ISRAEL - ARAB CONFLICTS (PART 2): WHAT HAPPENED ON 7 OCTOBER?

WHAT HAPPENED ON 7 OCTOBER?

On Saturday, 7 October 2023, a Jewish sabbath day, the end of the weeklong Jewish festival of Sukkot, and a day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched “Operation al-Aqsa Flood,” a coordinated assault consisting of land and air attacks into multiple border areas of Israel.

 At 6am, an extensive air assault involving rockets was launched into the coastal towns of Ashdod and Ashkelon and as far north as Tel Aviv (approximately 40 miles north of Gaza).

 It is estimated that between 3-5,000 rockets were launched during that first day.

An estimated 1,000 Hamas militants also breached the security barrier at several positions. 

Gaza has seven official border crossings, of which only three are operational. 

Hamas reportedly breached the borders initially by sending elite troops in via hang gliders, and those soldiers then began to dismantle the electric fences and walls using explosives.

Bulldozers were reportedly then used to create space for more fighters to enter Israel in several places.

Following the entry attack, militants attacked the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) southern Gaza headquarters and overran multiple military and police facilities.

Hamas caught the IDF off guard, and its troops were able to move quickly through the border area, reaching up to 14 miles from the border. 

Other militants attacked towns, kibbutzim, and roads, killing and abducting hundreds of Israeli officers and civilians.

Israeli authorities recovered at least 260 bodies at the site of a music festival near Re’im, close to where Hamas militants breached the security fence.

An estimated 130 hostages were moved into Gaza.

Following the surprise attacks and unprecedented incursion by Hamas fighters, Israel officially declared a state of war and initiated an enormous mobilization.

About 360,000 reservists have been summoned to supplement the active military force of more than 150,000, giving Israel half a million men and women in uniform.

.........(PART 3) THE INVASION OF GAZA, THE POLITICS AND THE DIPLOMACY