Why did Hamas attack Israel on October 7?

At the time of writing this, 520 Israeli soldiers had been killed and 12,500 wounded, and over 3,000 have sustained life-altering injuries.

Meanwhile, Gaza has been devastated. The Palestinian civilian population has suffered nearly 100,000 casualties. Estimates so far put the killed at 27,000, 70% of whom are women and children. About 80% of buildings in northern Gaza have been destroyed, while some 70% of all urban structures have been levelled. More than 1.8 million civilians have been internally displaced with little to no supplies of food, fuel, water, medicines and other basic necessities of life.

The destruction brings us back to the decision to attack Israel. What did Hamas plan to achieve? Sceptics say Israeli casualties pale in comparison to what the Gazans have had to suffer. So, what is the endgame? What are the scenarios going forward?

A child in Gaza born in 2007 has already gone through four wars (leaving out several other aerial ground attacks outside of those wars) and if she is still alive, is witnessing the fifth genocidal war.

These are genuine questions, asked in good faith. But by focusing on the immediate and the everyday statistics they miss out on the broader picture, the history of the conflict, events that led to the attack and the second- and third-order effects of the current war.

Let’s begin with the simple recorded fact that life for the Palestinians pre-October 7 was a daily hell of arrests, house demolitions, settler violence and raids that regularly killed and injured Palestinians not just in Gaza but also the Occupied Palestinian Territories (West Bank and East Jerusalem).

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs, from 2008 to May 2023 (before the attack), 6,735 Palestinians were killed by Israeli state and non-state violence — 5360 in Gaza and 1331 in the West Bank.

By comparison, 314 Israelis were killed for the same period — 52 in Gaza, 141 in the West Bank and 120 in Israel.

During the same period, 157,415 Palestinians were injured in Israeli violence — 62,998 in Gaza, 94,368 in the West Bank and 91 in Israel. For the same period, 6,364 Israelis were injured, 3,940 in Israel, 2,318 in the West Bank and 106 in Gaza. The complete data, its sources, definitions of fatalities and injuries and methodology can be accessed here.

A child in Gaza born in 2007 has already gone through four wars (leaving out several other aerial ground attacks outside of those wars) and if she is still alive, is witnessing the fifth genocidal war.

According to Defence for Children International, “Each year approximately 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12 years old, are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system. The most common charge is stone throwing.” Complete statistics can be found........

© The Friday Times