This page tries to give you some background about what happened on the 7th of October 2023 but doesn't pretend to know all the answers to so many questions. There are investigations in progress and new details emerge over time.

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BACKGROUND

• 2001: Hamas began firing its rockets to the Southern region of Israel, and to the city of Sderot; at the time, it was the Second Intifada started by PLO's chairman Yasser Arafat after returning from Camp David where he was offered a "land for peace" proposal to create a Palestinian State on 95% of the so-called "occupied territories". Arafat turned down the proposal.

• 2001-2006: Hamas rockets frequently fell on Sderot, at a time when Israel did not have any defence mechanism against this new type of Palestinian attack. Since 2001, Sderot suffered from about 10,000 rockets.

• 2005: Ariel Sharon's government decided Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, to implement Oslo Accords' roadmap and create the embryon of a Palestinian State. Elections were scheduled. Main political parties were PLO/Fatah and Hamas.

• January 2006:  Hamas won the first (and last) Palestinian elections.

• 25 June 2006: Gilad Shalit was abducted by Palestinian militants using a tunnel that emerged near the Israeli border. Shalit was kept 5 years in captivity. This attack sparkled Israeli military campaign "Summer Rains".

• End 2006 - Beginning 2007: Hamas massacres the Fatah reps (700 killed) and shuts down any political opposition as well as the continuation of democratic process and elections. Hamas started an era of religious autoritarian regime, following principles from Muslim Brotherhood.

• 2007: Hamas rejects the Oslo Accords with Israel, and continues its rockets attacks.

• 2008: Israeli campaign "Hot Winter".

• 2008-2009: Israeli campaign "Cast Lead".

• 18 October 2011: release of Shalit in exchange of a large number of Palestinian prisonners. Yehya Sinwar is part of this exchange and later became the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

• 2012: Israeli campaign "Pillar of Cloud".

• 2014: Israeli campaign "Protective Edge".

• 21 July 2014: a group of ~80 terrorists were ready to emerge from a tunnel facing Givaat Kobi, near Sderot. An IDF platoon was sent and fell into an ambush. Hamas’ goal was to carry out an attack on Sderot and abduct Israelis. Thanks to this platoon, it failed.

• 2021: Israeli campaign "Walls Watch", only against Islamic Jihad (Israel tries a new policy of appeasement with Hamas, while Hamas was planning their next big attack...)

• 2022: Israeli campaign "Dawn", also only against Islamic Jihad.

• 7 October 2023: Hamas and other militant groups attack Israel (see next paragraph).

• 2023: Israeli campaign "Swords of Iron": the current war following the 7 October massacre.

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HAMAS LEADERS & PLAN

• Ismail Haniyeh: chairman of political bureau, killed in Tehran on 31.07.2024

• Yahya Sinwar: leader in Gaza Strip, killed in the Gaza Strip on 16.10.2024

• Mohammed Deif: military commander, killed in the Gaza Strip on 13.07.2024

• Marwan Issa: deputy military commander, killed in the Gaza Strip on 10.03.2024

• Sinwar had been working on the project for a decade; in the fall of 2022, he felt that he was ready but failed to convince Iran and Hezbollah to join in. He finally decided to attack independently because:

  • he wanted to attack before Israel completed development of the laser interception system,

  • he saw judiciary demonstrations in Israel and IAF (Air Force) pilots' refusal of service,

  • he wanted to stop the normalization efforts with Saudi Arabia.

• Sinwar intended to attack on the 2022 holidays (during Bennett-Lapid government) and again on Passover 2023, but cancelled. He set a new date for Yom Kippur 2023 (25/9), but it was eventually postponed to Simchat Torah (07/10)

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TIMELINE OF OCTOBER 7, 2023

• 06:29: Start of a heavy rockets barrage from Gaza Strip, and first sirens in the Gaza envelope communities (and elsewhere in Israel), followed aboud 30 mn later by the 1st wave of infiltration of armed terrorists (mostly Nukhba).

• 06:30: Hamas announces the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

  • Mohammed Deif gave a speech mentioning all sorts of reasons for the attack: Israel’s 16-years blockade of Gaza Strip, IDF (Israel Defense Forces) actions in West Bank, violence at al-Aqsa mosque, settlers’ violence, demolition of Palestinian homes, arbitrary detention of Palestinian prisoners, etc. Shortly after him, Ismail Haniyeh made a similar announcement in a TV address.

• 06:32: The Nova festival is interrupted and everyone is asked to leave. Those who went home by car early enough (before Hamas controled Road 232) survived, but others took time to decide what to do, and others tried to find shelters from the immediate danger (rockets) not knowing that there were terrorists infiltrations; they were later killed by terrorists in these shelters.

