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A Second October War in Israel-Palestine
In the early hours of 7 October, Hamas launched what it called Operation al-Aqsa
Deluge, a multi-pronged attack on Israel, including Israeli border towns ringing
the Gaza Strip. Thousands of rockets rained down on areas in Israel in the first
few hours. These gave cover to Hamas militants, who sent armed drones to hit
parts of Israel’s electronic border alarm system, broke through Israeli military
posts and the security fence around Gaza, or flew over the barrier in motorised
hang gliders, penetrating urban areas and killing or kidnapping Israelis, many
of them civilians, including children and elderly people. Some militants tried
to infiltrate Israel by sea.
By mid-morning the same day, Israeli aircraft had launched strikes on suspected
Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip, including several residential high-rises
that were brought down. These operations continued through 8 October and into
the next day. Israel also began deploying army units to the south; their first
priority appeared to be to recapture the border communities under Hamas
fighters’ control. This operation was reportedly nearing completion by the end
of 8 October. The next phase has yet to start, but Israel appears to be
preparing for a ground invasion to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas, cut the
group down to size or even remove it from power. It has called up 300,000
reservists.
Numbers of dead and injured on both sides rose quickly: on 9 October, Israeli
sources said at least 800 Israelis had been killed and more than 2,300 wounded.
The dead include over 200 civilians apparently gunned down at a desert music
festival. On the Palestinian side, health authorities have reported more than
500 Palestinians killed and over 2,700 injured, mainly by Israeli airstrikes in
Gaza. Many on both sides remain unaccounted for.
The human toll is certain to rise further as the fighting continues. Civilians
will inevitably bear the brunt as the conflict escalates, especially in the
likely event of an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza. On 9 October, Israeli
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced that Israel would allow “no electricity,
no food, no fuel” into Gaza, promising a “full siege”. Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu previously vowed to reduce parts of Gaza to rubble. He warned
Palestinian civilians to leave, but as they have no access to Egypt, on one
side, or Israel, on the other, they have nowhere to go.
Caught unawares on the holiday of Simchat Torah, which in 2023 coincided with
the Jewish Sabbath, Israeli political and military leaders were slow to respond.
Gallant was the first to speak publicly several hours after the start of the
Hamas operation, stating that the Islamist movement had made a “grave mistake”
and that Israel would prevail. Netanyahu appeared shortly thereafter, affirming
that Israel was in a state of war. The next day, Israel’s security cabinet
approved a formal declaration of war, invoking Article 40 of the Basic Law, for
the first time in half a century.
In the long view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Hamas’s actions on the
morning of 7 October were unprecedented. It was the first time that its
militants were able to break out of the confinement of Gaza in numbers, and the
first time that they stormed and took control of adjacent Israeli communities,
something no Arab army had ever done. It is also the first time that
Palestinians have taken hostage scores of Israeli soldiers and civilians,
transporting an unknown number, possibly over a hundred, back with them into
Gaza. Strikingly, Israel’s extensive border sensors proved useless in preventing
the breach. The events left many Israelis feeling numb and vulnerable, as well
as shocked by the intelligence and security failures that the Hamas attacks
exposed. Many were angry with the government’s shortcomings in communicating
with families in harm’s way, in getting soldiers deployed where they needed to
be and even in making sure the troops had basic equipment. Western politicians
and commentators expressed horror in traditional and social media outlets as
pictures and stories emerged of young children taken hostage and families
murdered in their homes by militants conducting door-to-door searches.
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