2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel

On 7 October 2023, the paramilitary wings of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, PRC, PFLP and DFLP launched a series of coordinated armed incursions into the Gaza envelope of neighboring Israeli territory. The attacks, on a Saturday, initiated the Israel–Hamas war, almost exactly 50 years after Operation Badr and the greater Yom Kippur War of 6 October 1973. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups named the attacks Operation Al-Aqsa Flood (or Deluge; Arabic: عملية طوفان الأقصى, romanized: ʿamaliyyat ṭūfān al-ʾAqṣā, usually romanised as "Tufan Al-Aqsa" or "Toofan Al-Aqsa"), while in Israel they are referred to as Black Saturday (Hebrew: השבת השחורה) or the Simchat Torah Massacre (הטבח בשמחת תורה), and internationally as the 7 October attack.

The attacks began in the early morning with a rocket barrage of at least 3,000 rockets launched against Israel and vehicle-transported and powered paraglider incursions into its territory. Hamas fighters breached the Gaza–Israel barrier, massacring Israeli civilian communities, including in Be'eri, Kfar Aza, and at the Nova music festival, and attacking military bases. The attacks resulted in 1,139 deaths—695 Israeli civilians (including 36 children), 71 foreign nationals, and 373 members of the security forces. Approximately 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip, including 30 children, with the stated goal to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners. Numerous accounts of rape and sexual assault by Hamas fighters have been reported, which Hamas has denied.

Hamas said its attack was in response to the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, rising Israeli settler violence, and recent escalations.

At least 44 nations denounced the attack as terrorism, while some Arab and Muslim countries blamed the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories as the root cause of the attack. The day was labeled the bloodiest in Israel's history and the deadliest for Jews since the Holocaust.