October 7 attack and the Gaza genocide

The story

On October 7, 2023, fighters from Hamas and other groups break through the Gaza border fence, killing about 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, among them hundreds at a music festival, and taking about 250 hostages into Gaza. It is the deadliest day in Israel's history, and is often described as the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Israel declares war and begins a campaign of air strikes, then a ground invasion in late October.

Gaza has been run by Hamas since 2007 and under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade. Hamas rejected the Oslo process and does not recognize Israel. Earlier wars were fought in 2008 to 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021. Diplomacy had stalled, and Israeli settlement in the West Bank had grown, while Saudi-Israeli normalization talks in 2023 were seen by some analysts as leaving Palestinians out. Hamas leaders planned the attack for years.

The Gaza Health Ministry reported more than 70,000 Palestinians killed by late 2025, with UN agencies treating its figures as broadly reliable and Israel disputing how many were combatants. Most of the 2.2 million population was displaced, and the UN warned of famine. The war widened: Hezbollah and Israel fought across the Lebanese border, Yemen's Houthis attacked Red Sea shipping, and Iran and Israel exchanged direct strikes in 2024 and 2025. A ceasefire took effect in October 2025, with hostage releases. The International Court of Justice has a case on genocide brought by South Africa, which Israel denies, and the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against leaders on both sides. As of mid-2026, the ceasefire formally held and the last hostages had been returned, but violations and deadly strikes continued, Israel still controlled about half of Gaza, and the second phase of the plan stalled over Hamas's disarmament.

Why it mattered

It brought the deadliest war in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
It widened into conflict with Hezbollah, Iran and the Houthis, changing the regional balance of power.
It led to cases at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court on the conduct of the war.
It reshaped politics in Israel, Palestine and abroad, and renewed debate over Palestinian statehood.

Sources

Hamas (Conflict with Israel) Britannica
No evidence of inflated mortality reporting from the Gaza Ministry of Health The Lancet
Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds (16 September 2025) United Nations
ICC issues war crimes arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant Voice of America
Israel-Hezbollah war (2023- ) Britannica
ICJ press release, 14 May 2024 (South Africa v. Israel) International Court of Justice via UN
Gaza 2026: Board of Peace and National Transitional Committee House of Commons Library
Hamas to blame for lack of progress on phase two of ceasefire, Board of Peace report says Euronews

Drafted by AI (Claude) from the sources above and checked against them by AI; no historian has reviewed this page. Spot a mistake? Suggest a correction. How pages are made

Contested history

Consensus: Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the Gaza war killed over 70,000 by Gaza officials' count; legal and political judgments of the war remain disputed.

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 and taking about 250 hostagesEstablished

Israeli authorities, the UN and independent investigators agree on the broad facts.

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Hamas (Conflict with Israel) Britannica

Over 70,000 Palestinians died, according to Gaza's Health MinistryEstablished

UN agencies and independent studies treat the figures as reliable, though the split between civilians and combatants is disputed.

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No evidence of inflated mortality reporting from the Gaza Ministry of Health The Lancet
Violent and non-violent death tolls for the Gaza conflict: new primary evidence from a population-representative field survey The Lancet Global Health

Israel's conduct in Gaza amounts to genocideDebated

A UN commission and many scholars say yes; Israel and some governments and scholars reject it, and the ICJ case is pending.

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Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds (16 September 2025) United Nations
Israel slams as 'distorted and false' UN probe on Gaza 'genocide' JusticeInfo.net (AFP)
ICJ press release, 14 May 2024 (South Africa v. Israel) International Court of Justice via UN

The attack was planned in order to trigger a wider regional warDebated

Analysts differ about Hamas's goals and expectations of Iran and Hezbollah.

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Secret documents show Hamas tried to persuade Iran to join its Oct. 7 attack Boston Globe

Netanyahu was warned of an imminent attack and didn't act on itDebated

In September 2026 Haaretz, followed by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, reported that UAE president Mohamed bin Zayed phoned Netanyahu about a week and a half before October 7 to say Sinwar was preparing a major operation, and that Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel warned of an imminent attack on September 26. The reports say Netanyahu did not pass the warnings to his security chiefs and on October 1 told them to keep Gaza calm. Former Shin Bet head Ronen Bar says he also warned him. Netanyahu calls the reports lies, and Israel's official inquiry into October 7 has not ruled on them.

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Netanyahu was warned of October 7 Hamas attack, reports say ABC News (Australia)
Netanyahu is said to have been warned about Hamas attack before Oct. 7 The New York Times via GV Wire
Netanyahu faces backlash over report he was warned of Hamas attack days before October 7 CNN
Netanyahu battles October 7 warnings revelations with defiant UN speech Euronews

Netanyahu knowingly let the attack happenUnsupported

Critics argue he had motives, such as preserving calm for a Saudi normalization deal or a political interest in Hamas ruling Gaza. But none of the reporting on the warnings, including Haaretz's, says he knew the attack's scale and timing and chose to allow it; it documents warnings he ignored or played down, which is a failure rather than proof of intent.

Where this claim comes from, and its rebuttals

Netanyahu was warned of October 7 Hamas attack, reports say ABC News (Australia)
Bombshell October 7 report leads to calls for Netanyahu's removal The New Republic

The Hannibal Directive was used on October 7Established

A July 2024 Haaretz investigation, based on IDF documents and testimony, found that commanders invoked the Hannibal Directive, the order to stop captives being taken even at risk to their lives, at several points that day, including drone and helicopter strikes on vehicles heading back into Gaza near Erez. The IDF opened inquiries into whether Israeli civilians were killed by its forces.

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Some of the dead were killed by Israeli fireEstablished

At Kibbutz Be'eri, Israeli tank shells were fired at Pessi Cohen's house, where 13 of the 14 hostages inside died; Haaretz reported that a helicopter firing on militants near the Nova festival apparently also hit festival-goers, which police disputed. How many of the dead were killed by Israeli rather than Hamas fire has not been established.

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Israeli government response to the October 7 attacks Wikipedia
Families of Israelis killed by military on 7 October demand investigation The New Arab

Most of the roughly 1,200 killed were soldiersDebunked

Israel's social security agency lists 1,139 people killed in the attack: 695 Israeli civilians, including 36 children, 71 foreigners, and 373 members of the security forces (soldiers, police and others). About a third of the dead were security forces; about two thirds were civilians.

Where this claim comes from, and its rebuttals