oct 7, 2023 - October 7th

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On October 7, 2023, Hamas led a coordinated invasion of southern Israel from Gaza, attacking Israeli towns, army bases, and the Nova music festival. Around 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, and more than 240 hostages were kidnapped into Gaza. For Israel and the Jewish people, October 7 became the deadliest day since the Holocaust and marked the beginning of Operation Iron Swords, Israel’s war to destroy Hamas’s military rule in Gaza, return the hostages, and prevent another massacre.

The war soon expanded into a broader regional struggle against Iran’s network of proxies. Hezbollah opened a northern front from Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen launched missiles, drones, and Red Sea attacks, and Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Iraq joined the pressure campaign. Iran itself eventually entered direct confrontation with Israel, launching missile and drone attacks and later suffering major strikes against its military and leadership infrastructure. In the Israeli narrative, this became a multi-front defensive war against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran’s wider “axis of resistance.”

Despite the heavy cost, Israel achieved major strategic successes. Hamas’s top leaders were eliminated, including Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024 and Yahya Sinwar, the main architect of October 7, in Gaza in October 2024. Israel also killed senior Hezbollah figures, including longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose death was described in Israel as a major turning point. Later, the conflict escalated further with major Israeli and U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran, including the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in early 2026.

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