May 2023 Gaza–Israel clashes

On 9 May 2023, Israel conducted a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, called Operation Shield and Arrow (Hebrew: מבצע מגן וחץ) that lasted until 13 May. On 2 May 2023, Khader Adnan, a former Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) spokesman, died in an Israeli prison following an 87-day hunger strike protesting his continual administrative detention. The same day, in retaliation, PIJ militants fired around 102 rockets towards southern Israel, injuring seven individuals in Sderot.

Israel held off on responding to the rocket attacks until 9 May, when the Israeli military executed a targeted assassination of three leaders of the PIJ movement, also resulting in the death of 10 civilians. Subsequently, on the same day, an airstrike against a vehicle in Khan Yunis led to the death of two Palestinians. The airstrikes continued on 10 May, claiming six more Palestinian lives. In retaliation, militants launched a barrage of rockets into Israel, totaling over 938 as per the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), under the banner of Operation Revenge of the Free (Arabic: عملية ثأر الأحرار). The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) accounted for four of the fatalities on 10 May. On 11 May, Israeli airstrikes led to the killing of two more PIJ commanders, while the death toll from the prior raids rose to at least 26. The exchange of rockets and airstrikes persisted on 12 May amidst ongoing efforts to broker a ceasefire. On this day, another senior PIJ leader along with his aide were killed, bringing the total death toll to 34 Palestinians (inclusive of one in Israel) and one Israeli. On the following day, Israel and Islamic Jihad agreed to a ceasefire.