At around 6:30 a.m.
Israel Summer Time (UTC+3) on Saturday, October 7, 2023, Hamas announced the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
Al-Qassam Brigades commander
Mohammed Deif gave a speech mentioning Israel's
16-year blockade of Gaza, Israeli incursions in West Bank cities, violence at Al-Aqsa mosque,
Israeli settler violence with the army's support, the confiscation of property and demolition of homes, arbitrarily detaining Palestinians for years until "they wither from cancer and disease", Israel's neglect for international law, American-Western support, and international silence. He then described the operation, that they had drawn the line, and that it was to end "the last occupation on Earth".
Participating and supporting organizations In addition to Hamas, several Palestinian militant groups voiced support for the operation and participated in it to some extent. The
National Resistance Brigades, the armed wing of the
Marxist-Leninist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), confirmed their participation in the operation through their military spokesman
Abu Khaled, saying it had lost three fighters in combat with the IDF. The
PFLP (a Palestinian Marxist–Leninist / secular nationalist political party) and the
Lions' Den group (a nonpartisan militant group based in the
West Bank) voiced support for the operation and declared maximum alertness and general mobilization among their troops. Nine individuals employed by
UNRWA were accused by Israel of participation, and after a months-long internal investigation, were fired for possible involvement.
Rocket fire , a hospital in southern Israel, during the Hamas-led attack on Israel Deif said more than 5,000 rockets had been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel in a span of 20 minutes at the start of the operation. Israeli sources reported the launch of 4,300 projectiles from Gaza, Air raid sirens were activated in
Beersheba,
Jerusalem,
Rehovot,
Rishon LeZion, and
Palmachim Airbase. Hamas issued a call to arms, with Deif calling on "
Muslims everywhere to launch an attack". In a raid on the Sderot police station, 30 Israeli policemen and civilians were killed. Early in the attack the computer systems were destroyed, disabling communication and delaying the response to the attacks. Images and videos on social media showed heavily armed and masked militants dressed in black fatigues riding pickup trucks Other videos appeared to show Israelis taken prisoner, a burning Israeli tank, The UN's
Pramila Patten and
Commission of Inquiry concluded in their reports that the authenticity of these alleged instruction documents, claimed to have been retrieved from Hamas militants, could not be substantiated. Some of the militants wore
body cameras to record the acts, presumably for propaganda purposes. In recordings of Hamas commanders during the attack, published by The New York Times, one commander is heard saying: "Document the scenes of horror, now, and broadcast them on TV channels to the whole world", and "Slaughter them. End the children of Israel". The
Erez Crossing was reported to have come under Hamas control, enabling militants to enter Israel from Gaza. Starting at 6.30a.m. the same day,
a massacre unfolded at an outdoor music festival near
Re'im, resulting in at least 360 dead and many others missing. Witnesses recounted militants on motorcycles opening fire on fleeing participants, who were already dispersing due to rocket fire that had wounded some attendees; some were also taken hostage. Militants killed civilians at
Nir Oz, Be'eri, and
Netiv HaAsara, where they took hostages and set fire to homes, Militants killed 16 or 17 Thai and Nepalese employees during the
Kibbutz Alumim massacre. Other militants carried out an amphibious
landing in Zikim. Palestinian sources claim that the local Israeli army base was stormed. The IDF said it had killed two attackers on the beach and destroyed four vessels, including two rubber boats. Militants also
attacked a military base outside Nahal Oz, leaving 66 soldiers dead and taking seven hostage. An IDF
fire investigation found that the militants had "ignited substances... that contain toxic gasses which can cause suffocation within minutes, or even less" both at the base and in civilian locations. This mass killing had the largest number of casualties out of a number of massacres targeting Israeli civilians in communities adjacent to Gaza that were part of the October 7 attack, alongside those at the communities of
Netiv HaAsara, Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, and
Holit. At 6:30 a.m., around sunrise,
rockets were noticed in the sky. Around 7:00 a.m., a siren warned of an incoming rocket attack, prompting festival-goers to flee. Subsequently, armed militants, dressed in military attire and using motorcycles, trucks and powered paragliders, surrounded the festival grounds and indiscriminately fired on people attempting to escape. Attendees seeking refuge nearby, in bomb shelters, bushes, and orchards, were killed while in hiding. Those who reached the road and parking lot were trapped in a traffic jam as militants fired at vehicles. The militants executed some wounded people at point-blank range as they crouched on the ground. The massacre at the festival has been described as the largest terror attack in Israel's history
Kfar Aza During the Hamas-led attack, around 250
Hamas militants attacked Kfar Aza, a kibbutz about from the border with the Gaza Strip, massacring 62 residents and abducting 19 hostages.
