On Saturday, 27 December 2008, Israeli aircraft launched simultaneous strikes on numerous Hamas targets throughout the territory of 1.5 million people - raids that killed at least 225 people in what was one of the bloodiest single days in the decades-long conflict.
The war ended 22 days later with mutual ceasefires by Israel and Hamas, with some 1,400 Palestinians, including an estimated 400 children, and 13 Israelis left dead.
Entire neighbourhoods of Gaza were flattened in the onslaught, which also wounded more than 5,500 people.
Marking the anniversary, senior Hamas leader Ahmed Bahar struck a defiant tone, saying the 'will of the steadfast and the resistance was victorious' at a ceremony unveiling a war memorial with the names of hundreds of Palestinians killed in the fighting.
'Gaza was steadfast and did not fall in this ugly, destructive war... And the resistance, which defended its land with honour, was not broken,' he said.
North of Gaza city, hundreds of people carried pictures of the fallen past a UN school hit during the war and the flattened house of senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan, killed in an air strike with his four wives and 10 children.
Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya was to make a television address in the evening, with other events planned for the next 22 days, the length of the war.
Meanwhile, an international aid convoy, which is attempting to deliver medical and food supplies to Gaza, has been stranded in Jordan for three days because of a dispute with Egypt over the point of entry.
The 250 strong convoy includes two ambulances and over 10 tonnes of humanitarian aid from Ireland. It is accompanied by over 450 activists from across the world.
Activists, including two from Ireland, are due to begin a hunger strike at the exact time Israel launched its military assault one year ago.
