In the predawn hours of October 7, 2023, Ezz ad-Din al-Haddad, known as "Abu Saheeb," gathered his commanders in secret. As the head of Hamas's Gaza City Brigade, he personally handed each a printed sheet bearing the logo of the group's military wing. "With faith in crushing victory," it read, "the leadership has approved the start of the great military operation 'Al-Aqsa Flood'."
What followed was a meticulously planned assault that would shock the world and plunge the region into war.
The attack unfolded in waves, each with a chilling purpose. First came the elite Nukhba forces, breaching Israel's defenses with military precision. They were followed by waves of Hamas fighters and finally, civilians drawn into the violence.
What transpired that day went beyond military strategy. It revealed a disturbing synergy between trained militants and civilians swept up in a tide of violence. Their orders were stark: "Kidnap as many as possible. If there's resistance - kill."
The planning extended to the smallest details. In Kfar Aza, militants left weapons outside homes, baiting Israeli soldiers into booby-trapped buildings. Bodies were rigged with grenades. The cruelty was not random, but part of a calculated strategy to inflict maximum terror.
Perhaps most chilling were the "civilian" participants. Responding to calls from mosque loudspeakers, some Gaza residents crossed into Israel armed with knives or axes. "We heard Mohammed Deif on the mosque speakers," one captured individual reportedly told Israeli police, "We took a knife with the goal of slaughtering Jews."
The attack's scope was staggering. One captured document revealed Hamas's original plan to seize 221 communities, including the cities of Netivot, Ofakim, and Sderot. While this grandiose vision wasn't fully realized, the devastation wrought was immense.
In Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit areas, survivors recount a day of terror that left few unscathed. Out of 135 houses in Nir Oz, only five were spared from infiltration. Those who couldn't secure their safe rooms faced dire consequences. "They [terrorists] came to me repeatedly, about every hour," recalls a resident identified only as Lahav. "Each time, someone else came to see what else they could steal." The seeming randomness of the violence – a Gazan woman cooking and singing in a stolen home while families hid in fear – adds a surreal layer to the horror.
The attackers engaged in widespread looting. "They took everything," Lahav says, "from shoes and bicycles to electrical appliances and agricultural machinery." More disturbingly, evidence suggests that the intruders also committed acts of kidnapping, arson, and sexual violence.
In a chilling display of inhumanity, the Hamas-led incursion into Israel saw some attackers engage in wanton violence, while others turned to kidnapping for profit. Sources report the emergence of a macabre "price list" for Israeli hostages, with Hamas allegedly offering rewards—in one instance, an apartment—to those who captured civilians.
Prof. Danny Orbach of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem observed that, "The cruelty, according to Hamas, was supposed to be as graphic as possible." According to Israeli authorities, some bodies found in the kibbutzim showed signs of mutilation, including beheading. At least one case of rape has been confirmed through the confession of captured attackers. The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel has compiled a report detailing patterns of sexual abuse across multiple attack sites.
Experts like Dr. Ido Zelkovitz of the University of Haifa argue that October 7 was the culmination of years of indoctrination. "This story was accompanied by long mental preparation, which allowed people to carry out the atrocities they committed," he explains. Hamas's control over Gaza's education system, media, and religious institutions created a powder keg of extremist ideology.
Perhaps most chilling are the parallels some draw to darker chapters of history. Orbach sees echoes of Nazi thinking in Hamas's worldview. "Hamas sees all Jewish presence in 'Palestine' as a kind of contamination. And if you think something is contamination, you want to clean it with fire," he warns.
The motivations of the attackers appear to be a mix of religious fundamentalism and territorial claims. Documents found on Hamas militants included religious justifications for violence against Jews. One note read, "Know that the enemy is a disease that has no cure, except for beheading and uprooting hearts and livers."
The attack's aftermath has left deep scars on the Israeli psyche and raised serious questions about border security and the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations. As investigations continue and survivors struggle to rebuild, the full impact of October 7 is still unfolding, and the road to peace in this troubled land seems more distant than ever, shadowed by the ghosts of that fateful autumn morning, their blood and tears burned into the scorched earth.