Palestinian resistance launches surprise attack on Israel (ongoing updates)
Palestinians celebrate as an Israeli military vehicle burns after it was hit by Palestinian gunmen who infiltrated areas of southern Israel, at the Israeli side of Israel-Gaza border, on October 7, 2023 (photo)
On October 7, The ruling party in Gaza, Hamas, launched an unprecedented, multi-pronged surprise attack on Israel. (Gazans had earlier tried mass, nonviolent demonstrations every week for over a year, only to be met by Israeli snipers and media silence.) Now Israel is bombing Gaza again.
Here is a rundown of this unfolding story. See updates and the initial report, which includes essential context, below
DAY 5 (OCT 11)
- Palestinian deaths have risen to 1,099 (1,078 in Gaza – including 260 children and 230 women – and 21 in West Bank), injuries 5,264 (5,134 in Gaza, 130 in West Bank), While these are the official figures, it is difficult to know how many more men, women, and children have been killed and maimed by Israel’s nonstop bombing. Displaced: 200,000.
- Israeli deaths have risen to 1,200, injuries 2741. (See this)
- Euromed Monitor: Israel commits widespread war crimes in Gaza, humanitarian catastrophe is imminent
- “What is happening in Gaza represents a comprehensive humanitarian disaster, especially with the lack of electricity and water affecting more than 90% of residents, and the disruption of various essential supplies”
- At least 70 industrial facilities and 970 residential units have been destroyed, “plus significant damage to approximately 7,920 residential units. Fourteen water and sanitation stations have been severely damaged, affecting services for nearly half a million people.”
- About 14 UN facilities have been damaged by Israeli airstrikes, “including the direct targeting of a UNRWA school housing hundreds of displaced individuals.”
- Israeli forces have also perpetrated “direct and severe attacks on universities, mosques, markets, banks, telecommunications companies, residential towers, and other civilian infrastructure”. Read more
data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
DAY 4 (OCT 10)
- Palestinian deaths have risen to 900 in Gaza (over 18 in West Bank), injuries 4,500 in Gaza (100 in West Bank), 260 children and 230 women; displaced: 200,000.
- The number is “expected to rise with the ongoing intense Israeli bombardment of Gaza.” A BBC reporter in Gaza said it was “the worst bombing he had seen in 20 years, with neighbourhoods flattened.” Israeli forces are reportedly “killing Palestinian children at an unprecedented rate.” More information here.
- Israeli deaths reman 900, injuries 2741. (See this)
- It is so far unreported how many of the Israeli deaths are children; none of those so far listed here are designated as minors. This will be updated when the information is available.
- Biden announced: “The Department of Defense has moved the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean and bolstered our fighter aircraft presence. And we stand ready to move in additional assets as needed.”
- “A large part of Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood was reduced to rubble after hours of airstrikes the night before. Residents found buildings torn in half or demolished to mounds of concrete and rebar. Cars were flattened and trees burned out on residential streets transformed into moonscapes.”
DAY 3 (Oct 9)
- Number of Palestinians killed 687, injured 2,900. Number of Israelis killed 900, injured 2,506 – includes attack on Israelis attending a rave a few miles outside the imprisoned Gaza Strip (70 percent of Gazans are refugee families who were ethnically cleansed by Israel during its founding war. According to the UN, roughly 6,400 Palestinians and 300 Israelis had been killed in the ongoing conflict since 2008)
- Israel announces ‘total’ blockade on Gaza, including ban on admission of food, electricity and fuel (Israel has blockaded Gaza for over 17 years, causing growth stunting in children, trauma and massive unemployment)
- Israeli forces continue raids in West Bank, abducting over 40 people from Hebron, Bethlehem, Tubas, Tulkarem, Nablus, Jericho, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Al-Biereh; shoot dead over 8 people
- Hamas website has been down since Oct 7
- Qatari mediators are reportedly trying to negotiate an exchange of Israeli women and children held captive for the release of 36 Palestinian women and children from Israel’s prisons.
DAY 2 (Oct 8):
- The number of Palestinians killed has risen to 413. About 2,300 others were wounded. The death toll in the Gaza Strip included 78 children, according to the Ministry of Health. At least 120 minors were wounded.
- Israel’s military says at least 26 soldiers were killed in the initial Hamas attack on the country’s south. In all, at least 700 Israelis have been killed, 2,000 wounded.
- At least 100 Israelis have been abducted and brought to Gaza – Palestinians plan to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners.
