2023.10.07 - October 7th Hamas Attack

Sources

1. “2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.” Wikipedia. Accessed April 28th, 2024.
2. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, “Mission report: official visit of the Office of the SRSG-SVC to Israel and the occupied West Bank: 29 January – 14 February 2024” New York. UN. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. 2024.
3. Screams Before Silence, “Screams Before Silence,” YouTube Video, 56:55, April 25th, 2024.
4. Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Swords of Iron: Civilian Casualties.” Official Israeli Government Website. Accessed April 28, 2024.
5. “Documents brought back from the Gaza Strip indicate…” The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. January 20th, 2024.
6. “Hamas says October 7 attack was a ‘necessary step’, admits to ‘some faults’.” Al Jazeera. January 21st, 2024.
7. Mahoutchi, Farid. “Iran News: Former Officials Warn of Consequences of Iran’s Role in Middle East Crisis.” NCRI (blog). April 9, 2024.
8. Summer Said, Benoit Faucon, Stephen Kalin. “Iran Helped Plot Attack on Israel Over Several Weeks - WSJ.” Wallstreet Journal. October 8th, 2023.

Belligerents

1. Gaza Strip
   1. Hamas
   2. Palestinian Islamic Jihad
   3. Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
   4. Notable Leaders
      1. Commander Mohammed Deif
      2. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh
      3. Gaza Strip Leader - Yahya Sinwar
   5. ~3,000 militants entered Gaza

https://twitter.com/JoeTruzman/status/1712253680022630827

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1. Israel
   1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
   2. Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant

Casualties and losses

1. Gaza Strip
   1. 1,609 militants killed
   2. 200 militants captured

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1. Israel
   1. 1,177 killed, 872 civilians (58 were police, ) , and 305 were soldiers
   2. 3,400 civilians and soldiers wounded
   3. 247 civilians and soldiers taken captive
   4. 1 missing

Location

• The Gaza Strip, The Gaza Envelope, Israel

Causes

• The attacks had likely been planned for over a year before they were executed.
• In a 16 page report titled “Our Narrative,” published in January, Hamas claimed the reasons for the October 7th were the constructions of settlement, the Judaization of the Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, and the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians from 2000 and onwards.

Events

October 7th Assault

• 6:30 AM, Hamas commander Mohammed Deif announces the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
  • Shortly after, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh made a similar announcement via TV address.
• Within the first 20 minutes, Deif claimed more than 5,000 rockets had been fired. Israeli sources reported the launch of 3,000 projects, killing 5.
• Palestinian militants also opened fire on Israeli boats off the Gaza Strip.
• As the rockets were launching, about 2,900 militants invaded Israel via at least 30 different locations using ground vehicles, speedboats and powered paragliders.
• Multiple massacres unfolded at the Nova music festival, Nir Oz, Be’eri, Netiv HaAsara, Kfar Aza. An amphibious assault was carried out in Zikim, north of Gaza.
• The majority of the attacks were carried out within a few hours, with some holdouts and fighting continuing through October 10th.

Hostages

• On October 16th, Hamas claimed they were holding 250 hostages and had taken them to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners.
  • Almost half the hostages were foreign nationals or held multiple citizenships.
• Some of these hostages were handed off to other groups.

Intent to Harm Civilians

• The IDF claimed to have recovered documents illustrating the intent of Palestinian fighters entering Israel on October 7th. ⁵

Documents brought back from the Gaza Strip indicate that Hamas premeditated its atrocities against Israelis and to kidnap and maltreat them

• The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, January 20th, 2024.

The documents indicate that violent attacks on civilians had been planned in advance. Training included careful preparations for attacking shelters to take hostages, stripping them and threatening to kill them while questioning them. The captured documents show profound anti-Semitism coupled with radical Islamist ideology of the type which characterizes extremist organizations such as ISIS and al-Qaeda. … Document 1: A hand-written note calling for the brutal murder of Jews A handwritten note found in the pocket of a commander of the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, who was one of the perpetrators of the terrorist attack and massacre on October 7, 2023. He wrote it for his subordinates before he was killed near the border on the Israel side, and it was apparently written to encourage them before the attack. … Document 2: An Arabic-Hebrew phrasebook Among the documents found was an Arabic-Hebrew phrasebook with Hebrew words and phrases transliterated into Arabic characters. The pamphlet was found in the possession of the Jerusalem Battalion of the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, and was apparently distributed to terrorists who participated in the October 7, 2023 attack and massacre, who were supposed to use it. Its contents are shocking and testify to the terrorists’ intentions and plans, including attacking and humiliating civilians, stealing their vehicles, separating men, women and children, capturing and murdering civilians. Some of the Hebrew phrases are, “Take off your pants,” “Where is your weapon?” “I will kill you,” “You are a prisoner,” “Where is the head of the kibbutz?” “We have hostages,” “We will kill the captives,” “Where are the car keys?” “Men are here,” “Women are here,” “The children are here,” “Take off your clothes,” “Where is the commander?” … Document 3: Practice drills for kidnapping civilians A document seized by the IDF in one of the Hamas strongholds in the Gaza Strip revealed details of the preparations made by Hamas operatives prior to the terrorist attack and massacre in the cities, towns and villages near the Gaza Strip, indicating that the planning of the attack included locating the shelters to deliberately harm as well as kidnap civilians, including women, children and the elderly. The document includes a follow-up report on a platoon exercise carried out by Hamas operatives in preparation for the massacre as well as a review, apparently written by one of the commanders, about the operatives’ performance during the exercise. Among the criticisms it was written, “No thorough operation was carried out to increase the number of hostages (number of women, children, men…),” indicating that the terrorists planned to kidnap civilians.

