Hamas Mounts Surprise Terrorist Attack On Israel, Beginning War

Photo Credit: Wall Street Journal

On Oct. 7, the Palestinian militant group Hamas crossed from Gaza to Israel in a brutal surprise attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and injured around 4,500 others, according to ABC News. Following the attack, Israel declared war on Hamas and began to retaliate against the Gaza Strip, a narrow piece of land between Israel and Egypt.

The New York Times reports that thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza into central and southern Israel. A few reached far enough to land near the major city of Tel Aviv. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system prevented rockets from striking Jerusalem. Meanwhile, over 1,000 Hamas fighters attacked multiple southern Israeli communities, including Be’eri, Sderot, Re’im, Kfar Aza, and Ashkelon. Dozens of foreign visitors were murdered, including Canadians and Americans. 

Over 200 hostages were captured by Hamas militants. The majority of people kidnapped were Israeli soldiers, but dozens of civilians were also taken, including children and seniors.

Reuters detailed that during the Hamas surprise attack on Israel, militants went door to door breaking into homes while people were cooped up in safe rooms. To avoid the gunfire, Israelis tried to escape, hiding in fields, under cars, and among corpses. 

In an interview conducted by ITV News, a father admitted that learning about his daughter’s death was the best news he could have received. “She was either dead,” he said, “or in Gaza, and if you know anything about what they do to people in Gaza, that is worse than death.” 

The massacre, which took place on Shemini Atzeret, a major Jewish holiday, caused the most Jewish deaths in a day since the Holocaust.

Hamas, an Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a Palestinian group classified as a terrorist organization by Canada, the United States, and the European Union. They have vowed to annihilate Israel and establish a Palestinian state in its place. The group was created in 1978 during the First Intifada, a period of violent protests by Palestinians in territories occupied by Israel, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In 2006, Hamas won a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections, beating the Fatah, their secular political rivals. The two political factions were unable to agree on sharing power. The conflict escalated and in June of 2007, Hamas violently seized power in a military coup, leaving 161 Palestinans dead, including 41 civilians. Hamas has had full governmental control over the Gaza Strip ever since. They are a separate organization from the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank.

Iran, a rival of Israel, has long backed Hamas, along with Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group. Following the Hamas attack on Israel, Hezbollah has carried out raids on Israeli military targets along the border between Israel and Lebanon.

Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, is widely recognized as one of the world’s best, with highly advanced abilities to predict threats from within and outside of the country. Yet, Mossad failed to anticipate the Hamas attack. According to a Reuters news report, the chief of Israeli Military intelligence, Major-General Aharon Haliva, wrote a letter to his subordinates acknowledging that Mossad had no prior knowledge of the Hamas attack. He acknowledged that the intelligence failure was his responsibility. The letter was confirmed to Reuters by a military spokesperson.

As of Oct. 19, health officials in Gaza stated that Israeli airstrikes had killed around 3,800 people in Gaza and injured 12,500 others, as stated by CBS News. The majority of the victims were women and children. Another 1,300 victims are assumed to be buried under the rubble, while more than 350,000 Palestinians have been displaced. 

In preparation for an imminent ground attack, thousands of soldiers have been placed along the Gaza border. Israel has warned Palestinians to move to southern Gaza, further from the Israeli assault.

On Oct. 9, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant imposed a blockade on Gaza and its two million residents. The Israeli military cut off Gazan access to electricity, food, water, fuel, and most medical aid. Most experts considered this act to be a war crime that is a violation of international humanitarian law.

“Israel’s bombardment and unlawful total blockade of Gaza means that countless wounded and sick children, among many other civilians, will die for want of medical care,” said Bill Van Esveld, the associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organization dedicated to defending the human rights of people in 100 countries worldwide. 

On Oct. 18, Israel announced that they would start allowing food, water, and medicine to be supplied to Gaza. Nevertheless, they kept heavy restrictions on electricity and fuel in place, leaving Gaza severely under-resourced.