• 06:45: Nahal Oz female observers inform of activity near the border fence and of seeing gunmen, but their observation gets disrupted by Hamas destruction of monitoring systems; soon after, some 70 terrorists start raiding the Nahal Oz base, followed by many more later on.​

• 06:50: several communities are infiltrated by terrorists. Other terrorists reach Road 232 and wait for cars to pass and shoot at them. Many cars with Nova escapees are shot near the Black Arrow site because of the curve in Road 232 which oblige cars to slow down. At Nova car park, a huge traffic jam prevents more cars to leave.

• 06:56: First militants arrive to Kibbutz Be’eri and initiate the massacre of civilians there.

• 07:00: The Supernova Music Festival near Kibbutz Re'im is discovered by Hamas militants flying paragliders. Hamas didn't know of this festival because it only received green light from the police at 21:00 on that night. At the time, 40 policemen were dispaptched to Nova while the organisers erected the facilities. Partygoers only started to arrive from 23:00 when the festival opened its gate. After the arrival of 3000+ attendees, the festival reached the authorised capacity and closed access at about 5:30. Hamas paragliders saw from the air the easy target presented at the festival and communicated with the squads on the ground. Some of the squads improvised and changed their plans by heading towards the festival site, near Kibbutz Re'im, instead of executing their plan to head to larger cities (Ashkelon, Ashdod, Tel Aviv, Beer Sheva). In other words, Nova acted as a "honeypot" and caused delays in Hamas executing their intended plans.

• 07:02: first arrival of terrorists by sea at Zikim beach. Out of 7 zodiac boats, the Israeli Navy destroyed 2, and damaged 3. But 2 reached the beach while the 3 damaged ones followed some time after.

• 07:30: Along Road 232, all the bomb shelters are attacked from north to south. Hamas generally throw grenades inside the shelters then finish off its occupants with machine-guns. The particular shelters between Alumim (after the Black Arrow bend) to Re'im (near Nova) have been nicknamed "the shelters of death"​ because of the larger number of victims. These bomb shelters are located at bus stops and are built of a fixed size of 4m x 2m. On October 7, there were so many partygoers trying to find shelters that the "shelters of death" had about 30-40 people crammed in them. 

• 07:40: The IDF announce in the news that Hamas not only launched rockets but also that their militants had entered southern Israel. Hearing the news, many volunteers in Israel took upon themselves to arm themselves and drive by car to the Gaza envelope to help friends and families in the communities under attack. 

• 07:50: The first terrorists arrive at the city of Sderot with pick-up trucks. They kill several citizens before attacking the police station. 

• 07:53: The IDF issues the news that Hamas are attacking Sderot and ask its residents to remain indoors.

• 08:00: at Nova, from approximately 3,000-4,000 people at the festival, many of them managed to escape early on Road 232 before 07:00 when Hamas started to control that road. On site, there was a huge traffic jam preventing further cars to escape, but police received reports of shooting on Road 232 and directed the partygoers to return to Nova under the protection of the police force there (about 40 police staff). Because of the continued rocket attack, many partygoers headed to bomb shelters on Road 232, thinking of protecting themselves from rockets. When the Hamas militants approach Nova from Road 232, north and south, police direct partygoers to flee eastward through the agricultural fields. Many partygoers left their cars in the traffic jam and followed the advice, which saved their life. In total, from Nova, 364 partygoers were killed (at the site or in shelters) and 40 were abducted. 

• 08:00: The Re'im shelters, west and east, are attacked; Aner Shapira repels 7 grenades thrown at them but is killed by the 8th grenade. Hersh Goldberg-Polin lost a hand as well and was taken hostage along three other persons. Some girls are raped and killed. A few people survived, hidden at the back under the mass of victims. In the western shelter, out of 27 occupants, 16 are killed (among them Ayelet Armin, a journalist from Kan11 channel), 4 are abducted and 7 survived. In the eastern shelter, 27 are killed and 10 survived by hiding under corpses for long hours. The IDF rescued the hiding survivors about 7 hours after the attack. The Hamas commander who directed the massacre on the western shelter was an UNRWA employee.

• 08:15: Sirens were first sounded in Jerusalem following a rocket barrage that luckily landed in the forested hills near the city.

• 08:23: Israel declares a state of war, calling upon reservists.

• 08:34: Israel announced that it had begun counteroffensive operations against Hamas.

• 09:30: Hamas terrorists kill the last defending police at Nova and start the horrific massacre of the remaining partygoers still at the site. Surviving witnesses, hidden in bushes, later describe the atrocity of this attack with rapes, dismembering of bodies, beheading, and so on.

• 10:25: IDF officially announces the start of the campaign "Swords of Iron" to repel Hamas attacks in the south. By that time, 2200 rockets had already been fired at Israel.

• 10:36: The first officially announced Israeli death is Ofir Libstein, politician and head of Shaar HaNegev Council; he was killed while defending his kibbutz at Kfar Aza.

• 10:47: The Israeli Air Force (IAF) begins attacking Gaza.

• 11:30: Various international reactions start coming, condemning Hamas attack and supporting Israel's right to defend itself.  

