Countdown to Crisis25 January: Hamas defeats moderate Fatah in Palestinian elections.
10 April: EU severs political contact and suspends direct aid to Palestinian government.
9 June: Hamas calls off 16- month military truce after seven members of a Palestinian family are killed on a Gaza beach by Israel shell. Four days later a family of nine die in Israeli missile strike in Gaza.
25 June: Palestinian militants launch raid into Israel, killing two Israeli soldiers and kidnapping Cpl Gilad Shalit.
29 June: Israel troops, having pushed into Gaza, detain Hamas lawmakers and cabinet members. Air strikes.
12 July: Hizbolla captures two Israeli soldiers and kills eight. Israel calls it 'act of war' and widens Gaza offensive, killing 24 civilians. Air strikes destroy 10 bridges in Lebanon, and hit power stations and a water facility.
13 July: Israel bombs Palestinian Foreign Ministry and Bierut airport. Navy blockades Lebanese ports. The US
14 July: Israel bombs Beirut-Damascus road and Shia suburbs of Bierut: 67 Lebanese civilians dead. Hizbollah launches 130 missiles at Israel, killing at least two civilians. Israeli ship is hit by an explosives- filled drone, four dead.
15 July: In the village of Marwaheen - 500 yards from the Israeli border, an air strike kills up to 13.
We could all be in deep, deep trouble