“As Gaza loses power, hospitals lose power, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. Kidney dialysis stops, and X-rays can’t be taken,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the International Red Cross Commitee’s director for the region. “Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues.”

The Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza was bombed on Oct. 17, killing at least 500 civilians in the deadliest strike since the war first broke out. Both Palestinian and Israeli officials blame the other side for this airstrike. Palestinians and the Gaza Health Ministry have accused Israel. Meanwhile, Israel attributes the blast to a rocket misfire from another group operating in Gaza known as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. 

Countries around the world were quick to condemn the bombing. The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said that “[t]onight, hundreds of people were killed – horrifically – in a massive strike at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, including patients, healthcare workers and families that had been seeking refuge in and around the hospital. [...] This is totally unacceptable.”

An analysis from AP News in which they reviewed multiple videos of the rocket explosion from news broadcasts, security cameras and social media posts concluded that “the rocket that broke up in the air was fired from within Palestinian territory, and that the hospital explosion was most likely caused when part of that rocket crashed to the ground.”

As of Oct. 21, Canada has yet to declare whether or not Israel was at fault for the blast. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has faced pressure to take a stance from the Conservative Party and other groups in Canada. 

During an Ontario press conference, when asked by a reporter about what evidence he was waiting for about the Gaza Hospital blast before assigning responsibility, Trudeau said, “We are working with our allies internationally to make sure that we can determine exactly what happened.” 

The USA has stated that it does not believe Israel is responsible for the hospital bombing.

Originally, US President Joe Biden was supposed to travel to Saudi Arabia to continue negotiations towards a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but the trip was canceled due to the war. The deal worked towards US-Saudi-Israeli collaboration against their common enemy, Iran. Israel would improve the rights of Palestinians, while Saudi Arabia would receive US support for a nuclear energy program. Saudi Arabia would officially recognize the state of Israel, which it has yet to do due to injustices against Palestinians. However, the current conflict has for the moment taken the original deal off the table. 

The deal was nearing completion in the weeks leading up to the Hamas attacks, with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating that the two countries were close to a “dramatic breakthrough”. However, according to PBS NewsHour, when Hamas attacked Israel, Saudi Arabia failed to condemn them. Instead, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry stated that it had repeatedly warned that Israel’s “occupation, the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and the repetition of systemic provocations” would lead to such a moment. 

On Oct. 18, President Biden visited Israel and attended a full day of meetings with multiple Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as explained in a CNN news report. During the trip, Biden confirmed support from the US and attempted to convince Israel to ease restrictions on aid in Gaza.

After his meetings, Biden announced that an agreement was finalized to allow humanitarian assistance to be provided to Gaza by entering through the Egyptian border. As well, he announced that $100 million of US funding would go towards humanitarian assistance for people living in both Gaza and West Bank. A promise was also made by Biden to request congressional funding for Israel’s defense.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant revealed Israel’s long-time plans for the war to lawmakers on Oct. 19, which he organized into three different phases. First, Israel plans to attack Hamas with airstrikes and ground operations. Then they will defeat any small resistance groups. And finally, after completely abolishing Hamas, Israel will relinquish their responsibility and control over the citizens of Gaza. 

Since the start of the conflict, both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism has been on the rise. Many Jewish and Palestinian Canadians have lost loved ones in the war. As of Oct. 22, six Canadians have been killed in Israel by Hamas.

Officials have also reported that over 300 Canadians and their families are stuck in Gaza, as Israel continues to bomb the area and enforce border restrictions. In an interview conducted by Global News on Oct. 19, a Canadian citizen currently living with his family in Gaza said that his younger kids “keep hearing the bombing sounds of the drones in the sky and they can’t sleep because whenever an F-16 bomb hits in the vicinity, the building shakes [...] Canadians or not, if people don’t feel safe in whatever country they’re in, they should have the right to leave.”