One Year of the Hamas-Israel War: A Bloody Conflict and Its Lasting Impact
Reflecting on the Devastating Hamas Attack, Israel's Retaliation, and the Toll of a Year-Long War
The Hamas-Israel war has now completed a year. On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a deadly attack by infiltrating Israeli territory. During the attack, over 1,200 Israeli civilians were killed, and around 250 people were taken hostage. In response, Israel has continuously retaliated by targeting Hamas positions in Gaza. So far, besides the Israeli civilians, thousands of Hamas fighters, other militant groups, over 42,000 Palestinian civilians, and hundreds of Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ongoing conflict.
Let’s take a look at what happened in Israel a year ago, how the Hamas-Israel war has unfolded, the damage both sides have suffered, the weapons used, and what happened to the hostages taken during the attack.
October 7, 2023: The Invasion
On October 7, 2023, Hamas broke through Israel’s highly regarded security defenses and carried out a massive attack. More than 1,200 Israelis were killed, and during the chaos, Hamas fighters took around 250 hostages back to Gaza. Following the attack, Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas entirely, leading to relentless aerial and ground operations in Gaza. Over the past year, the bloody war between Hamas and Israel has continued. Several ceasefire attempts have been made but ended in failure.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Report on the One-Year War
To mark the one-year anniversary of the war, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published detailed data on their operations in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, including the number of Hamas fighters killed and the targets destroyed.
- In the past year, Israel has bombed over 40,000 targets in Gaza, destroyed 4,700 tunnels, and eliminated 1,000 rocket launcher sites. Since the beginning of the war, 13,200 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza.
- Additionally, 12,400 rockets were launched from Lebanon, 60 from Syria, 180 from Yemen, and 400 from Iran.
- The IDF reported killing over 800 fighters in Lebanon, and they have conducted 4,900 airstrikes and targeted 6,000 ground positions.
- In the West Bank and Jordan Valley, more than 5,000 suspects have been arrested in the past year.
Israel also claimed to have killed eight brigade commanders, 30 battalion commanders, and 165 company commanders of Hamas over the past year.
Human Toll and Civilian Losses
According to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry, over 42,000 Palestinian civilians have died in the conflict. This figure includes civilians as well as Hamas members. Several Hamas members were also killed due to rocket misfires.
Damage to Israel
The war officially began when Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 people and the capture of around 250 hostages. According to Israeli military reports, more than 100 hostages remain under Hamas control.
As for military casualties, since October 7, 726 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Of these, 380 soldiers died during the initial Hamas attacks, and 346 were killed in the fighting that began in Gaza on October 27, 2023. The number of injured Israeli soldiers has risen to 4,576. Additionally, 56 soldiers died due to operational accidents.
The IDF stated that since the war began, Israel has mobilized 300,000 reserve troops, comprising 82% men and 18% women, with nearly half of them between the ages of 20 and 29.
Regional Escalation
Following the start of the Gaza conflict, several Iran-backed armed groups also engaged with Israel. These groups included Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Amid this conflict, on July 31, 2024, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a blast in Tehran, Iran, while attending Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony. Hamas blamed Israel for the attack, although Israel neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
On September 28, 2024, Israel carried out a significant attack on southern Beirut, destroying at least six residential buildings and causing widespread panic in the city. In this operation, Hassan Nasrallah, who had led Hezbollah for over three decades, was killed. Hezbollah confirmed his death the next day.
