January 23 – The Palestine Papers: thousands of confidential documents relating to diplomatic correspondence detailing the inner workings of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, are exposed by the Al-Jazeera news network.[11][12][13] Following this, the Palestinian Authority condemns Al-Jazeera for releasing the documents and denies that the Palestinian Authority had agreed to make far-reaching concessions on Jerusalem as the documents purportedly reveal.[14]
February 17 – Israeli troops kill three Palestinian militants near Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, who were approaching the border apparently in an attempt to plant a bomb; the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine identified one of the men as a member of the group and said he had been killed "during a mission carried out by our military wing."[17][18][19]
February 19 – The U.S. vetoes a draft of a U.N.Security Council resolution which was critical of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The resolution was supported by all other council members and co-sponsored by almost 120 nations. This veto resolution is the ninth U.N. resolution on the Israel-Palestine conflict to be vetoed by the U.S. since 2000.[20][21]
March 12 – Itamar attack: Two Palestinian teens armed with knives infiltrated the West Bank settlement of Itamar and stabbed to death five Israeli family members, including the parents and three of their children, aged 11, 3 and a month old infant.[22]
March 15 – The Israeli Navy intercepts the cargo ship "Victoria" which was carrying a long list of advanced weapons that were smuggled from Iran and were allegedly bound for the militant organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.[23]
March 16 – The Israeli Air Force attacks a training site of the Palestinian militant group Al Qassam brigades in the southern part of Gaza city in response to a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli southern communities in the Sdot Negev Regional Council in the southern district of Israel. Palestinians reported that three people were killed in the attack and three were wounded.[24][25]
April 7 – 2011 Israeli school bus anti-tank missile attack: An anti-tank missile fired from the Gaza Strip hits a school bus, moderately wounding the bus driver, and critically injuring a 16-year boy who later died of his wounds.[27]
April 15 – Italian reporter, writer and pro-Palestinian activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, is kidnapped and murdered in Gaza by militants.[28]
April 27 – Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah sign a unity deal, calling for the foundation of a single government in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank, presidential and legislative elections in a year, and the release of prisoners.[29][30]
July 19 – The French-flagged yacht Dignité Al Karama, which was to have been part of the Freedom Flotilla II, is intercepted and boarded without incident by Israeli commandos, off the coast of Gaza, and escorted to the Port of Ashdod.[31]
August 18 – Eight people were killed and dozens are injured in southern Israel after a string of terrorist attacks on a highway targeting two civilian buses and cars as well a military bus responding to the attacks. No organization took responsibility for the attacks. Nevertheless, the Israeli security establishment blamed The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in Gaza for carrying out the attacks and in retaliation, Israel launched an air raid on the town of Rafah in which six Palestinians militants from the Popular Resistance Committee were killed, among them Abu Oud al-Nirab, the commander of the organization's military wing and Khaled Shaath, a senior in the organization.[32]
