Remembering the October 7 Massacre One Year On
IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Halevi: “We are destroying our enemies’ capabilities, and we will ensure that these capabilities are not rebuilt, so that October 7th is never repeated.”
The morning of October 7, 2023, began with horror and initial confusion. I woke up to initial news reports of massive rocket attacks on southern Israel and dozens of Israeli casualties. The death toll rose at a staggering rate with every passing hour.
That feeling turned into a deep sense of helplessness as I watched the clips of Hamas terrorists committing horrific crimes against Israeli soldiers and civilians alike. Those brutal images are etched in my memory to this day.
The terrorists had breached the Israeli border defenses and taken everyone by surprise. And behind Hamas terrorists came hoards of men — who the mainstream media has since referred to as ‘Gaza civilians’. They, too, rejoiced in rape and murder. They took Israeli men, women, and children captive. They cheered as the lifeless and naked bodies of the hostages were paraded through the streets of Gaza. They punched and spat on them amid triumphant chants of Allahu Akbar.
The enemy struck Israel with an element of devastating surprise. The October 7 massacre was unleashed on a Saturday — a Sabbath and the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.
As the dust from the horrific attack settled, nearly 1200 Israelis were reported dead, and 251, including women, infants, and elderly, had been taken as hostages to Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published the accounts of how the massacre began:
At 6:30 A.M., 2,500 rockets were fired toward Israel. Not only the towns near Gaza were hit, but also towns dozens of kilometers from the Green Line. Sirens went off across the south of the country, as well as in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The attack caused massive civilian casualties, with direct hits on residential areas including Ashkelon, Ashdod, Be’er Sheva, and Sderot.
While Israeli civilians were forced to take cover in bomb shelters all across the country, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists invaded Israel. The terrorists fired mortars at guard towers located on the demarcation line with Gaza and broke through the protective barrier on ATVs and cars; some of them flew into civilian areas on paragliders. One of Hamas’ elite commando units managed to get to the beach near Kibbutz Zikim via boat.
The terrorists used explosive devices and bulldozers to destroy the fences between Israel and Gaza. In total, the terrorists broke through the fences in more than 100 places. The terrorists targeted villages around Gaza, where they carried out a full-scale invasion and abducted hostages from their homes. Additionally, IDF military bases in southern Israel were targeted.
WATCH: IDF releases hitherto unseen footage of soldiers and civilians fighting side by side on Oct 7 pic.twitter.com/d03923dUOM
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 6, 2024
After a year of fighting in Gaza, more than a hundred Israeli hostages are still unaccounted for, many of them likely murdered or tortured to death by Hamas and its helpers in Gaza. For the Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity the ordeal of rape and torture continues to this day.
#October7Massacre: These are the 101 Israeli hostages still being held captive in Gaza!
Don't look away. Say their names.
Demand their release! pic.twitter.com/Fl6JlWzcqV
— Arsen Ostrovsky 🎗️ (@Ostrov_A) October 7, 2024
Rape and mutilation were systematically deployed by Hamas to terrorize and humiliante Israeli civilians on October 7. “Hamas’s attack on October 7 included brutal sexual assaults, carried out systematically and deliberately towards Israeli civilians,” an investigation by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel concluded. “The genitals of both women and men were brutally mutilated, and sometimes weapons were inserted into them. The terrorists did not stop at shooting; they also cut and mutilated sexual organs and other body parts with knives.”
Nowhere was it more glaringly visible than at the site of the Nova music festival, a gathering of young people near Kibbutz Reim. Dozens of Hamas terrorists on Paragliders descended on a crowd of young revelers. The site of the dance festival was turned into a killing field. Terrorists raped young men and women amid corpses of their murdered friends. They killed 364 people at the site and took more than 40 hostage.
The deranged terrorists even took dead bodies as trophies and bargaining chips back to Gaza.
As Israelis mark the somber anniversary, the IDF troops are still working on plans to rescue alive hostages and retrieve the bodies of the dead ones. Despite all the odds, the Israeli special forces did succeed in rescuing some hostages.
These operations and the ongoing military offensive in Gaza came at an immeasurable price for the IDF and the Israeli people. “A total of 728 soldiers, reservists, and local security officers have been killed and another 4,576 have been wounded in the war since October 7 — the latest on Sunday. Of them, 346 were killed and 2,299 were wounded during the ground offensive in Gaza,” The Times of Israel reported Monday.
A message from President of Israel @Isaac_Herzog to Jewish communities around the world, on the anniversary of the October 7th terror attack pic.twitter.com/1dp494Jxon
— Office of the President of Israel (@IsraelPresident) October 6, 2024
Hamas’ military capabilities defeated, says IDF chief
The Israeli armed forces have destroyed Hamas’ military capabilities as the Gaza offensive enters its second year, IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said ahead of the October 7 anniversary.
IDF thwarts Hamas attack on October 7 anniversary
The IDF on Monday morning carried out preemptive airstrikes in Gaza to avert Hamas’ plans to stage large-scale attacks to mark the October 7 anniversary.
” The IDF struck Hamas terror targets and launchers throughout the Gaza Strip to thwart an immediate threat,” the Israeli military said early morning. “A short while ago, the IAF [Israeli Air Force] struck Hamas launch posts and underground terrorist infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli news website Ynet reported Sunday that the Israeli troops were “reinforced in anticipation of potential attacks on troops in Gaza or rocket fire, possibly reaching central Israel, on October 7 anniversary.”
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The Bride and I remember the plight of Israel in our prayers daily. We will continue.
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It’s hard to believe it was a year ago, still seems like yesterday
My heart and support is for Israel’s victory to be complete
How did the slaughter of innocent women and children (and men) make it acceptable for the Leftists to unleash suck vile antisemitism?
lets also celebrate israels refusal to allow the fjb led globalist revolt against their plan to actually win the war
Woke up, got out of bed. Dragged a comb across my head
Turned on Faux
A woman read her credentials and spoke of a career in humanitarian crises.
She went on to posit hurricanes, earthquakes and such are humanitarian crises, and gaza is genocide
Even Faux news is carrying water for the genocidal islamists
Hmas is not a race
HAmas brought this on themselves
You don’t hide lethal assets in hospitals and schools and point the finger of morality at the jews who merely resist annihilation
That was when I turned it off
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