Anti-Israel activists and Palestinians commemorate what they call “Nakba Day” on May 15, corresponding to the day following Israel’s declaration of statehood in 1948. Palestinians coined the term "nakba," Arabic for "catastrophe,” to draw a comparison with the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, meaning “catastrophe.”

In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching OGW, carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.