• 11:35: Prime Minister Netanyahu makes his first statement declaring that Israel is at war.

• 12:15: This is the peak time by which Hamas had taken over several communities in the south before encountering the response from IDF forces. Survivors had to hide for several hours before seeing IDF rescue them. 

• 12:20: The IDF begins operations to relieve cities and communities in southern Israel.

• 13:00: Kibbutz Kissufim is liberated.

• 14:00: After the massacre and hostages taking, about 40 terrorists remained at Kibbutz Be'eri and confronted the IDF when they arrived.

• 14:17: The first group of IDF arrives at Nova and could only witness the massacre. The terrorists had already left the site by that time, probably before 13:00. 

• 15:17: IDF retakes the Erez crossing from Hamas militants.

• 14:55: The IDF navy kills dozens of terrorists who try to infiltrate Israel by the sea.

• 16:00: At the battle of Sderot police station, the Israeli forces secure a perimeter around the building to prevent terrorists from escaping and killing more citizens.

• 16:00: The IDF starts evacuating all residents from the Gaza envelope. 

• 17:45: ZAKA and IDF start evacuating the dead bodies from Nova site.

• 18:30: The IDF decides not to give an assault on Sderot police station as it assumes that it is boobytrapped by the terrorists entrenched  in it. Instead, order is given to demolish the police station, thus killing the terrorists in it.

• 23:30: A tank is brought in front of Sderot police station.

• 2:00 (October 8): The IDF gives the order for the tank to shell the police building and destroy it. This order is carried out a few hours later in the morning.

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IN NUMBERS

• Massive barrage of ~4300 rockets reached Israel (out of 5000+ that were shot); 57 drones destroyed surveillance systems, auto-shooting towers, tanks, antennas.

• The security fence/barrier was breached in 119 places, allowing waves of terrorists and civilians to cross border.

• Land attack by 3 infiltrations:

  • 1st wave: 1175 Hamas terrorists (incl. Nukhba force = elite within Izz al-Qassam Brigades) with 59 attack routes

  • 2nd wave: 2200 Gaza civilians and other militant groups

  • 3rd wave: 100’s of other terror groups + more civilians

• Air attack: 3 motorized paragliders in Netiv Haasara, and 6 normal paragliders near Nova.

• Sea attack: 7 speed boats, 2 are destroyed but 5 others reach Zikim beach.

• 1000 Gazans fired rockets from the Gaza Strip, adding to the total number of attackers.

• Hamas' invading force had 15 company commanders, but there was no battalion commander because all the mid-to-high command levels remained in Gaza and commanded via radio. The most active battalion was Nusirat, which carried out awful massacres in Be'eri and Nova.

• To defend on that morning of 7th October, IDF only had only 671 fighters and 12 tanks, because the Intelligence services were with the assumption that Hamas was more interested in stability. So the IDF had directed staff to other hotbeds, in the north and the West Bank.

• Terrorists attacked 21 civilian communities incl. Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Netiv HaAsara, etc.

• Hamas militants took Captagon (addictive stimulant made in Syria) before the attack.

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ISRAELI CASUALTIES

• Israeli casualties: 1224 killed of which 882 civilians (incl. 38 children), 71 foreign nationals (incl. 30 Thai), 249 IDF, 71 Police and rescue teams; 253 people were taken hostages (living or dead) of which 44 children; two years later, there are still 48 hostages of which up to 20 believed to be still alive.

• Children: 116 children lost a parent, 20 lost the two parents.

• Nova festival: estimated 3500 participated; 396 killed (137 on site and the rest on escape routes, shelters etc); 40 were taken hostages.

• Psyduck music festival between Nir Oz and Nirim: over 100 participants, 16 dead.

• Kibbutzim civilians: Alumin 62, Holit 13+, Nir Am 0, Sufa 3, Beeri 132 (out of 1071 residents), Ein HaShlosha 4, Kfar Aza 80, Kissufim 44, Nahal Oz 17, Nir Oz 47 (out of 380 residents, incl. Bibas family), Nir Itzhak 6, Nirim 15, Zikim beach 18, Erez crossing 1, Re'im 7, Mefalsim 13, Keren Shalom crossing 6.

• Moshavim civilians: Netiv HaAsara 17.

• Military: Re'im 15, Erez crossing 9, Nahal Oz 52 (out of 162, but only were 31 combatants), Kfar Aza 17, Zikim training base 7, Yiftah base 9, Paga base 13.

• Cities: Ofakim 33, Sderot 39, Sderot Police 14, Alumim 4, Kisufim 9.​​

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The above is based on general knowledge as of today. There is an ongoing investigation which, we hope, will shed more light about the circumstances and timeline, and what lessons to be learned.

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If you wish to look at video reports and evidence of these events, click here.

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If you wish to book a day trip to Gaza envelope, click here to see an example of tour.

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