Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 was the worst pogrom of Jews since the Holocaust. More than 1,200 people died. What happened – and how was it even possible?
It is October 7th, 2023. This Saturday is actually a holiday, Simchat Torah, the celebration of the Torah. Actually – but things turn out completely differently. In the kibbutzim in southern Israel on the border with the Gaza Strip, people are suddenly woken from their sleep around 6:30 a.m. Sirens are wailing all over the country. The terrorist organization Hamas fired thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel this morning.
This morning, a clear picture of what is happening in Israel on the border with Gaza is only slowly emerging. Hamas terrorists destroy the border fence and disable the Israeli cameras and warning system using simple consumer drones from the electronics store. Up to 3,000 heavily armed Hamas fighters invade Israel.
They come by land and sea, they even fly in on paragliders. They show the ground troops the way and shoot down everything that stands in their way. The terrorists invaded more than 20 kibbutzim. Hamas fighters are also rampaging in Israeli cities such as Sderot, a town of 30,000 people bordering the northeast of the Gaza Strip.
Bullet holes in a house on Kibbutz Nir Oz: The terrorists penetrated more than 20 towns.
It is an attack on Israel’s soul
Witnesses later reported how terrorists drove into the city, shooting at passers-by and vehicles indiscriminately. About Hamas fighters invading the kibbutzim, looting and murdering. The terrorists post many of their atrocities online, in pictures and videos on social media. The attack on Israel can be followed virtually worldwide in real time.
It is the worst pogrom of Jews since the end of the Holocaust. The violence hits the country to its core. It is an attack on Israel’s soul that Israel’s enemies are relishing. Ismail Hanija speaks out from his exile in Doha, Qatar. He is one of the leading representatives of the terrorist organization Hamas. He sees himself at the finish line in his fight against his hated opponent.
In a speech, Haniya calls on allied militant Palestinian groups in the region to take part in the attack against Israel. And he calls on Israel to get out of Jerusalem and the whole land. The Jews are strangers in this holy, blessed land, Haniah fumes.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: “We will win in this war.”
“Al-Aqsa flood” – that’s what Hamas calls the attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke out just a few hours after the attack began. Israel is at war, is his message in a speech to the nation. The people of Israel should prepare for a long and difficult confrontation with Hamas.
“Hamas troops entered Israeli territory today. On a holiday, a Shabbat. They killed innocent citizens, children and the elderly,” says Netanyahu. “Hamas started an evil and brutal war. We will win in this war, but the price will be very high.” And further: “This is the hardest day for all of us. What happened today has never happened in Israel before. And I will make sure that it will not happen again.”
Mohammed Deif is Hamas’ number two in the Gaza Strip. The man behind Hamas leader Jahia Sinwar. Israel had tried to kill him several times in the past. But on this day he appears with an audio message in which he announces the so-called “Al-Aqsa flood”. This is what Hamas calls its attack on Israel.
Be’eri is particularly badly hit
The terrorists are rampaging in 22 border towns. They indiscriminately kill, rape and kidnap Israelis and foreign citizens who live, work or visit there. After a short time they controlled almost all the military bases on the border fence.
Kibbutz Be’eri is particularly badly hit. At 6:55 a.m. a 17-hour nightmare begins for the people there. Every tenth resident of the small border town on the Gaza Strip is murdered. Total 102 residents. More than 30 children, women and men are kidnapped. Be`eri becomes a symbol of terror.
Amit Halevi, the town’s mayor, later said in interviews that he had the impression that the State of Israel ceased to exist that day. Where is the army? Many people are asking themselves that question on this day.
Hamas takes more than 200 hostages
The Nova Festival is taking place at this time, less than ten kilometers from Be`eri in Re`im. The young people are dancing exuberantly when an announcement interrupts the event. Missile alert. Shortly afterwards the first shots are fired. The terrorists storm the festival grounds with pickup trucks, motorcycles and quads. Firing their Kalashnikovs indiscriminately into the crowd of fleeing festival-goers. They killed 364 festival-goers on the site, many of whom had previously been tortured.
That day, Hamas fighters kidnapped more than 200 people from towns in southern Israel to the Gaza Strip.
Israel begins a war against Hamas in Gaza on the same day. The bombardment won’t stop for months now. Except for a nine-day ceasefire in November, the hissing of rockets flying past, the whirring of drones, explosions and detonations will be a daily companion for people in the narrow coastal strip.
Where was the army?
Israel is taking bitter revenge for the attack on October 7th, for the pogrom on its population. In the weeks and months following that fateful day, tens of thousands of Gazans will fall victim to Israeli bombs and shells.
But how could the terrorist attack come about? Where were the secret services, where was the army? Israel’s trust in its security structures was enormous. But neither the immensely expensive border fence withstood the attack by Hamas, nor were the intelligence services taken seriously in advance of the information.
And the army was initially heavily outnumbered, criticizes Amir Lupovici, an expert on deterrence. He teaches at Tel Aviv University. “That should never have happened. The army should have been able to deal better and more quickly with the number of Hamas fighters who entered Israeli territory. The problems probably lay in the army’s preparation.”
Burned cars on the Novafestival site: Terrorists murdered 364 people here.
Intelligence information were ignored
A lot contributed to making October 7th possible with the Hamas attack and around 1,200 deaths. Wrong domestic policy decisions, with the withdrawal of soldiers from the Gaza border to the West Bank to protect settlers. Ignoring clear intelligence information, relying on inadequate deterrence. And last but not least, the strong polarization in Israeli society.
All of this, says Amir Lupovici, led to Israel not being able to keep its security promises – and the brutal terrorist attack by Hamas becoming possible.