One Year After Hamas Attack: Middle East Transformed
On the morning of October 7, hundreds of armed Hamas fighters launched an attack on Israel’s borders. This assault included breaching border fences and infiltrating Israeli military bases. Reports indicate that Hamas forces quickly disabled surveillance cameras and penetrated military installations.
Experts believe this operation was carried out using sophisticated tactics and high-level coordination, demonstrating careful planning and extensive preparation by Hamas forces.
One year after Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Middle East has witnessed profound geopolitical and humanitarian changes. This attack, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, led to a bloody conflict that highlighted the region’s strategic, geopolitical, and humanitarian complexities.
The October 7 attack, which involved the use of rockets, paragliders, and other means to infiltrate more than 20 areas in Israel, caught the Israeli army off guard and resulted in significant casualties. Israel’s rapid military response pushed the region towards a wider conflict.
These clashes caused many civilians on both sides to suffer and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
According to official Israeli figures, about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s initial attack, including 859 civilians, 283 soldiers, 57 police officers, and 10 Shin Bet members. This attack has been described as the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust.
On the Palestinian side, the Gaza Health Ministry has reported that over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel’s retaliatory attacks in Gaza alone, with more than half of the casualties being women and children. Moreover, this attack has led to direct confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon, resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries and displacements daily due to Israel’s direct airstrikes in Beirut.
Today, a year after that day, the situation in the Middle East has been severely affected, and the risk of direct confrontation between Iran and Israel is greater than ever before.
The October 7 attack also had widespread economic and social impacts. Financial markets worldwide fluctuated due to concerns about escalating tensions and potential effects on oil prices and other commodities. Additionally, this attack prompted many countries to reassess their Middle East policies and seek new solutions to reduce tensions.
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