Israelis struggle to process Hamas attacks

Hamas' brazen terror attacks caught Israel by surprise. Aside from their deadliness, the attacks have also dealt a blow to Israelis' sense of security. By William Noah Glucroft

  • Soldiers stand near a burnt-out vehicle
    Music festival turns deadly: one of Hamas' deadliest attacks was on the Supernova music festival, held at a kibbutz near Gaza. It was an easy target as Hamas fighters stormed across the unofficial border into Israeli territory on Saturday. Festival-goers fled in panic. At least 260 did not survive, while others were taken hostage. Israeli soldiers, seen here, later secured the scene
  • Israeli soldiers in Kfar Aza following the Hamas attack
    Clearing out Hamas: Israeli forces regularly go into Palestinian areas to conduct operations that kill combatants and civilians alike. Far less often do they have to do the same on their own ground. Authorities were seemingly unprepared to protect the Israeli towns and kibbutzim close to Gaza targeted by Hamas fighters. Troops engaged in long standoffs to clear them out, seen above, but the damage was done
  • A mourner kneels at a grave of an Israeli victim of a Hamas attack
    Israeli burials: violence between Israel and Hamas usually results in a lopsided death toll on the Palestinian side. In catching Israel unaware, the Hamas attacks initially flipped that count. Almost as many Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed over the weekend as during the entire second intifada in the early 2000s. Jewish religious law requires quick burials, so funerals took place shortly after the attacks
  • People donating blood in Jerusalem on 9 October 2023
    First-aid response: some Orthodox Israeli Jews can be exempt from otherwise compulsory military service. They and others are finding non-military ways to contribute, such as blood donation. Within hours of Hamas' incursion, hospitals were confronted with thousands of wounded patients. In Gaza, due to the Israeli blockade, medical infrastructure is in no shape to cope with those injured in Israeli counterattacks
  • A Thai woman holds photos of her 26-year-old son, who is missing after the Hamas attacks in Israel
    Far-reaching impact: a new war between Israel and Hamas has consequences for the whole world, and not just in terms of geopolitics. With restrictions on Palestinians entering Israel to work, many temporary and lower-wage jobs are filled by people from much further away. Thousands of Thai people live in Israel, and some have been killed or kidnapped by Hamas fighters. The fates of others remain unknown
  • A Palestinian child plays football in the street in Hebron in front of four Israeli soldiers
    Israel's security priorities: while they cope with trauma, many Israelis are asking how Hamas pulled off the attack seemingly without warning. Some media reports and Israeli human rights groups suggest that the government has diverted resources from protecting citizens on Israeli territory to serving settler interests in contested occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank
  • Israeli troops on the border of Gaza
    Preparing for war: for Israel's soldiers, there is little time to rest and grieve. Hundreds of thousands of them may be ordered to enter Gaza, which Israel formally left in 2005 while retaining control of its air, sea and land access. Ahead of a possible incursion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Gazans should get out while they can – a near impossible task with borders closed by Israel and Egypt