Israeli troops were reportedly told that they would be sent into Gaza and ground forces were reportedly positioned along the border as though they were preparing to launch an invasion. That same day, the Israeli Air Force launched a massive bombardment of Hamas' extensive underground tunnel network, which was known as "the metro", as well as above-ground positions, reportedly inflicting heavy casualties. It was suspected that the reports of an Israeli ground invasion had been a deliberate ruse to lure Hamas operatives into the tunnels and prepared positions above ground to confront Israeli ground forces so that large numbers could then be killed by airstrikes. According to an Israeli official, the attacks killed hundreds of Hamas personnel, and in addition, 20 Hamas commanders were assassinated and most of its rocket production capabilities were destroyed. However, the estimated Hamas death toll was revised to dozens, as information came out that senior Hamas commanders had doubted that the ruse was genuine and only a few dozen Hamas fighters took positions in the tunnels. In total, 160 Israeli Air Force aircraft fired 450 missiles at 150 targets, with the attacks lasting about 40 minutes. Also on 14 May, a Hamas drone was downed by Israeli air defense forces.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 15 May the IDF destroyed the al-Jalaa Building in Gaza, which housed the Al Jazeera Media Network and Associated Press journalists, and a number of other press offices and apartments. The building was hit by three missiles, approximately an hour after Israeli forces called the building's owner, warning of the attack and advising all occupants to evacuate. The press agencies demanded an explanation; the IDF said at the time that the building housed assets of Hamas military intelligence. On 8 June, Israel stated that a Hamas electronic warfare unit developing a system to jam the Iron Dome was based in the building. AP demanded proof of this; Hamas did not immediately make any comment. Israel said that it did not suspect that AP personnel knew of Hamas's use of the building, and offered to assist AP in rebuilding its offices and operations in Gaza. Israel stated that it provided the US government intelligence on the strike but would not make the information public. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that Israel had sent the US information and said "It's my understanding that we've received some further information through intelligence channels, and it's not something I can comment on."


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On the same day — the 73rd anniversary of the nakba, in the first of several attacks on Gaza's industrial infrastructure, Israel fired an estimated six canisters of M150 Smoke HC 155mm shells between 5:46 and 5:48 pm into the Khudair Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Tools warehouse in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. Such munitions are designed to create smoke screens to cover troop movements, though no Israeli forces were present in the area. The Khudair Warehouse stores roughly 50% of all vital agricultural chemicals used in the besieged strip. The strike caused hundreds of tons of pesticides, fertilisers, plastics and nylons to go up in flames, with a toxic plume spreading 5.7 sq kms. A year later the forensic architectural unit of the Palestinian NGO Al-Haq concluded a study claiming that the strike amounted to the deployment by Israel of 'indirect ... chemical weapons'. Israel had foreknowledge of the contents of the warehouse, the materials all having been imported from Israel. According to legal experts, the incident may be prosecutable under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: The single deadliest incident of the campaign occurred on 16 May, when Israeli warplanes fired 11 missiles along a stretch of Wehda Street, in the upscale Rimal neighborhood. According to the IDF, a Hamas tunnel and underground command center were the targets of the attack which destroyed two residential buildings, killing 44 civilians. According to the IDF, the extent to which the underground military infrastructure had extended under civilian buildings in the area had not been known, and when the missiles exploded underground and destroyed the facilities targeted, they unexpectedly dislodged the foundations of civilian buildings above them, causing them to collapse. The IDF said that it had not expected the extent of the civilian casualties which occurred. Speaking to "The Independent", a senior Israeli military official said that the civilian death toll was unexpected and that the attack had been aimed at the center of the road to minimize collateral damage, but that the IDF's calculations had failed to anticipate the collapse of nearby buildings. The official said that the Israeli Air Force suspected that there may have been explosives or munitions stored in the underground infrastructure targeted which ultimately caused the buildings to collapse. Another senior Israeli official later said that the estimated 1/1 ratio between militants and civilians in the strike was 'phenomenal' given how deeply military infrastructure was embedded in civilian areas of the neighborhood. On May 26, Yahya Sinwar, leader of the Hamas political wing in Gaza, denied that any of their tunnels were under civilian areas and dismissed the accusation as "baseless". On June 5, Sinwar admitted that Hamas did embed military command centers in civilian locations. Sinwar said "We and other factions have initiated a gradual transfer operation with the aim of relocating a number of military headquarters from within the civilian population."


