On This Day In History: October 7 2023: Hamas launches deadliest attack in Israeli history

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The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launches an attack on Israel by land, sea and air, killing nearly 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, and taking about 250 hostages into Gaza.

The attack, which caught the Israeli military by surprise, was the deadliest single day of violence since the nation’s founding in 1948.

At around 6:30 a.m., Hamas began its assault with a barrage of thousands of rockets aimed at military and civilian sites in Israel. Then, in a multi-front attack, hundreds of Hamas terrorists and armed Palestinian militants from other terrorist groups in Gaza breached Israel’s border defenses. They blasted through border walls, stormed beaches on speedboats and evaded radar with low-flying paragliders.

Once inside Israeli territory, armed militants stormed more than 20 towns and villages near the border with Gaza. One of the worst hit was Kibbutz Be'eri, a small communal village where more than 100 residents were killed, including young children and the elderly. Militants set homes on fire, then shot families as they fled.

Another civilian target was the Nova Music Festival, an outdoor music festival held in the desert near the Gaza border. Hamas fighters blocked off escape routes and swarmed the festival site, firing into crowds of people. Some 378 people were murdered at the festival, mostly young people in their 20s. Dozens more were taken hostage.

Victims of the attack were also subjected to sexual violence, both during the October 7 invasion and while held in captivity in Gaza, according to the U.N.

As they announced the attack, Hamas' military chief stated the operation was in reaction to Israel's ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories. The blockade of the Gaza Strip, implemented by Israel and Egypt since 2007, was a response to Hamas’ political and military takeover of the territory.

In response to the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “We are at war,” and promised that Israel would "return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known."

The October 7 attacks were followed by protracted war. During the conflict's first 12 months, tens of thousands of Gaza civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes, access to food and medical care was disrupted and nearly every household in Gaza was displaced. More than two years after the attack, dozens of Israeli hostages remained in captivity as deliberations over how to end the conflict continued.

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