Oct. 7 anniversary: 26 moments that defined a devastating year

Hamas shocked the world — and forever changed the Middle East — when hundreds of its fighters flooded into Israel on Oct. 7, massacring border communes, murdering revelers at a music festival and taking scores of people hostage.

The attack quickly turned Gaza into a war zone, as Israel decimated much of the strip in the name of eliminating Hamas. The war has forced a global reckoning over the region’s future, fueled antisemitic and anti-Muslim threats across the world, and left Israel largely isolated, apart from America’s abiding support.

Here’s a look back at a year of devastation and upheaval in the Levant.

Oct. 7, 2023: Hamas launches attack on Israel

Hamas, the U.S.-designated terrorist group that rules Gaza, sent forces into Israel and launched rocket strikes in a surprise attack that exposed massive security weaknesses in its powerful neighbor.

The attacks, which targeted a music festival and towns near the country’s border, killed about 1,200 people. Videos quickly circulated around the world showing carnage and burning rubble in once-peaceful kibbutzes.

Hamas took about 250 hostages, leaving Israelis reeling from the surprise attack.  

Oct. 7, 2023: Netanyahu declares war 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war against Hamas hours later. In a televised address, he said he was mobilizing forces for an extensive assault in Gaza. Strikes against Hamas had already begun, the Israeli military said.

“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he said. “We are at war, and we will win it.”  

Oct. 11, 2023: Israel cuts off food, water, fuel, medicine to Gaza

The sole power plant in Gaza officially ran out of fuel and was shut down. Israel cut off supplies, including food, water, fuel and medicine. The strip began to rely on generators for power, which quickly used up the scarce fuel. 

Oct. 13, 2023: Israel issues first evacuation order

Israel ordered 1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate ahead of an expected ground operation. The military called for all civilians in Gaza City to move southward for safety. The United Nations warned that trying to move the large number of people in a 24-hour window could be disastrous. Panic spread as people fled the densely populated city.  

Oct 17, 2023: Al-Ahli Hospital explosion kills hundreds

At least 500 people were killed in a massive explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, drawing fury from across the Arab world. However, evidence soon emerged pointing blame at a misfired rocket from inside Gaza, not an Israeli strike.

The explosion still became an early symbol of the cost of the conflict, and the risk of misinformation amid the fog of war.

Oct. 19, 2023: President Biden visits Israel 

President Biden made his first visit to Israel amid the conflict and stayed roughly seven hours in Tel Aviv, where he assured Israeli leaders of U.S. support.  

A planned trip to Jordan to meet with Jordanian, Egyptian and Palestinian leaders was scrapped in the wake of the Gaza City hospital explosion two days prior.  

Biden announced an agreement to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza through the border with Egypt and said the U.S. would provide $100 million in aid to help civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.

“Look, I came to get something done. I got it done,” he said aboard Air Force One after the visit. 

Oct. 21, 2023: First humanitarian aid crosses into Gaza

Days after Biden’s announcement, the first humanitarian aid crossed into the Gaza Strip. The U.N.’s relief chief expressed confidence the delivery would be the start of an effort to bring the civilians in Gaza essential supplies.

But Israel would be criticized throughout the next year for throttling aid and causing famine conditions, along with severe water and medicine shortages, in much of the territory.

Nov. 6, 2023: Gaza death toll surpasses 10,000

The civilian death toll in Gaza surpassed 10,000 as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called the territory a “graveyard for children” and amplified demands for a cease-fire. 

That same day, Israeli troops encircled Gaza City, cutting off northern Gaza from the rest of the territory as troops prepared to enter the city. 

Nov. 24, 2023: Israel, Hamas agree to 4-day pause for prisoner swap 

A temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was the first significant break in fighting in the war.  

The initial deal saw Hamas release 50 Israeli hostages, mostly women and children, in exchange for Israel freeing 150 Palestinian prisoners. Addition swaps occurred as the truce was extended for four days.

Israel rejected pressure for a long-term cease-fire and said the pause did not mean it was giving up its goal of eliminating Hamas.

Dec. 8, 2023: Images of detained Palestinian men stripped to their underwear spark outrage

Images of detained Palestinian men stripped down to their underwear spurred global anger as they spread online.

The mass detentions in the northern town of Beit Lahiya showed dozens of men kneeling or sitting in the streets with their hands bound behind their backs. The U.N. said Israeli troops detained men and boys aged 15 and up as part of their interrogations to search for Hamas militants.

Dec. 12, 2023: U.N. security council passes resolution, U.S. abstains

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution to scale up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and calling for Hamas to release hostages. The U.S. did not vote in favor of the resolution, but also did not block it, after an intense week of wrangling over the wording. 

The U.S. would continue to use its veto power to stifle efforts at the U.N. to take a harder line toward Israel. The organization passed its first resolution calling for a cease-fire in March, which the U.S. also abstained from.  

Jan. 14, 2024: Netanyahu vows ‘no one will stop us’ on 100th day of fighting

“No one will stop us. Not The Hague, not the axis of evil and not anyone else,” Netanyahu said in a defiant speech marking 100 days of Israel’s war against Hamas. 

His remarks followed the International Court of Justice at The Hauge’s hearings on whether Israel is committing a genocide of Palestinians. South Africa, which brought the case against Israel, asked the United Nations to force an injunction and stop Israel from committing violence in Gaza.

Feb. 29, 2024: 100 Palestinians killed in ‘flour massacre’

Israeli forces opened fire into a crowd of starving Palestinians who surrounded a humanitarian aid truck, in what became known as the “flour massacre.” Israeli officials claimed Palestinians were trying to loot the truck.

The Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry said more than 100 people died and hundreds more were injured in the attack as people surrounded the truck desperate for food. The deaths came just as the total death toll in Gaza surpassed 30,000 people.

March 7, 2024: Biden announces Gaza pier plan

During his State of the Union address to Congress, Biden announced the U.S. military would build a temporary floating pier in Gaza to deliver more aid to the region. He said the current amount of aid flowing into Gaza was “nowhere near enough and nowhere fast enough.”  

The $230 million pier would experience a number of delays and, once complete, had to be removed three times due to rough seas. In July, it was announced that the pier would “cease operations.”

March 18, 2024: Israeli forces raid Shifa hospital

The Israeli military began a siege of Gaza’s largest hospital, claiming it was being used as Hamas command-and-control center for attacks against Israel.

It was the second such siege of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where tens of thousands of Palestinians has retreated for shelter. But it would be far bloodier than the the initial operation in November.

Days of fighting ensued between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters, leaving hundreds dead, with varying reports on how many were civilians or combatants. The hospital was largely reduced to ruins.

April 1, 2024: Six World Central Kitchen aid workers killed

An Israeli attack killed six foreign humanitarian aid workers with the U.S.-based group World Central Kitchen, sparking international outrage.

The nonprofit said its members were leaving a warehouse and driving through a “deconflicted” area in Deir al-Balah when their two-car armored convoy was struck, even after the group had coordinated its movements with the Israeli military.

Netanyahu took responsibility for the deadly strike, calling it a “tragic event” in which his forces “unintentionally harmed non-combatants.”

Their deaths reinforced calls for Israel to scale back its offensive and facilitate safe passage for aid groups.

May 6, 2024: Aid organizations declare ‘full-blown’ famine in Gaza

World Food Programme Director Cindy McCain declared in early May that there was a “full-blown famine” in northern Gaza and it was “moving its way south.”

Her call followed a warning in March from the U.N. that famine in the area was “imminent.” Reports found about 1.1 million people in Gaza had exhausted all of their food supplies and people were starving to death.

May 6, 2024: Israel orders evacuation of Rafah, as Hamas accepts deal

The Israeli military ordered civilians in parts of Rafah to evacuate ahead of an expected ground operation.  

The U.S. had for months warned Israel against operations in Rafah, where more than 1 million people had fled from other parts of the territory, with Biden threatening to withhold offensive weapons over a “major invasion” of the city.

However, Israeli leaders argued the city was the final Hamas stronghold, and that “precise operations” would limit civilian deaths.

May 24, 2024: International Court of Justice rules against Israel

The U.N.’s top court ruled Israel must “immediately” halt its military operations in Rafah.  

The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop its operations because they may inflict “conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

The ruling was a major condemnation of how Israel has conducted its war, but without a police force of its own, the court has little means of enforcement.

May 31, 2024: Biden announces cease-fire deal

Biden announced the terms of what he called an Israeli-led proposal that included a three-part road map toward an end to fighting in the region. The phases included a temporary cease-fire that would release the remaining hostages in batches and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

But Hamas and Israel got stuck on the details, blaming each other for changing the terms of the deal, and talks ultimately fell apart.

July 24, 2024: Netanyahu gives joint address to Congress

Netanyahu was invited by House and Senate leaders to give a joint address to Congress. During his the visit, he met with Biden, shortly after the president ended his reelection campaign.  

During his address, Netanyahu warned about a growing international threat from Iran and called pro-Palestinian protesters in the U.S. “Iran’s useful idiots.”

July 31, 2024: Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran

Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in a highly fortified compound in Tehran, reportedly by an explosive device planted there days before his arrival. Haniyeh was one of the militant group’s top leaders and was in Iran for the inauguration of the country’s new president.

It was the first in a series of high-profile assassinations of leaders of Iran’s proxy groups in the region, sparking concern that the conflict could escalate and setting back cease-fire negotiations.

Aug. 15, 2024: Gaza death toll tops 40,000

The Gaza Health Ministry reported that the death toll in the territory had surpassed 40,000. Health officials say the actual toll could be thousands higher.  

The updated death toll came after an Israeli strike hit a school in Gaza, killing about 100 people.  

Aug. 30, 2024: Fighting paused for polio vaccinations

Palestinian health authorities and U.N. agencies began distributing polio vaccines to children in Gaza after a case of the virus was detected in a 10-month-old baby.

It marked the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years, as the virus has largely been eradicated worldwide. Both sides agreed to pauses in fighting to allow aid workers to administer the vaccines.

Sept. 1, 2024: Israel recovers bodies of 6 hostages

Israel announced it had recovered the bodies of six hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, including one Israeli American citizen. The military said the hostages were killed by Hamas shortly before forces reached them in an underground tunnel in Rafah. 

Netanyahu said Hamas will “pay the price” for their deaths and Israel “will not rest” until it settles “accounts with you.”

Sept. 10, 2024: Israel shifts focus to Hezbollah in Lebanon

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters that Hamas as a military formation “no longer exists.” He said the military would be shifting its focus from Gaza to the northern front, where it had traded fire for months with Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. 

About a week after Gallant’s remarks, Hezbollah confirmed several of its top leaders, including Hassan Nasrallah, were killed in a deadly strike from Israel. It also blamed Israel for a wave of pager explosions that killed and wounded Hezbollah members.  

Iran launched a missile attack on Israel in response, escalating fears of an expanded war in the Middle East about a year after the Oct. 7 conflict began.