Sexual Violence

• There is strong evidence indicating widespread sexual violence occurred during the October 7th attacks. ²
• The UN did an investigation related to sexual violence conducted by its own investigators and did not rely on any interrogations nor accounts collected by the Israeli intelligence bodies.
• Many different factors complicated the identification of sexual violence, including volunteers helping to expedite burial efforts, some misinterpretations of bodies discovered in certain positions, and bodies being burned beyond recognition.
• Due to the harsh level of scrutiny some survivors received after coming forward, further survivors were hesitant to come forward with their names or specific details attached.

Mission report : official visit of the Office of the SRSG-SVC to Israel and the occupied West Bank : 29 January – 14 February 2024

• UN. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, March 4th, 2024.

The complexity and modus operandi of the attacks, which seem to have occurred over three cumulative waves, appear to demonstrate a significant level of planning, coordination and detailed prior knowledge of the targets selected. … These included limited survivor and witness testimony, limited forensic evidence due to the large number of casualties and dispersed crime scenes in a context of persistent hostilities; the loss of potentially valuable evidence due to the interventions of some inadequately trained volunteer first responders; the prioritization of rescue operations and the recovery, identification, and burial of the deceased in accordance with religious practices, over the collection of forensic evidence. Further, a significant number of the recovered bodies had suffered destructive burn damage, which made the identification of potential crimes of sexual violence impossible. … The lack of trust by survivors of the 7 October attacks and families of hostages in national institutions and international organizations, such as the United Nations, as well as the national and international media scrutiny of those who made their accounts public, hindered access to survivors of the attacks, including potential survivors/victims of sexual violence. … Based on the information gathered by the mission team from multiple and independent sources, there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations. … At the Nova music festival and its surroundings, there are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple incidents of sexual violence took place with victims being subjected to rape and/or gang rape and then killed or killed while being raped. … The mission team also found a pattern of bound naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down, in some cases tied to structures including trees and poles, along Road 232. … With respect to hostages, the mission team found clear and convincing information that some have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence including rape and sexualized torture and sexualized cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and it also has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing. … It must be noted that witnesses and sources with whom the mission team engaged adopted over time an increasingly cautious and circumspect approach regarding past accounts, including in some cases retracting statements made previously. Some also stated to the mission team that they no longer felt confident in their recollections of other assertions that had appeared in the media. … The mission team reviewed incidents of alleged sexual violence related to hostages in Gaza. Based on the first-hand accounts of released hostages, the mission team received clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment occurred against some women and children during their time in captivity and has reasonable grounds to believe that this violence may be ongoing. … Based on first-hand accounts of released hostages there are reasonable grounds to believe that female hostages were also subjected to other forms of sexual violence. … Overall, based on the totality of information gathered from multiple and independent sources at the different locations, there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred at several locations across the Gaza periphery, including in the form of rape and gang rape, during the 7 October 2023 attacks. Credible circumstantial information, which may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualized torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, was also gathered. … With regards to the hostages, the mission team found clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence and has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.

• On April 25th, “Screams Before Silence” was released, where at least two different women detailed sexual violence they had been subjected to, with Agam Goldstein claiming that half the female hostages she came into contact with had been subjected to some sort of sexual violence.

Casualty Number Revisions

• Due to the badly charred bodies, Israel began revising casualty counts after identifying some as Hamas fighters.

”40 behead babies”

Outcome

• In response to these October 7th attacks, Israel launched Operation Swords of Iron and began the largest ever incursion into the Gaza Strip to eliminate Hamas and rescue the captured Israeli hostages.

Important Notes

1. This was the largest terrorist attack in the history of Israel, and the largest single-day casualty event in Jewish history since the Holocaust.
2. This attack had likely been planned for at least a year in advance, likely with significant help from Iran.
3. This attack was the inciting moment for the ensuing 2023.10.07-ongoing - Israel-Hamas War.

Violations of LoAC

• Hamas
  • Principle of Distinction (Rule 1)
  • Violence aimed at spreading terror (Rule 2)
  • Booby-Trapping bodies (Rule 80)
  • Sexual violence (Rule 93)
  • Taking hostages (Rule 96)
  • Mutilating bodies (Rule 113)