October 7 attacks

Overview

The October 7 attacks were a series of coordinated armed incursions from the blockaded Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, carried out by Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups in 2023, during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. The attacks, which began the ongoing Gaza war, were the first large-scale invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. In response, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Gaza.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The October 7 attacks were a coordinated series of armed incursions launched from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, carried out by Hamas and allied Palestinian militant groups during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Involving a Hamas force of approximately 6,000 fighters, the attacks resulted in 1,195 Israeli casualties and 1,609 Hamas casualties. They constituted the first large-scale invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, marking a fundamental rupture in the security posture Israel had maintained around Gaza. The attacks directly triggered the ongoing Gaza War, prompting Israel to launch a large-scale military operation in Gaza. As the initiating event of that conflict, the October 7 attacks set its strategic terms and defined the war's opening conditions.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (20)