Civilians will pay price for biggest challenge to Israel since 1973

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Fifty years ago this week Israel faced a threat to its very existence after the surprise joint attack by Egypt and Syria that marked the start of the Yom Kippur war. In the early hours of Saturday – the final day of the Jewish high holidays – history appeared to repeat itself. Israelis were awoken by rockets and air raid sirens as the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched the biggest military challenge Israel has faced since that fateful day in 1973.

For the first time in the 75 years since Israel’s creation, Palestinian forces managed to seize control of areas inside the Green Line, on the other side of the would-be borders of an independent Palestinian state. More than 150 Israelis have died, with the death toll likely to rise significantly, along with at least 198 Palestinians. Dozens of Israeli civilians are believed to be held hostages in their homes, or have been taken into the Gaza Strip.

The kidnap and murder of three Israelis in the occupied West Bank led to the 2014 war between Hamas and Israel. But nothing quite like this has happened in the Arab-Israeli conflict. While 1973 was a war between conventional militaries, this time, the consequences for civilians on both sides are likely to be horrific.

Officials in Hamas, the Islamist movement that seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, often say that they will respond to Israel “at a time and place of our choosing”.

But the timing and scale of this unprecedented aerial and ground attack have caught both Israelis and Palestinians by surprise.

It was ostensibly launched in response to Jewish visits over the holidays to the faultline al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, which is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. Yet in the past Hamas has settled for less serious attacks for graver violations of the Jerusalem status quo.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/07/civilians-will-pay-price-for-biggest-challenge-to-israel-since-1973