DAY IN HISTORY-OCT. 7, 2023

Hamas Attacks Israel

1,200 killed and 250 hostages are taken in surprise attack

An armed Hamas gunman storms the gates of Kibbutz Alumim in Israel on October 7, 2023. CCTV footage; public domain via Wikimedia Commons

The current humanitarian crisis in Gaza stemmed from the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization, on Israel.

The day began with an assault on Israeli territory with about 5,000 rockets launched from Gaza. At the same time, some 6,000 armed fighters led by Hamas breached the Gaza-Israeli border. They massacred 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 46 U.S. citizens in Israel. More than 360 civilians were killed while attending the Nova music festival. The militant invaders also took 250 hostages.

The 2023 attack was the deadliest day in Israel’s history. It occurred exactly 50 years and one day after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Israel was again surprised by an Arab attack and suffered significant losses.

It took hours before Israeli forces could respond on October 7, but soon after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement, “We are at war and we will win it.”

During the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, Israel captured the West Bank, a Palestinian territory it continues to occupy today. The West Bank is home to more than 2.7 million Palestinians and over 670,000…