October 7 attacks

On October 7, 2023, a series of coordinated armed incursions from the blockaded Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel were carried out by Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups. In response, Israel launched a major military operation in Gaza.

The attacks began during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah with a barrage of at least 4,300 rockets launched into Israel and vehicle-transported and powered paraglider incursions into Israel. Hamas militants breached the Gaza–Israel barrier, attacking military bases and massacring civilians in 21 communities, including Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Netiv Haasara, and Alumim. According to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) report that revised the estimate on the number of attackers, 6,000 Gazans breached the border in 119 locations into Israel, including 3,800 from the elite Nukhba forces and 2,200 civilians and other militants. Additionally, the IDF report estimated 1,000 Gazans fired rockets from the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of participants on Hamas's side to 7,000.

In total, at least 1,195 people were killed by the attacks: at least 828 civilians (including 36 children

and 71 foreign nationals) and at least 367 members of the security forces. 364 civilians were killed while they were attending the Nova music festival and many more wounded. 251 Israeli and non-Israeli civilians and soldiers were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. Numerous sources have reported dozens of cases of rape and sexual assault, but Hamas officials denied the involvement of their fighters. The IDF used the Hannibal Directive on that day, which may have led to at least 13 Israeli civilian deaths.

Hamas said its attack was in response to the continued Israeli occupation, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, rising Israeli settler violence, recent escalations and Israel's holding of Palestinian prisoners, and that it was in defense of the Palestinian people and their cause. Experts disagree on whether Hamas sought to induce the destruction of Israel, or to establish a Palestinian state with 1967 borders. The day was labelled the bloodiest in Israel's history and "the deadliest for Jews since the Holocaust" by many figures and media outlets in the West, including then-US president Joe Biden. Some have alleged that the attack was an act of genocide or a genocidal massacre against Israelis. The governments of 44 countries denounced the attack and described it as terrorism, while some Arab and Muslim-majority countries blamed Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories as the root cause of the attack.