- Israeli Knesset member said his party had warned of events like the Hamas attack if Israel continued its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. “The Israeli government… supports, encourages, and leads pogroms against the Palestinians. There is an ethnic cleansing going on.”
- The US could announce additional aid to Israel as soon as today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Israel already gets over $13 million/day. (Blinken has a history of helping Israel. Politicians from both parties support Israel thanks to the influence of the Israel lobby,)
- Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in Gaza; Israeli airstrike kills 13 family members in Gaza, including four toddlers
- US moving Navy ships to the area
- The Biden administration is reportedly working to fulfill Israel’s request to transfer even more weapons to Tel Aviv (whose weaponry is already vastly superior to Palestinians’)
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY. CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES
by Kathryn Shihadah
After decades of Israeli occupation and human rights abuses, and after a 20-month-long mass nonviolent effort, Palestinians in Gaza launched a surprise operation against Israel on early Saturday morning. Its scale is unprecedented, involving aerial, sea and ground operations. Israel immediately began bombing Gaza and has turned off electricity to the enclave, leaving most of its two million inhabitants in the dark and hospitals dangerously impacted. There are now 200 Israelis dead, 9000 injured, and an unknown number captured; and 232 Palestinians dead and 1,600 injured.
Israeli forces, partly funded by the $13 million dollars per day that U.S. politicians have voted for them, are one of the world’s most powerful militaries, their weaponry vastly dwarfing Palestinians’. Today’s Palestinian land incursions largely consisted of individuals riding motorcycles and pickup trucks.
Hamas spokesperson Khaled Qadomi told Al Jazeera that the group’s military operation is in “response to all the atrocities the Palestinians have faced over the decades,” and the Hamas deputy chief said the group is engaged “in a battle for freedom.” Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif explained: “We have decided to put an end to all of the occupation’s crimes”; senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh indicated that recent provocations at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem were a major reason for the surprise attack.
Other Israeli provocations include increased violence against Palestinians by illegal Israeli settlers, Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners, and a spike in killings of Palestinians by the Israeli military. 2023 was the deadliest year on record for Palestinians in the West Bank, including for children.
In October alone, Israeli soldiers killed 4 Palestinians (including youth), attacked a Palestinian funeral procession, abducted at least 75 (10 of them children), and shot or otherwise injured at least 100.
Hamas actions have so far included: launching thousands of rockets toward Israel (for background on rockets see this), infiltrating Israel by land, sea, and air, and taking prisoners of war which it hopes to exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Groups broke down the barrier wall that imprisons Gaza and entered several Israeli communities near the border. Fighters have also captured a number of Israeli military vehicles, in addition to the hostages.
After being surprised by the scope of the Palestinian offensive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced, “Citizens of Israel, we are at war [and will] fight back on a scale and intensity that the enemy has so far not experienced. The enemy will pay an unprecedented price.”
According to Israeli Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai, the Israeli military is engaged in “a complex attack in the area around Gaza,” that at the time included 21 active fronts.
In Gaza, Israeli warplanes reportedly destroyed a 5-story residential building, hit a hospital, and targeted an ambulance.
Some media outlets refer to the Palestinian resistance fighters as “terrorists” – but under international law, armed resistance is the right of occupied people.
Critical context
Israel has held the 2 million Palestinians of Gaza under siege since 2007, blocking access to medical supplies, medicine, food, and many other staples. The people of Gaza staged a 20-month nonviolent protest against Israel from March 2018 till the beginning of the Covid pandemic in December 2020 – and were met with Israeli snipers and airstrikes that killed hundreds (NOTE: read about this protest, called the Great March of Return, here).
Mainstream media that describe Israel and Hamas as having fought “multiple wars” since the siege began, fail to contextualize the statement. Over 700,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homes and villages in 1948; many of them and their descendants live in refugee camps in Palestine and scattered throughout the Arab world, awaiting their internationally guaranteed right of return. Millions have been under occupation since 1967; human rights organizations like Amnesty International consider Palestinians in the entire region to be living under apartheid rule.
US President Joe Biden has expressed solidarity with Israel and “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself.
Separately, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has as history of helping Israel, declared that the US “unequivocally condemns the appalling attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israel, including civilians and civilian communities.”
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY. CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES.
For a complete list of Palestinians and Israelis killed since 2000, please visit Israel-Palestine Timeline (This is not yet updated with today’s deaths)
BACKGROUND ON THE CONFLICT:
VIDEOS:
