How a holy day on October 7 turned ‘Black Shabbat’

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For a lot of, it was the sirens that woke them on 7 October.

The quiet of dawn was damaged by the pressing whirring of air raid alarms round 6.30am.

Others heard the warning whereas dancing at an outside rave celebrating “pals, love and infinite freedom” after a protracted evening of festivities.

The lives of many who heard these sirens have been to be modified ceaselessly.

The alarms marked the start of one of many deadliest days in Israel’s historical past, when a coordinated offensive unleashed by the Islamic militant group Hamas killed round 1,200 individuals, together with 36 kids, in keeping with Israeli authorities.

The positioning of the Supernova music pageant was one of many areas worst hit by militants, who killed tons of of younger partygoers. Supply: Getty / Gil Cohen-Magen

The assault was led primarily by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades — often known as the Qassam Bridages — the army arm of Hamas. At the least 5 different Palestinian armed teams are additionally believed to have been concerned.

The onslaught started when 1000’s of rockets and mortar shells have been launched in the direction of southern and central Israel from the Gaza Strip, a coastal Palestinian territory separated from Israel by a six-metre tall wire fence.

A map showing Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The Gaza Strip is a slender Palestinian territory separated from Israel by a six-metre tall wire fence. Supply: SBS Information

The missiles quickly overwhelmed heading into its territory.

On the similar time, footage of the offensive exhibits fighters breaching Israel’s 65km “iron wall”, a sensible fence topped with razor wire that makes use of radars and cameras to detect motion.

Troopers used explosives to blast via the fencing and a bulldozer to clear the way in which for motorbikes. In the meantime, explosives have been additionally dropped on close by commentary towers.

A bulldozer breaks through a wire fence as people dash through the gap.

Troopers used explosives to interrupt via Israel’s border fence and deployed a bulldozer to clear the trail on 7 October. Supply: Getty / Anadolu Company

A man on a motorbike rides through a broken fence.

Most fighters crossed via breaches in land safety obstacles separating Gaza and Israel. Supply: Getty / Hani Alshaer/Anadolu Company

Militants have been in a position to breach the border in not less than 13 completely different areas, in keeping with Human Rights Watch (HRW), with some arriving in motorised paragliders and pickup vans.

The border seems to have been minimally staffed that day: a Saturday and the Jewish vacation of Simchat Torah.

It is a day that Israelis now name “Black Shabbat”.

A family looks at a large sign with cut-out photos of hundreds of people.

Practically 50 places in Israel have been attacked on 7 October, together with military bases, a music pageant and not less than 19 communal settlements. Supply: Getty / Jack Guez

All through the course of the day, practically 50 places in Israel have been attacked, together with military bases, a music pageant and not less than 19 kibbutzim — communal settlements usually based mostly round farms.

Most are situated inside a number of kilometres of the border, though militants reached Ofakim — 25km inside Israeli territory.

A map showing civilian sites targeted during the October 7 attacks.

A map displaying civilian websites focused throughout the October 7 assaults. Supply: SBS Information

Two boats carrying militants additionally killed not less than 18 civilians at Zikim seashore, throwing grenades right into a public shelter and taking pictures indiscriminately.

Most of these killed have been Israeli civilians — 695 individuals — however the loss of life toll additionally consists of 373 safety personnel and 71 foreigners, together with employees from nations corresponding to China, the Phillippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand, AFP reviews.

Militants additionally seized not less than 250 hostages. A 12 months after the operation, 64 individuals — together with two kids — are nonetheless being held in captivity.

That is how the October 7 assault unfolded and triggered a year-long conflict that has devastated hundreds of thousands.

Lethal rampage at Supernova pageant

Round half of the civilians killed have been partygoers attending Supernova, an outside trance music pageant.

A 3,000-strong crowd had gathered in fields and woods close to Re’im — a kibbutz in southern Israel — to look at performances throughout three phases.

Some campers have been having fun with a dawn dance get together once they began to note smoke within the sky.

“A couple of minutes later, the music stopped. Then we noticed the Iron Dome intercepting rockets,” one participant, Almog Senior, 30, informed HRW.

An organiser of the occasion informed HRW they began evacuating individuals from the location round 6.45am however gunmen appeared and opened fireplace round 8am.

A dome structure covered in ripped colourful fabric.

Destroyed automobiles and private results have been left scattered across the Supernova pageant web site after the October 7 assault. Supply: Getty / Alexi J. Rosenfeld

“We have been tons of of individuals working,” Dan Liebersohn, 22, informed HRW.

The militants went on an hour-long rampage, forsaking tons of of useless — a lot of whom had been burned. The street to the pageant was left affected by torched automobiles.

An aerial photo shows abandoned and burned cars at the site of the October 7 attack.

The street to the Supernova music pageant was left affected by deserted and torched automobiles. Supply: Getty / Jack Guez/AFP

Different festivalgoers have been taken hostage, together with Shani Louk, a 22-year-old twin Israeli and German citizen. She was filmed stripped right down to her underwear at the back of a pickup truck and surrounded by males.

She was later confirmed useless.

Kibbutz secure homes didn’t cease militants

Militants additionally went door-to-door in kibbutzim and different communities, taking pictures residents useless and setting their properties on fireplace.

Whereas many residents took shelter of their secure rooms, that are usually designed to maintain individuals secure from rockets, they weren’t protected against gunfire.

Nadav Tzabari, 34, remembers the chilling second he realised militants have been infiltrating the kibbutz at Nahal Oz.

“The primary feeling was horror … since you really perceive that the hazard shouldn’t be coming from missiles. These are literally individuals whose intention is to kill you.”

Two cars are stopped on the road with their doors open, in the foreground, what appears to be bodies can be seen.

Militants additionally went door-to-door in kibbutzim and different communities, taking pictures residents useless and setting their properties on fireplace. Supply: Getty / OREN ZIV/AFP

Because of the public vacation, it took hours for Israeli forces to succeed in sure areas, which meant a lot of the early preventing was left to part-time group volunteers who have been a part of native speedy response groups referred to as Kitat Konenut.

Within the kibbutz of Be’eri, residents have been compelled to defend themselves for seven hours earlier than assist arrived.

Round 100 civilians have been killed — one-tenth of its inhabitants — together with 10-month-old Mila Cohen, who was shot whereas hiding along with her mom in a secure room.

Sagi Shifroni, 41, described the fear of the assault in Be’eri to HRW, saying he took refuge in his secure room along with his five-year-old daughter after being woken by the sound of sirens.

Round 11am he says militants fired on the door and later set his home on fireplace, forcing him to smash a window within the secure room to flee.

Shifroni had no shirt or footwear on and says he cannot keep in mind leaping out of the window along with his daughter wrapped in a blanket. He later realised the pores and skin on his toes was peeling off and his physique was lined in second and third-degree burns.

Most of the buildings in kibbutz Be’eri have been set alight. Supply: Getty / Jack Guez/AFP

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) troopers didn’t attain Shifroni and his household till round 7.30pm and so they did not obtain medical therapy till round midnight.

An discovered the IDF didn’t fulfil its mission to defend residents at Be’eri and didn’t at all times prioritise civilian lives — even ready outdoors the kibbutz for hours whereas residents have been killed inside.

Proof of sexual violence

A Fee of Inquiry established by the United Nations Human Rights Council examined the October 7 assaults and concluded conflict crimes had been dedicated by members of Hamas and others taking part within the assault.

In its June 2024 report, the fee discovered the militants had “intentionally killed, injured, mistreated, [taken] hostages and dedicated sexual and gender-based violence”.

A woman wearing sunglasses holds her hand to her mouth as she stands over a coffin draped in the Israeli flag.

A UN Fee of Inquiry examined the October 7 assaults and concluded that conflict crimes have been dedicated by Hamas and others concerned. Supply: Getty / Dan Kitwood

The fee additionally discovered “vital proof on the desecration of corpses, together with sexualised desecration, decapitations, lacerations, burning, severing of physique components and undressing”.

“Ladies have been subjected to gender-based violence throughout the course of their execution or abduction. Ladies and ladies’s our bodies have been used as victory trophies by male perpetrators.”

The fee mentioned it discovered the kidnapping of youngsters “significantly egregious”.

‘We’re at conflict’: Israel’s devastating retaliation

Israel’s response to the assault on its residents has lowered a lot of the Gaza Strip to rubble.

By the afternoon of seven October, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had convened a safety cupboard assembly in Tel Aviv and declared, “we’re at conflict”.

That evening, Israeli forces started putting targets in Gaza. Since then, huge swathes of the territory have been devastated by relentless airstrikes.

At the least 41,615 individuals have been killed within the Gaza Strip over the previous 12 months, in keeping with the well being ministry in Gaza, and one other 96,251 wounded.

The World Well being Organisation (WHO) says greater than 1 / 4 of these wounded have sustained life-changing accidents, together with extreme limb accidents, amputations and main burns.

Final 12 months, UN Secretary-Normal António Guterres described the “nightmare in Gaza” as a “disaster of humanity”, saying the territory had develop into a “graveyard for youngsters”.

Docs at al-Shifa hospital, the place Israeli forces battled Hamas fighters final 12 months, described dire circumstances for sufferers, together with untimely infants struggling to outlive with out entry to incubators.

“I by no means anticipated in my life that I’d put 39 infants aspect by aspect on a mattress, every with a distinct illness, and on this acute scarcity of medical employees and of milk,” Dr Mohamed Tabasha informed Reuters.

WHO says simply 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals stay partially purposeful.

Aerial shot showing destroyed buildings.

A 14-day siege across the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza Metropolis in March decimated a lot of the hospital and its surrounds. Supply: Getty / Omar El Qattaa/Anadolu

The conflict has displaced an estimated 90 per cent of Gaza’s inhabitants of two.1 million individuals, in keeping with the UN’s Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

A UNICEF official informed AFP an estimated 19,000 kids are unaccompanied or have been separated from their dad and mom.

Evaluation of satellite tv for pc knowledge by Corey Scher of CUNY Graduate Middle and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State College, discovered 58.7 per cent of buildings within the Gaza Strip had doubtless been broken for the reason that begin of the conflict.

A compressed satellite image shows damage in the Gaza Strip.

Evaluation of injury in Gaza Strip utilizing Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite tv for pc knowledge by Corey Scher of CUNY Graduate Middle and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State College.

A UN Satellite tv for pc Centre evaluation issued on 30 September discovered “two-thirds of the full buildings within the Gaza Strip have sustained injury” after practically a 12 months of conflict.

Authorities condemn Israel’s Gaza operations

The UN’s Fee of Inquiry report in July concluded Israel’s retaliation in opposition to Gaza had additionally resulted in conflict crimes, crimes in opposition to humanity and different worldwide legislation violations.

The fee says it “discovered that the crimes in opposition to humanity of extermination; homicide; gender persecution concentrating on Palestinian males and boys; forcible switch; and torture and inhuman and merciless therapy have been dedicated”.

Amongst its different findings, the fee says Israeli authorities have used “hunger as a way of warfare”, dedicated acts of homicide or wilful killing, deliberately directed assaults in opposition to civilians, dedicated acts of sexual violence, torture and inhuman or merciless therapy, arbitrary detention and outrages upon private dignity.

Children walk through rubble, past makeshift tents. There are destroyed buildings in the background.

A UN Satellite tv for pc Centre evaluation discovered that “two-thirds of the full buildings within the Gaza Strip have sustained injury” after practically a 12 months of battle. Supply: Getty / Hani Alshaer/Anadolu

Israel’s operations have additionally seen it accused of genocide. South Africa filed a case within the Worldwide Court docket of Justice in December alleging breaches of the 1948 UN Genocide Conference. Its case has been joined by a number of nations, together with Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Spain and Türkiye.

Israel has strongly denied the accusation.

In Might, the prosecutor of the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC) , on suspicion of conflict crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity.

Netanyahu rejected the landmark request, saying in an announcement: “No matter this prosecutor would possibly suggest, there isn’t a equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected conflict crimes claims. Supply: Getty / Ohad Zwigenberg/AFP

Hamas responded, saying it “strongly condemns” the ICC prosecutor’s software in opposition to its leaders.

In latest months, the battle has continued to unfold, with Israel launching assaults in Lebanon concentrating on militant group Hezbollah, which it claims poses “an instantaneous menace to Israeli communities in northern Israel”.

World leaders have urged de-escalation, together with Australia’s Overseas Minister Penny Wong, who has and a transparent timeline on recognising Palestinian statehood.

Thus far the calls have remained unheeded.

Further reporting by AFP