Israel says it will seize Gaza. Here's a look at the Palestinian territory's troubled recent history

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Cabinet voted Monday to seize the Gaza Strip for an unspecified amount of time in a move that could see Israel reestablish control over a territory it vacated two decades ago.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after a decades-long occupation and then imposed a blockade on the territory along with Egypt.

Israeli officials did not clarify Monday what a reoccupation of Gaza would entail, but the announcement raises the potential for the reestablishment of Israeli settlements inside the territory. Israel's settler movement has been emboldened under its current ultranationalist government.

Details were not formally announced, and Israeli leaders have said the expansion of operations will not begin until after President Donald Trump’s visit. The plan may be another measure by Israel to try to pressure Hamas into making concessions in ceasefire negotiations.

Seizing Gaza would further dim hopes for Palestinian statehood, embed Israel inside a population deeply hostile to it and raise questions about how Israel plans to govern the territory, especially as it considers how to implement President Donald Trump’s vision to take over Gaza and resettle Palestinians elsewhere.

Palestinians see Gaza as an integral part of their future state, even if the rulers have changed over decades. Palestinian statehood on land that would include the territory has broad international support.

Here’s a look at the troubled modern history of the Gaza Strip:

Israel seized control of Gaza from Egypt during the 1967 Mideast war, when it also captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem — areas that remain under Israeli control. The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which administers semi-autonomous areas of the occupied West Bank, seeks all three areas for a hoped-for future Palestinian state.

Israel built more than 20 Jewish settlements in Gaza during this period. It also signed a peace treaty with Egypt at Camp David — a pact negotiated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi referenced this 40-year-old treaty when he declined to permit Palestinian refugees from Gaza into Egypt, saying the potential entrance of militants into Egypt would threaten longstanding peace between Israel and Egypt.

The first Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in Gaza in December 1987, kicking off more than five years of sustained protests and bloody violence. It was also during this time that the Islamic militant group Hamas was established in Gaza.

For a time, promising peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders made the future of Gaza look somewhat hopeful.

Following the Oslo accords, a set of agreements between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat that laid the groundwork for a two-state solution, control of Gaza was handed to the fledgling Palestinian Authority.

But the optimism was short lived. A series of Palestinian suicide attacks by Hamas militants, the 1995 assassination of Rabin by a Jewish ultranationalist opposed to his peacemaking, and the election of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister the following year all hindered U.S.-led peace efforts. Another peace push collapsed in late 2000 with the eruption of the second Palestinian uprising.

As the uprising fizzled in 2005, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon led a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, uprooting all of Israel’s troops and roughly 9,000 settlers in a move that bitterly divided Israel.

Just months after Israel’s withdrawal, Hamas won parliamentary elections over Fatah, the long-dominant Palestinian political party. In 2007 after months of infighting, Hamas violently seized control of Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority.

Israel and Egypt imposed a crippling blockade on the territory, monitoring the flow of goods and people in and out. For nearly two decades, the closure has crippled the local economy, sent unemployment skyrocketing, and emboldened militancy in Gaza, which is one of the most densely populated places on the planet.

Through previous wars and countless smaller battles with Israel that devastated Gaza, Hamas grew more powerful. In each subsequent conflict, Hamas had more rockets that traveled farther and the group displayed a growing array of weapons. Its top leaders survived and ceasefires were secured. It built a government, including a police force, ministries and border terminals equipped with metal detectors and passport control.

The Oct. 7, 2023, a Hamas attack on Israel killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 people taken hostage. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.

Since Israel ended a ceasefire with the Hamas militant group in mid-March, Israel has unleashed fierce strikes on the territory that have killed hundreds. It has captured swaths of territory and now controls roughly 50% of Gaza. Before the truce ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into the territory, including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to the be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war.

Israel’s offensive has displaced more than 90% of Gaza’s population and killed more than 52,000 people there, many of them women and children, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.

Unlike past wars, in this conflict Israel has acknowledged killing top Hamas leaders like Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, the believed masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack, and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau.

Still, some of the group’s militants survived and were quick to emerge from hiding following the ceasefire. They were visible policing the streets and organizing sometimes-chaotic handovers of hostages.

Displaced Palestinians walk through a makeshift tent camp in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip, on Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip, in a position near the Israel-Gaza border on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Displaced Palestinians prepare bread in a makeshift oven in Gaza City, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip, in a position near the Israel-Gaza border on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Smoke rises to the sky in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

ADELBODEN, Switzerland (AP) — The big surprise of the World Cup slalom season scored his second win Sunday adding to his fast-rising reputation before the Winter Olympics.

Paco Rassat raced to the fastest time in the second run to rise from fourth place, and push two Norwegians down the podium steps after they had been fastest in the morning run.

United States-born Atle Lie McGrath was edged out by 0.18 seconds and first-run leader Henrik Kristoffersen dropped to third, trailing 0.20 behind Rassat.

The 27-year-old Frenchman had a career-best result of ninth in World Cup races before this Olympic season started.

Rassat now has two wins, a third place and two sixth places this season and shapes as a medal contender for the Milano Cortina Olympics. The men’s slalom is on Feb. 16 at Bormio.

“To win on this crazy hill at Adelboden, It’s something really unbelievable," Rassat told Swiss broadcaster RTS, describing his season as “a magnificent surprise.”

Rassat also took the lead in the seasonlong World Cup slalom standings, ahead of his France teammate Clément Noël, the defending Olympic champion. Noël tied for eighth Sunday.

McGrath was runner-up in the Adelboden slalom for the third time in four years.

“It’s kind of crazy,” said McGrath, whose father Felix skied for the U.S. at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. “I’m of course super happy, it’s such a challenging slope and mentally it’s one of the toughest places to perform because of this amazing crowd.”

Another packed finish-area crowd at Adelboden observed a minute’s silence before racing for the victims of the fatal fire in a bar in nearby Crans-Montana on New Year’s Day. Crans-Montana hosts men’s and women’s World Cup races in three weeks’ time.

The World Cup overall standings leader, four-time title holder Marco Odermatt, does not ski slalom and his huge lead was cut a little by Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who placed fourth. Pinheiro Braathen was second to Odermatt in the classic giant slalom Saturday.

The men’s World Cup circuit stays in central Switzerland for the storied Lauberhorn meeting at Wengen, for a super-G on Friday, the classic downhill Saturday and a slalom Sunday.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

Norway's Atle Lie McGrath reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

France's Paco Rassat speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)

France's Paco Rassat reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Finland's Eduard Hallberg speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Norway's Atle Lie McGrath speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen ahead of an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)