On 7 October, Hamas carried out an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel. Under the cover of a barrage of rockets, fighters from the Hamas
19 Feb 2024
On 7 October, Hamas carried out an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel. Under the cover of a barrage of rockets, fighters from the Hamas military wing, the Qassam Brigades, broke through the Gaza border fence to attack nearby military bases and settlements (kibbutzim).
Israel claims that during the attack, Hamas fighters massacred some 1,200 Israelis, the majority civilians, while committing unthinkable atrocities.
A close review of events on 7 October shows that Hamas fighters instead carried out what amounted to both a military assault and mass kidnapping operation to break Israel’s decades long siege on Gaza, which many view as the world’s largest concentration camp.
In the process, they did kill hundreds of Israelis, including soldiers, police, and civilians, while taking hundreds more as captives back to Gaza.
At the same time, many of the claims made by Israel about the scale and nature of Hamas atrocities, including the most horrific, have proven to be fabrications.
Shockingly, many of the Israeli civilians and soldiers who died that day were killed not by Hamas, but by Israeli forces themselves, both as a result of friendly fire and the controversial military policy known as the “Hannibal Directive.”
The policy dictates it is better for Israel to kill its own soldiers or civilians rather than allow an enemy to take them captive.
As detailed below, the Israeli military unleashed overwhelming firepower to reconquer the military bases and kibbutzim near Gaza that had been taken over by Hamas.
