Al-Aqsa Flood

The Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023 was a sequence of attacks involving Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups who launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza Envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The attacks coincided with the Jewish religious holiday Simchat Torah. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups named the attacks Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, while in Israel they are referred to as Black Sabbath or the Simchat Torah Massacre, and internationally as the 7 October attacks. The attacks which led to the deaths of around 1,200 Israelis, the largest number of Jews murdered since the Second World War, initiated the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.

Kibbutz Bari after the massacre

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• How very dare this documentary trick us by showing Hamas as murderous terrorists and Israeli citizens as relatable human beings?
  • Hadley Freeman from a post on X (10 October 2024), as cited by Rachel Fink in "Review Criticizing Oct. 7 Documentary for Demonizing Gazans as Killers or Looters Deleted by The Guardian", Haaretz (10 October 2024)
  • In response to a (later deleted) television review in The Guardian of One Day in October, a documentary on the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel.

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• First and foremost, I believe that we must never forget. I will never forget October 7, and the world must never forget. We must work to ensure nothing like the horrors of October 7 can ever happen again. And on this solemn day, I will restate my pledge to always ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and that I will always work to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish people here and around the world.
  • Vice President Harris and Second Gentleman Mark October 7, 2023 Hamas Attack on Israel (October 7, 2024) on w:C-SPAN
• What Hamas did was a massacre
  • Tzipi Livni, former Israeli Foreign Minister, On GPS during an interview with Fareed Zakaria on October 8, 2023

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• We will win this war, but the price is too heavy to bear.

This is a very difficult day for all of us.

What happened today is not seen in Israel - and I will make sure that it does not happen again.

The entire government stands behind this decision.

I say to the residents of Gaza: get out of there now, because we will act everywhere and with all the strength.

Citizens of Israel, we are at war, not in an operation or in rounds, but at war.

This morning, Hamas launched a murderous surprise attack against the State of Israel and its citizens.

We have been in this since the early morning hours

I call on the citizens of Israel to strictly adhere to the directives of the IDF and Home Front Command.

We are at war and we will win it

• • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu according to Israel at war: Israel embassy reports 100 Israelis kidnapped (By GADI ZAIG, MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN, YONAH JEREMY BOB OCTOBER 7, 2023 Updated: OCTOBER 8, 2023)

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• I want to see a Palestinian state existing alongside a safe and secure Israel and what frustrates me so much is that what Hamas has done over the last few days has set back the cause of peace that I am so desperate to see in the Middle East and that people across Labour are desperate to see in the Middle East.


But terrorism is not the way to get there and I am appalled by what we have seen.

• • Rachel Reeves speaking on Times Radio, as cited in "You must believe Hamas are terrorists to be in Labour, says Rachel Reeves", The Telegraph (9 October 2023)

Video clips

• CNN speaks with Israel's former ambassador to the U.N. about the attacks in Israel CNN Danny Dannon interview October 8, 2023