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: The Israeli Air Force carried out another large-scale series of raids against Hamas' tunnel network on 17 May, bombing over 15 kilometers of underground passages, with 54 Israeli jets dropping 110 bombs. The homes of nine Hamas commanders and a home used by Hamas' military intelligence branch were also bombed.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: During the fighting, Hamas militants with anti-tank guided missiles repeatedly took positions in apartments and behind dunes. These teams were identified by IDF reconnaissance units and subsequently destroyed in pinpoint attacks. At least 20 such teams were destroyed by Israeli air and ground forces. On 20 May, a Hamas anti-tank missile attack on an IDF bus lightly wounded one soldier. The attack came moments after a group of 10 soldiers had disembarked from the bus.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: In addition, the IDF sank Hamas' fleet of small unmanned submarines designed to explode under or near Israeli naval vessels or oil and gas drilling rigs. Hamas tried repeatedly to attack Israel's Tamar gas field. At two least attempts to launch attacks with autonomous submarines were intercepted. In one instance, a Hamas team was spotted launching the submarine. An Israeli navy vessel destroyed the submarine while it was still close to the shore and the Israeli Air Force subsequently attacked the team which launched it.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: By the end of the campaign, over 4,360 rockets and mortar shells had been fired at southern and central Israel, an average of 400 per day. About 3,400 successfully crossed the border while 680 fell in Gaza and 280 fell into the sea. The Iron Dome shot down 1,428 rockets detected as heading toward populated areas, an interception rate of 95 percent. Some 60–70 rockets hit populated areas after the Iron Dome failed to intercept them. The attacks killed 6 Israeli civilians, among them a 5-year-old boy and two Israeli-Arabs, as well as three foreign nationals working in Israel: an Indian woman working as a caregiver in Ashkelon and two Thai workers who were killed when the packing house of a community in southern Israel close to the Gaza border took a direct hit. Three other Israeli civilians including an 87-year-old woman died from injuries sustained after they fell while running to bomb shelters during attacks.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: The IDF estimated that it destroyed 850 rockets in strikes on the Gaza Strip and also severely degraded local rocket manufacturing capabilities in strikes on about three dozen rocket production centers. In addition, Israel assassinated numerous Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders with airstrikes. Nearly 30 senior Hamas commanders were assassinated by the IDF during the campaign. Israel's ability to locate senior commanders to such an extent indicated extensive Israeli intelligence penetration of Hamas' ranks.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: In three instances, Hamas attempted to launch cross-border raids into Israel to kill or kidnap soldiers and civilians, utilizing tunnels that approached but did not cross into Israeli territory to enable its fighters to get close. All of these attacks were foiled. In one instance, a group of Hamas fighters were struck before entering a tunnel and in two other instances the groups were targeted while in the tunnels. A total of 18 Hamas fighters were killed. The IDF also stated that seven Hamas drones that crossed into Israeli airspace were shot down, including at least one by an Iron Dome battery. An Israeli drone was also accidentally shot down by an Iron Dome battery.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: According to Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur, Israel systematically thwarted Hamas' tactical innovations and destroyed the military infrastructure it had prepared for a future war, which proved "ineffective or outright useless".


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: The United Nations said that more than 72,000 Palestinians had been internally displaced, sheltering mostly at 48 UNRWA schools in Gaza. After the ceasefire, less than 1,000 displaced Palestinians were sheltering in UNRWA schools, down from a peak of around 66,000.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: UNWRA discovered a cavity 7.5 metres under one of its two schools in Gaza that had been damaged by Israeli air strikes. The structure had neither an exit from or entry into the school's premises, and the organization strongly condemned both the IDF and the Palestinians responsible for building the "possible" tunnel.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 13 May at least three rockets were fired from the coastal area of Qlaileh just south of the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidieh in the Southern Lebanese district of Tyre across the Israeli–Lebanese border, according to the IDF, landing in the Mediterranean Sea. Hezbollah denied responsibility for the rocket launches and Lebanese Army troops were deployed to the area around the refugee camp, finding several rockets there.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 14 May, dozens of Lebanese demonstrated on the Israel-Lebanon border in solidarity with the Palestinians. A small group of demonstrators cut through the border fence and crossed into Israel, setting fires near Metulla. IDF troops fired at them, killing one who was later identified as a member of Hezbollah. Another was wounded and later died of his injuries. That evening, three rockets were fired from Syria, while two of them hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights but fell in uninhabited places. The following day, Lebanese demonstrators damaged the border fence with Molotov cocktails and other items.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 17 May, six rockets were fired by Palestinian militants towards Israel but the rockets failed to cross the Lebanese-Israeli border. The Israeli military responded by firing artillery shells across the border in the direction of the rocket fire. No one was injured in the incident.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: The IDF said that on 19 May four rockets were fired from near Siddikine village in the Tyre District of Southern Lebanon towards Haifa. One was intercepted, another landed in an open area, and the remaining two fell into the sea. The Israeli army responded with artillery fire.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: Thirteen people were killed in Israel, including two children, one Indian woman and two Thai men living and working in Israel. By May 18, the Magen David Adom ambulance service had treated 114 injuries directly related to rocket attacks, and another 198 indirectly related to rocket attacks.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: The UN and Human Rights Watch reported that 260 Palestinians had been killed, half of them (129) civilians


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: Some Palestinian rockets fell short and landed in the Gaza Strip resulting in at least seven casualties. According to Israel, approximately 640 rockets did so. It is disputed whether some of the first victims on 10 May died as a result of an Israeli airstrike or an errant Palestinian rocket.


title: 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis

text: On 13 May, as part of a feint intended to deceive Hamas into sending their men into tunnels before they were programmed to be bombed, the IDF's 162nd Division subjected a section of the northern Gaza Strip to an intense artillery barrage of 500 shells. Some of the ordnance hit an agricultural site, the al-Karya compound, close to Beit Lahia. As a result, 3 daughters – aged 17, 26 and 28 – and a 9-month old baby son from a single family were killed, together with a two members of another family in their home next door. A follow-up investigation by the IDF concluded there had been some negligence and those involved were assigned to retraining.