SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27 - Israel launches 'Operation Cast Lead' with a massive air assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip in a bid to halt rocket attacks on its territory.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28 - Warplanes bomb 40 tunnels along the Egypt-Gaza border to try to prevent Hamas being supplied with arms.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 29 - Defence Minister Ehud Barak speaks of 'all-out war against Hamas.'
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30 - Israeli naval vessel collides with boat carrying activists and medical supplies for the Gaza Strip.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31 - Israeli air strikes continue. Rockets fired from Gaza land more than 40 kilometres (25 miles) inside Israel.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 1 - Senior Hamas official Nizar Rayan killed in an Israeli air raid.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 2 - Thousands of Palestinians protest in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls for a ceasefire that would permanently prevent Hamas from firing rockets into Israel.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 3 - The Israeli military announces that a 'large number' of troops have entered the Gaza Strip.
- Defence Minister Barak signs an order calling up thousands of reservists.
SUNDAY JANUARY 4 - Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks battle Hamas fighters.
- Israeli forces surround Gaza City. Witnesses say Israel controls a key highway, cutting the territory in half.
MONDAY JANUARY 5 - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni rejects European calls for an immediate ceasefire.
TUESDAY JANUARY 6 - Israeli tanks supported by helicopter gunships move into Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
- The Israeli army says three of its soldiers were killed when hit by 'friendly' tank fire.
- First major battles inside Gaza City.
- Israeli strikes near three UN schools kill 48 people who had taken refuge, medics say. Israel says Hamas 'terror operatives' were on the premises, something the UN denies.
- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak invites Israel 'without delay' to discuss security on the Egypt-Gaza border. Mubarak also meets French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
- Al-Qaeda issues an online message attributed to Ayman al-Zawahiri, urging Muslims to attack Israeli and Western targets.
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 7 - Gaza medics say that at least 702 Palestinians have been killed, including 220 children, and more than 3,100 wounded, since the Israeli attacks began.
- Israel says six of its soldiers have been killed and 83 wounded in the ground offensive, while four people, including a soldier, have been killed by Hamas rockets fired into its territory.
- Israel temporarily stops bombing Gaza to allow aid into the territory.
Hamas says it will stop firing rockets into Israel for as long as the Israeli attacks cease.
- A divided UN Security Council weighs the Gaza conflict, facing two competing texts on prospects for an immediate ceasefire.
- Israel drops leaflets warning residents to leave southern Gaza ahead of planned bombings of tunnels leading into Egypt, witnesses say.
- Israeli security cabinet gives Defence Minister Ehud Barak green light for tougher war on Hamas.
- Barak aide due in Cairo on Thursday to dicuss Egyptian proposal to end war in Gaza.
- Israel slams senior Vatican official for comparing the Gaza Strip to a 'concentration camp.' - The radical Shiite Iraqi movement of Moqtada al-Sadr threatens attacks on American targets inside Iraq over US support for Israeli assault on Gaza.
- Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warns 'all possibilities' open against Israel.
THURSDAY JANUARY 8 - Dozens of Israeli tanks enter southern Gaza Strip, witnesses say.
- Israeli warplanes strike suspected tunnels in southern Gaza town of Rafah, witnesses say. -- AFP