Delaney Redmond, Contributing Writer
On Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas, a radical Palestinian brotherhood, attacked a music festival, killing hundreds of partygoers and holding dozens hostage.
What Happened?
Just before dawn on Saturday, Oct. 7, Hamas, a certified terrorist group sponsored by Islamic Iran, raided Nova music festival near the Israel-Gaza border. Hamas raided the festival with rockets and armed militia as they stormed in on paragliders and vans. The rave, an all-night celebration for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, ended with over 260 deaths and dozens of young attendees taken hostage.
What is Hamas?
Formed in 1987, Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Hamas) is the Palestinian Sunni-Islamic organization. Originating out of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’ fanatical priority is to obliterate Israel and exterminate as many Jews as possible.
Hamas has held control of the Gaza Strip, a 230 square-mile area, since 2007. The Gaza Strip is home to more than 2 million people, a majority of which are Palestinian.
Hamas and Mohammed Deif, their military leader, have been previously known for generating waves of suicide bombings to kill Israelis. Now, Deif has a personal vendetta.
“Deif is the mastermind behind all of this. He has personal reasons, because one of the Israeli raids killed his wife and child,” said Saint Leo’s International Relations Professor, Marco Rimanelli.
Dief’s wife and infant son were killed in 2014 during an airstrike raid from the Israeli military, which was intended to kill Mohammed Deif.
What is Hamas-Israeli history?
Israel, since 2007, has retained as much control as it can of Hamas by restricting the importation of contrabands, movement of tendons, and harming the Palestinian economy in the Gaza Strip. Israel even took the measure of building a fence between Gaza and Israel to prevent Hamas from getting in quickly.
“Since 2007, Hamas has controlled the Gaza strip. Hamas policy is to attack Israel, and the Israeli policy is to assassinate Hamas leaders,” Rimanelli said. “There have been four Israeli- Gaza wars over the years. This is the fifth war. The last war was a year and half ago. It lasted 12 days, which resulted in 2000 deaths,” Rimanelli continued.
Israel must strategically target members of Hamas and their leaders while also protecting the Gaza population. Previously, Israel had only aimed to get rid of Hamas leaders and weapons rather than non-Hamas leaders. While Hamas does not care who gets caught in the crossfire, Israel is put in a tough spot.
“Typically, Israel attacks using air strikes. They first hit an entire building complex with a dud, which is a bomb without an explosive. This makes a huge blast on top, that shakes the whole building. Since it does not explode, nothing collapses. It is mostly an acoustic warning that alerts everyone,” Rimanelli shared.
Hamas is an extremist group that seemingly does not care about its civilians. They often use their civilians for justification for attacking Israeli towns and citizens.
“Hamas has always hidden its military factories, command centers, and weapons among the population on purpose, so that civilians die. They don’t care about [the]population; they can use this as propaganda to say that Israel targets civilians,” Rimanelli explained.
How did Hamas keep a secret, and was Iran involved?
The entire attack was utterly unprecedented and strategically generated. Hamas, while holding all communication ‘off grid’ from Israeli surveillance and intelligence, encouraged false confidence with Israel.
“Hamas went a whole year pressuring the Israeli citizens that they didn’t want to fight anymore. They didn’t want to sign a treaty, but they wanted to co-exist. The Israelis were lured into trying to give better jobs and permits to people in Gaza, so that they get more money and stabilize themselves. Hamas lured the Israelis into false confidence,” Rimanelli said.
The Oct. 7 attack was utterly unprecedented and strategically planned. Israel has been relying on false confidence from Hamas that they do not want to fight. Israel had no reason to question this because they knew Hamas could not get materials or weapons.
“The Israelis often block shipments of things that people say are anti-humanitarian. This is to prevent Hamas from bringing in contraband out of Egypt, hide ammunition, and build underground factories to construct weapons,” Rimanelli shared.
Egypt is not involved and often blocks shipments, too, because they do not like Hamas.
While Hamas leaders planned this extreme attack, Hamas’ military was being trained. However, the military, like Israel, did not know what they were preparing for. The Israeli government was not worried because of how public the training was and because the group did not have significant weapons.
Iran continues to deny all involvement with the attacks that took place, but Rimanelli argues otherwise.
“[Hamas] had the support of the Iranians. The Iranians trained them, they knew what they were doing,” Rimanelli said. “It could be that Iran trained them separately how to make the missiles, and then sent them funding, weapons, and raw materials. Then they built missiles themselves based on the blueprints,” Rimanelli continued
Iran may not have been involved in the attack, but they likely had something to do with the preparation, funding, and gathering of weapons to execute the attacks.
Why Saturday, Oct. 7?
The attack on Israel was held on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. This date is significant because Oct. 7, 2023, is the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War and the Jewish Sabbath, a Jewish holiday that falls on Saturday and invites a day of holiness and rest. Additionally, the festival Hamas attacked was supposed to celebrate the Jewish religious holiday.
“Hamas is also upset at Israel having intervened a year ago in Jerusalem at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Palestinians were not leaving, forcing the Israeli military to use tear gas to push them out,” said Rimanelli.
What now and things to think about?
As of Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, the Israeli death toll has risen to over 1,400 people. There are also several hundred people who were taken hostage. Israel has closed all borders to block fuel, electricity, food, and water to Gaza and declared war on Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. Wasting no time, Israel began retaliation immediately.
Egypt has officially opened Rafah, a crossing between Gaza and Egypt after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Any aid sent is currently being held at the Egyptian border because roads have been destroyed.
President Joe Biden has announced that he is meeting with David Satterfield, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, to send additional aid. Blinken has emphasized that any U.S. military in the region is not intended to provoke anyone. As of now, America is not involved in the war, aside from providing aid to both the Gaza population and Israelis.
London, Sydney, Washington D.C., New York, and several other larger cities in the U.S. have seen significant protests and rallies. Some demonstrations are promoting and supporting Hamas, while others are courageously standing with Palestinians and Israelis.
Worried Americans have been flooded with fear because of the open border crisis. Some fear that terrorists are taking advantage of the immigration issue. Despite this concern, Border Patrol has a screening process and has arrested over 250 individuals on the terror watchlist. As of now, no individuals associated with Hamas have been recognized or detained in the U.S.
