What happened on 7 October?published at 07:18 BST
07:18 BST
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption,
A torched house at Kibbutz Nir Oz photographed in December 2023, two months after the Hamas-led attack
Shortly after sunrise on 7 October 2023, the Hamas-led attack on Israel began.
It started with a barrage of thousands of rockets fired into the country.
As rockets flew, an estimated 6,000 Hamas-led militants breached the border into Israel in dozens of places, entering in cars, on motorbikes or in some cases by paraglider.
They attacked military bases and stormed through multiple kibbutzim – small villages – near the border, burning homes and killing civilians. One kibbutz, Nir Oz, saw 41 people killed and 76 kidnapped out of its 400-strong community
The attackers also targeted a music festival in the Negev desert. They gunned down partygoers at Nova festival, killing 378 people and kidnapping 44 more, according to an IDF tally.
In total, around 1,200 people killed and 251 others were taken as hostages, making it the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel responded to the 7 October attacks by launching a military offensive in Gaza, triggering a war which has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption,
Thousands of rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel on 7 October. This street in Tel Aviv was among the places damaged