7 October 2023, the date that shattered the future of two peoples
The anniversary of the massacre carried out by Hamas coincides with the beginning of negotiations and hopes for a truce and the release of the hostages
TEL AVIV
There is an unreal silence in Israel. One holds one's breath waiting for what will happen on this day when the feast of Sukkot, the anniversary of 7 October, and the beginning of negotiations for a truce in Egypt coincide. People in Gaza are also holding their breath, hoping that it will really be over. The war that has changed Gaza, Israel and a part of the Middle East may have reached a turning point after twenty-four months of darkness. President Trump's plan gives hope for the first time ever of a ceasefire. Two years have passed since the massacre by Hamas in the kibbutzim and the Nova Festival. Since then, almost all of the Strip's approximately two million residents have been forced to flee their homes, some several times, to escape Israeli bombardment. The dead number over 67,000. In densely populated Gaza City, satellite photographs show entire blocks of buildings razed to the ground. In August, the UN concluded that 1 in 3 people in Gaza were without food for days on end.
Since then, a lot has changed not only in Israel and Gaza, but in the entire region: Hamas is severely weakened and so is Hezbollah, the repercussions of the war have contributed to the fall of the regime in Syria and a setback in Iran's nuclear programme. Israel's isolation from what is seen by many countries, including allies, as a disproportionate use of force is also increasingly evident. This was plastically seen when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York in September and many delegates walked out leaving him alone.
Rewinding the tape of events, one has to go back to that 7 October 2023: it was 6.30, the dawn of shabbat and the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, when three thousand terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad entered southern Israel from Gaza bombing kibbutzim, border towns, the Nova festival killing, burning, tearing to pieces, raping. Around 1,300 people were killed, another 250 kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
The next day, 8 October, Israeli raids hit the Strip: among the targets were residential complexes, tunnels, houses of Hamas officials and the Watan Tower, a centre for internet providers in the area. The Israeli government's security cabinet formally declares a state of war, for the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
