As it unfolded …
Peter Kohn looks back at the key dates of a year of war for Israel.
October 7, 2023
Israel and the Jewish world are stunned by a massive attack from Gaza by Hamas terrorists, which claims more than 1200 lives, with an estimated 240 people abducted and kibbutzim in southern Israel destroyed. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu declares Israel is at war with Hamas. In days and weeks to come, Hezbollah attacks from the north trigger large-scale evacuations of Israel’s north.
October 28
Israel launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. In coming weeks and months, Israel maintains it is minimising civilian casualties, despite widespread claims to the contrary by Hamas and in Western media.
November 24
A temporary truce enables the release of a small number of people abducted by Hamas.
December 1
After Hamas breaks the truce, Israel resumes bombardments of Gaza.
January 16, 2024
Kibbutz Be’eri announces that hostages Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky were killed in Gaza and their bodies are being held by Hamas.
March 5
After a lengthy delay, the UN finds “clear and convincing” evidence that hostages taken by Hamas to Gaza on October 7 were raped and sexually abused.
April 9
Iran threatens to close strategic shipping channels in the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for an alleged Israeli airstrike on its Damascus consulate.
April 13
Iran launches a massive drone and missile strike on Israel but the Iron Dome limits the impact of the widespread attack.
May 11
Israeli vocalist Eden Golan lifts her country’s spirits and boosts morale among Jews and Israel’s supporters worldwide when she holds an Israeli flag aloft at the Eurovision Song Contest.
June 9
Accusing Netanyahu of preventing Israel from achieving “true victory” in its war against Hamas, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz announces his party’s pullout from the government.
July 11
An American official confirms that 500-pound munitions are en route to Israel, while the transfer of 2000-pound bombs remains frozen over concerns their use could harm civilians.
July 21
Houthi terrorists use drones to strike Tel Aviv.
July 24
In an address to Congress, Netanyahu urges the US to give Israel the weaponry to destroy Hamas.
July 31
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh is eliminated in Tehran, shortly after senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr dies after being targeted in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut.
August 6
Hamas names Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in Gaza, as the new head of the terror organisation’s “political bureau”, replacing Haniyeh who died in an bomb blast in July. After Haniyeh’s demise, Israel braces for a threatened retaliatory strike by Iran.
August 14
Hamas signals it will not attend planned ceasefire talks.
August 20
The IDF recovers the bodies of six Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7. They were Alex Dancyg, 75; Yagev Buchshtav, 35; Chaim Peri, 79; Yoram Metzger, 80; Nadav Popplewell, 51; and Avraham Munder, 78. Days later, Bedouin hostage Farhan al-Qadi, 52, is rescued from a Gaza tunnel by the IDF. But before the end of the month, six more dead hostages are found – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Carmel Gat, 40; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Alexander Lobanov, 33; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Ori Danino, 25.
September 1
A day of massive demonstrations against the Netanyahu government over its handling of the hostage abductions brings Israel almost to a standstill.
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