The Shock of October 7: An Account of the Deadliest Day in Israel's History

The attack by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel ;euml;l on October 7 was of unprecedented magnitude, the Palestinian Islamist movement taking advantage of the shock effect to penetrate Israeli territory through a combination of simultaneous actions.

Here is the timeline of the deadliest day in Israel since its creation in 1948, which left 1,205 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

– Taken by surprise –

A salvo of rockets is fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza City towards Israel, on October 7, 2023 © AFP – MAHMUD HAMS

At 06:29 (03:29 GMT), the Israeli army detected incessant rocket fire from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli towns bordering the small Palestinian territory.

Hamas said it had fired some 5,000 projectiles in an offensive dubbed the “Al-Aqsa Flood”, in reference to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, located in East Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel.

The Israeli air defense system Iron Dome between in action, but is quickly overwhelmed by the quantity of rockets fired in the thousands.

At the same time, Hamas fighters — the movement would later say there were 1,200 of them — rushed to the border on motorcycles, vans, small motorboats and even paramotors.

Journalists take cover behind cars as Israeli soldiers take up positions during clashes with Hamas fighters near Kibbutz Gevim, close to the border with Gaza, on October 7, 2023 © AFP – Oren ZIV

They use explosives and bulldozers to breach the fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel and carry out attacks in about 50 locations, killing indiscriminately in kibbutzim, military bases and a music festival where the assailants engage in a mass killing spree.

In the kibbutzim, they go from house to house, shooting dead residents and carrying out sexual assaults on a scale that is still difficult to assess.

A UN report published in March concluded that there were “good reasons to believe” that “sexual violence” was committed in “multiple locations” on October 7, “including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations.”

– Army slow to respond –

Israeli firefighters put out a fire in a parking lot outside a residential building following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on October 7, 2023 © AFP – AHMAD GHARABLI

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At 08:30, the commandos stormed six military bases: in Erez, at the northern end of the Gaza Strip, Nahal Oz, opposite Gaza City, two others near Kibbutz Beeri, one in Reim, in the center of the Gaza Strip, and two further south, near the Egyptian border.

The inhabitants of the kibbutzim near Gaza were forced to defend themselves with their own means against the Hamas attackers for hours, the army being slow to come to their aid.

Residents would later describe having taken refuge in shelters while their attackers tried to break down the doors, or having taken the weapons they had and having rushed into the streets to try to repel the assaults.

At the Nova music festival, where nearly 3,000 people gathered in fields and woods a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip, Hamas attackers went on a rampage for hours, killing at least 370 people in total, according to official Israeli data.

In Kibbutz Beeri, one of the worst-hit communities, the first Israeli reinforcements arrived “from 1:30 p.m.,” according to an army report.

A full division of the army intervened at 4:15 p.m. to organize a coordinated evacuation of survivors and regain control of the kibbutz.

The Israeli army officially confirmed around 6 p.m. that “soldiers and civilians” had been abducted by Hamas and taken to the Gaza Strip. Gaza, as evidenced since the morning by photos taken by journalists in Gaza and videos circulating on social networks.

– Hostages –

Israeli rescue teams evacuate a wounded man near the southern city of Sderot after a surprise attack by Hamas commandos on October 7, 2023 © AFP – Menahem KAHANA

A total of 251 people are taken hostage, 44 of them at the Nova festival and at least 74 at Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Some of them, including soldiers, were already dead when they were taken to Gaza, according to the army.

Hostages may have been killed by friendly fire, particularly in Kibbutz Beeri, where witnesses told Israeli media that a tank fired on a house in which 14 people were being held by Hamas fighters.

– At war –

Smoke rises over Gaza City during Israeli airstrikes on October 7, 2023 © AFP – MAHMUD HAMS

Israel begins relentlessly bombing Gaza, a small Palestinian territory ruled by Hamas since 2007 and home to 2.4 million people.

An AFP journalist reports the first strike in Gaza at 10:39 a.m., followed by many more.

At 11:34 a.m., Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares in a televised address: “We are at war.”

In the afternoon, the Israeli army calls on 360,000 reservists to reinforce a army that has 170,000 soldiers: conscripts doing their compulsory military service, and career soldiers.

As of September 22, the Israeli military offensive has caused at least 41,431 deaths in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data provided by the Hamas government's Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.

As night falls, searches continue to find possible Hamas gunmen on Israeli territory, while terrified civilians are still locked in their homes and many streets are deserted.

It is only on October 10 that the Israeli army will announce that it has regained control of all the localities in southern Israel attacked by Hamas.

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