On October 7, 2023, a significant escalation happened in the tension between the states of Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Hamas launched multiple coordinated surprise offensives from the air, land, and sea including firing multiple rocket barrages that shot as far as Tel-Aviv and the religiously significant city of Jerusalem.
During the opening hours of this conflict, multiple Hamas militants have been recorded crossing the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip riding on motorcycle or by foot. There is also footage of a bulldozer being used by Hamas to destroy the fence that separated the Gaza Strip and Israel. Hamas militants targeted Israeli checkpoints and suburban towns, killing and capturing hundreds of civilians, military personnel, and police alike, all recorded by Hamas or by civilian bystanders.
The capture of civilians by Hamas is speculated to be used as leverage and possible prisoner exchanges for the thousands of Palestinians in Israeli custody. Also, during the opening hours of the conflict, Hamas released a recorded video of a destroyed Merkava tank of the Israeli army. This graphic footage shows Hamas militants and sympathizers on top of the destroyed tank pulling out a presumably dead Israeli operator.
Later that day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally announced to the Israeli people that they were at war. This is shown as the Israeli military began to bomb the Gaza strip with precise bombs and artillery shells without the roof-knocking tactics they usually do, demolishing multiple-story buildings as seen in multiple footage by drones or Palestinians on the ground. Hamas responded to this lack of roof-knocking and unsuspecting airstrikes by promising to execute captured Israelis.
On that same day, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant announced a complete siege of the Gaza strip. This action caused cuts to electricity, water, and food. Analysts believe that this siege will cause a huge humanitarian issue for the Palestinian civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip who have nothing to do with the Hamas incursion.
On October 8th, fighting continued as the Israeli defense force and police force started to fight back and kick Hamas out in the south of Israel. Also on this day, released footage of a Hamas paraglider was shown paragliding into a concert and started to fire upon unsuspecting concertgoers and capturing those that did not escape. Reports also suggested that Hezbollah, a militant group in Lebanon north of Israel, has been skirmishing around the border. This resulted in Israeli retaliation, which was bombing suspected Hezbollah outposts in Lebanese territory.
As the conflict went on, the United States decided to send the US Gerald R. Ford strike group to suppress any chance of the opponents of Israel from joining in this conflict. Not only that, the strike group was also there to suppress any chance of Iran intervening in the conflict. Some speculated that American special operations forces might join the Israeli defense force to rescue hostages from the Gaza strip. News on the Israel-Gaza conflict is still ongoing, it keeps changing as of this minute, and as Israelis postpone their incursion into Gaza, only the future can tell how this conflict will end