Be'eri On the morning of the attack, around 70 Hamas militants carried out a massacre at Be'eri, an Israeli kibbutz near the Gaza Strip. At least 130 people were killed in the attack, children, and infants, claiming the lives of 10% of the community's residents. Dozens of homes were also burned down. Several newspapers called the massacre an act of terrorism; some compared the brutality of the atrocities to that of
ISIS. Hostages were taken, leading to a standoff with the IDF. According to survivors, there were also deaths from friendly fire; an Israeli tank fired on a house known to contain around 40 Hamas fighters and 14 hostages, among them two children, killing all hostages in the house but one.
Yakhini A squad of Hamas militants that arrived in a van attacked the
moshav of
Yakhini. There were seven casualties in the moshav, including a border police officer. An IDF major in the
Maglan unit was also injured. The community's security coordinator was on holiday in Thailand at the time and remotely directed the moshav's 18-person protection team's response. An 80-year-old Argentinian-Israeli woman died after her home was set on fire and she was unable to escape. A standoff between the attackers and the residents' security team lasted six hours. The leader of the security team, who was in his sixties, was killed in the firefight. A 39-year-old Israeli-Chilean woman was shot eight times. Thirty survivors were discovered in the kibbutz three days after the attack, 14 of whom were
Thai nationals.
Psyduck music festival Psyduck was a small
trance music festival that took place in the open fields near kibbutz
Nir Oz, about from the border of
Gaza. The event drew around 100 participants. Hamas militants attacked the festival, killing 17
Israelis. Some were fatally shot at the festival site, while others were killed as they attempted to escape to nearby kibbutzim. Most survivors hid under small bushes until Israel Defense Forces rescued them a few hours later.
Re'im military base At 10 a.m., less than five hours after the attacks began, fighting was reported at Re'im military base, headquarters of the
Gaza Division. It was later reported that Hamas took control of the base and took several Israeli soldiers captive The base was reportedly the location of IDF drone and surveillance operations. Hamas reportedly posted video of dead Israeli soldiers it had killed at the base.
Nir Am Nir Am was attacked but no residents were harmed.
Inbal Rabin-Lieberman, the 25-year-old security coordinator, alongside her uncle Ami, led a guard detail that killed multiple militants attempting to infiltrate a nearby chicken farm. They successfully deterred the rest of the invading militants from entering the community.
Ofakim In the town of Ofakim, 47 were people killed in the October 7, attacks.
Ofakim was the furthest point reached by the initial intense attacks on October 7. A large proportion of the population of the town is working-class Jews of North African descent. Ofakim was one of the first locations where a "hostages situation" was reported. The militants targeted the parts of the town where the housing was older and did not have individual bomb shelters in every home, and locals reported that the invaders had shot people who were trying to get to communal shelters.
Rahat A number of Qassam Brigades militants infiltrated the
Bedouin city of
Rahat, north-east of
Ofakim and 30 kilometres from Gaza, representing the furthest extent of the incursions by Palestinian militant groups on October 7. Over a month after the initial attack, two militants were arrested by Israeli police.
Failed plans A Hamas group carried intelligence information and maps guiding it to the border of the West Bank, suggesting it had intentions of going all the way to the West Bank. According to a report in
Asharq Al-Awsat, two Hamas units had plans of reaching
Shikma Prison in
Ashkelon (13 km from the Gaza Strip) with the aim of freeing Palestinian inmates. One cell got lost and ended up in
Sderot, at which point they were told to change their plans and operate in Sderot. A second cell which was operating in
Zikim was commanded to go up to Ashkelon, but the cell was completely gunned down by Israeli security forces in Zikim.
Hostages Soon after the start of the Hamas operation, there were reports that many civilians and soldiers had been taken as captives back to the Gaza Strip. Later in the day Hamas announced it had captured enough Israeli soldiers to force a
prisoner swap, In Be'eri, up to 50 people were taken hostage; after an 18-hour standoff between militants and IDF forces, they were freed. Hostages were also reported taken in
Ofakim, where policemen led by
Chief Superintendent Jayar Davidov engaged Palestinian militants in a shootout on October 7; Davidov and three of his men were killed, and the IDF later rescued two Israeli hostages in the suburb of
Urim. There were reports of militants killing and stealing family pets. Hamas took many hostages back to Gaza. On October 16, they said they were holding 250 hostages and that it had done so to force Israel to release its Palestinian prisoners. In addition to hostages with only Israeli citizenship, almost half of the hostages were foreign nationals or held
multiple citizenships. Some hostages were
Negev Bedouins. Some of the hostages, including three members of the
Bibas family, were subsequently handed over to other militant groups.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad ended up holding at least 30 of the hostages, but it is unclear whether they or Hamas originally kidnapped them. According to
Ariel Merari, the raiders "were ordered to kidnap as many [people] as possible... [and] they intentionally kidnapped a populace that is sensitive from the aspect of Israeli public opinion". == Casualties ==