Early references to "Canaanites" and "Canaan" appear in Near Eastern and Egyptian texts, indicating the presence of politically independent city-states in the region.

The Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian artifact, mentions the word Israel as a collective. This is the earliest known archaeological reference to Israel.

The Kingdom of Israel existed by approximately 900 BCE, while the Kingdom of Judah existed by approximately 850 BCE. The Kingdom of Israel was more prosperous and developed into a regional power.

The Kingdom of Judah existed by approximately 850 BCE. It was under Davidic rule with its capital in Jerusalem, later becoming a client state of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

King Nebuchadnezzar II besieged and destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple, dissolved the kingdom, and exiled much of the Judean elite to Babylon following a revolt in Judah.

Cyrus the Great allowed the exiled Judean population to return after capturing Babylon.

Construction of the Second Temple was completed.

Alexander the Great conquered the region as part of his campaign against the Achaemenid Empire.

The Maccabean Revolt arose during the reign of Antiochus IV due to cultural tensions from the Hellenisation of the region.

The Roman Republic invaded the region, taking control of Syria and intervening in the Hasmonean civil war.

The area was annexed as the Roman province of Judaea.

The First Jewish-Roman War resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple, leading to significant population displacement and death.

The First Jewish-Roman War resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple, leading to significant population displacement and death.

The Bar Kokhba revolt initially allowed the Jews to form an independent state, but the Romans crushed the rebellion, devastating Judea. Jerusalem was rebuilt as a Roman colony (Aelia Capitolina), and the province of Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina.

The Bar Kokhba revolt initially allowed the Jews to form an independent state, but the Romans crushed the rebellion, devastating Judea. Jerusalem was rebuilt as a Roman colony (Aelia Capitolina), and the province of Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina.

The Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Levant.

The Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Levant.

The Ottoman Empire conquered the region and ruled it as part of Ottoman Syria.

Two violent incidents took place against Jews, the 1517 Safed attacks and the 1517 Hebron attacks, after the Turkish Ottomans ousted the Mamluks during the Ottoman–Mamluk War.

The Ottoman sultan invited Sephardi Jews escaping the Spanish Inquisition to settle in and rebuild the city of Tiberias.

A Druze revolt against the Ottomans destroyed Safed and Tiberias.

Rabbi Yehuda Hachasid led 1,500 Jews to Jerusalem.

Local Arab Sheikh Zahir al-Umar created a de facto independent emirate in the Galilee.

Governor Jazzar Pasha repelled an assault on Acre by Napoleon's troops, prompting the French to abandon the Syrian campaign.

A revolt by Palestinian Arab peasants against Egyptian conscription and taxation policies under Muhammad Ali was suppressed; Muhammad Ali's army retreated and Ottoman rule was restored with British support in 1840.

Muhammad Ali's army retreated and Ottoman rule was restored with British support.

The first wave of modern Jewish migration to Ottoman-ruled Palestine, known as the First Aliyah, began as Jews fled pogroms in Eastern Europe.

The 1882 May Laws increased economic discrimination against Jews, and restricted where they could live. In response, political Zionism took form, a movement that sought to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, thus offering a solution to the Jewish question of the European states.

Tel Aviv was established as the first planned Jewish town.

Chaim Weizmann's efforts secured the Balfour Declaration, stating Britain's support for the creation of a Jewish "national home" in Palestine.

The Jewish Legion, primarily Zionist volunteers, assisted in the British conquest of Palestine.

The territory was divided between Britain and France under the mandate system, and the British-administered area (including modern Israel) was named Mandatory Palestine.

The League of Nations granted Britain the Mandate for Palestine under terms which included the Balfour Declaration with its promise to the Jews and with similar provisions regarding the Arab Palestinians.

The British introduced restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine with the White Paper of 1939.

Irgun bombed the British administrative headquarters for Palestine, killing 91.

The UN General Assembly resolved that a Special Committee be created "to prepare ... a report on the question of Palestine".

The General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 (II), which proposed a plan to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.

David Ben-Gurion declared "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel", leading to the end of the British Mandate.

Armies of Arab countries entered what had been Mandatory Palestine, launching the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Israel was admitted as a member of the UN by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 273.

The 1950 Law of Return grants Jews the unrestricted right to immigrate to Israel and obtain Israeli citizenship.

Mossad LeAliyah Bet was disbanded.

Israel joined a secret alliance with the UK and France and overran the Sinai Peninsula in the Suez Crisis but was pressured to withdraw by the UN in return for guarantees of Israeli shipping rights.

Following the 1967 war and the "Three Nos" resolution of the Arab League, Israel faced attacks from the Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula during the 1967–1970 War of Attrition

Egypt massed its army near the border with Israel, expelled UN peacekeepers stationed in the Sinai Peninsula since 1957, and blocked Israel's access to the Red Sea.

