October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel: A year later
October 4, 2024
On October 7, 2023, Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, led a coordinated attack on Israel. The offensive included launching thousands of rockets at targets in central and southern Israel and breaching the border fence between Israel and Gaza.
The attacks killed nearly 1,200 people, including hundreds at a music festival taking place in Re'im near the Israel-Gaza border. Militants also took around 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Many in the West, including US President Joe Biden, have called October 7 "the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust." The attacks triggered a military response from Israel, including continuous airstrikes, a ground offensive and a siege of Gaza.
The resulting war has killed more than 41,000 people in the Palestinian enclave, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians but says more than half of the deceased were women and children.
Over the last year, the conflict in Gaza has widened into a regional crisis as Hamas allies in Lebanon, Iran and Yemen have struck back against Israel.