Israeli-Arab violence erupted since Gaza militants captured an Israeli soldier on June 25. The following is a chronology of subsequent events:

June 25: Hamas-linked militants tunnel from the Gaza Strip across the border into Israel and attack an army post, killing two Israeli soldiers and capturing a third.

June 26: The soldier's captors call for the release of all Palestinian children under 18 and women held in Israeli prisons in return for information about the soldier. Israel says it will not bargain.

June 27: Israeli troops move into southern Gaza, where the soldier is believed to be held, and warplanes blast bridges and Gaza's power station, cutting the territory's electricity supply by more than 40 per cent.

July 4: Militants in Gaza launch a homemade rocket into the heart of the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, the farthest they have managed to send a rocket. More rocket attacks on Israel followed. No one is seriously hurt.

July 5: Israeli tanks and troops move into northern Gaza and occupy residential areas in an attempt to halt the firing of rockets, withdrawing after two days.

July 8: Israel broadens the Gaza offensive, sending troops and tanks into the eastern part of the strip. The Hamas-led government calls for a cease-fire but fails to offer the soldier's release. Israel refuses.

July 12: Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas capture two Israeli soldiers and kill eight others in a raid on Israel's northern border, opening a second front in Israel's battle against Islamic militants. Israel responds with an air assault and a ground thrust into Lebanon.

July 12: In Gaza, the air force drops a quarter-tonne bomb on a home in an attempt to assassinate top Hamas fugitives. Nine members of a Palestinian family are killed.

July 13: Rockets fired by Hezbollah explode in northern Israel and in the port city of Haifa. Israel steps up air assault in Lebanon, hitting Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut.

July 14: Israel intensifies bombings of Lebanon. Hezbollah hits an Israeli warship blockading the Lebanese coast, killing four sailors.

July 15: Israel hits central Beirut for the first time, accuses Iran of supplying troops to Hezbollah.

July 16: Rocket fired by Hezbollah hits Haifa, killing eight Israelis. In Israeli raids since the first border clash, more than 200 Lebanese are killed. The total number of Israelis killed is 24.