Israel launched a pre-emptive strike (Operation Focus) against Egypt, starting the Six-Day War. Israel captured and occupied the West Bank from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria.

Following the 1967 war and the "Three Nos" resolution of the Arab League, Israel faced attacks from the Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula during the War of Attrition

Israeli commandos rescued 102 of 106 Israeli hostages after an airliner was hijacked in flight from Israel to France by Palestinian guerrillas.

Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat made a trip to Israel and spoke before the Knesset, marking the first recognition of Israel by an Arab head of state.

Sadat and Begin signed the Camp David Accords.

Israel responded to a PLO guerilla raid from Lebanon that led to the Coastal Road massacre by launching an invasion of southern Lebanon to destroy PLO bases.

Sadat and Begin signed the Egypt–Israel peace treaty. In return, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and agreed to enter negotiations over autonomy for Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israel effectively annexed the Golan Heights. The international community largely rejected these moves, with the UN Security Council declaring both the Jerusalem Law and the Golan Heights Law null and void.

During the Iran–Iraq War, the Israeli air force destroyed Iraq's sole nuclear reactor, then under construction, in order to impede the Iraqi nuclear weapons programme.

Israel invaded Lebanon to destroy the PLO bases. An Israeli government inquiry (the Kahan Commission) held Begin and several Israeli generals indirectly responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacre and held defence minister Ariel Sharon as bearing "personal responsibility".

Israel responded to a Palestinian terrorist attack in Cyprus by bombing the PLO headquarters in Tunisia.

The First Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule, broke out, with waves of uncoordinated demonstrations and violence in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

India established full diplomatic ties with Israel.

Shimon Peres on behalf of Israel and Yasser Arafat for the PLO signed the Oslo Accords, which gave the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) the right to govern parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The PLO also recognised Israel's right to exist and pledged an end to terrorism.

The Israel–Jordan peace treaty was signed, making Jordan the second Arab country to normalise relations with Israel.

Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a far-right Jew who opposed the Accords.

Ehud Barak, elected prime minister in 1999, withdrew forces from southern Lebanon.

Ehud Barak conducted negotiations with PNA Chairman Yasser Arafat and U.S. President Bill Clinton at the 2000 Camp David Summit. Barak offered a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state, including the entirety of the Gaza Strip and over 90% of the West Bank with Jerusalem as a shared capital.

The Second Intifada began after a controversial visit by Sharon to the Temple Mount. Palestinian suicide bombings eventually developed into a recurrent feature of the intifada.

Sharon became prime minister in a 2001 election; he carried out his plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and spearheaded the construction of the West Bank barrier, ending the intifada.

Israel began producing natural gas from its own offshore gas fields.

As part of a unilateral disengagement plan, Israel removed its settlers and forces from the Gaza Strip but continues to maintain control of its airspace and waters.

A Hezbollah artillery assault on Israel's northern border communities and a cross-border abduction of two Israeli soldiers precipitated the month-long Second Lebanon War.

The Israeli Air Force destroyed a nuclear reactor in Syria.

A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel collapsed, resulting in the three-week Gaza War.

Tamar gas field was discovered near the coast.

Israel joined the OECD.

Leviathan gas field was discovered.

Ketura Sun, Israel's first commercial solar field, was built by the Arava Power Company.

Israel began an operation in the Gaza Strip in response to over a hundred Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israeli cities.

Commercial production of natural gas from the Tamar field began.

Israel started another operation in Gaza following an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2016, the U.S. is expected to provide the country with $3.8 billion per year, or around 20% of Israel's defence budget, from 2018 to 2028.

A record 3.6 million tourists visited Israel, yielding a 25 percent growth since 2016 and contributed NIS 20 billion to the economy.

The Knesset passed a Basic Law that characterizes Israel as principally a "Nation State of the Jewish People" and Hebrew as its official language.

Bolivia renewed ties with Israel.

The Leviathan gas field started production.

Another round of fighting took place in Gaza and Israel, lasting eleven days.

Palestinian militant groups from Gaza, led by Hamas, launched a series of coordinated attacks on Israel, leading to the start of the Gaza war.

Israel launched one of the most destructive bombing campaigns in modern history and invaded Gaza with the stated objectives of destroying Hamas and freeing hostages.

The International Court of Justice in its 2024 advisory opinion found that Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories constitutes systemic discrimination and is in breach of Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid.

The population was an estimated 9,907,100.

Israel invaded Southern Lebanon, marking the fifth Israeli invasion of Lebanon since 1978. The invasion took place after nearly 12 months of Israel–Hezbollah conflict.