October 13, 2023 at 3:01 am EDT
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It has been nearly a week since Hamas militants invaded Israel in a murderous rampage, killing more than 1,300 people and taking hostages – the start of a bloody and unpredictable new chapter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Israeli military responded by bombarding the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip with airstrikes, killing more than 1,500 Palestinians and massing troops along the border in preparation for a ground offensive.
The week brought with it anxiety, Destruction and insecurity for millions in the region. Here’s how events unfolded.
Early Saturday morning, Hamas fighters broke through Israel’s high-tech “smart wall” under the cover of thousands of rockets and rampaged through small towns in southern Israel.
Cameras, radar and sensors
Underground
Concrete barrier
Underground
detect sensors
militant tunnels
Cameras, radar and sensors
Underground
Concrete barrier
Underground
detect sensors
militant tunnels
Cameras, radar and sensors
Underground sensors
to recognize militants
tunnel
Underground
Concrete barrier
Cameras, radar and sensors
Underground sensors
to recognize militants
tunnel
Underground
Concrete barrier
Cameras, radar and sensors
Underground sensors
to recognize militants
tunnel
Underground
Concrete barrier
Israel’s perimeter fence
and restricted access area
Sand barriers too
slow invaders
300-100M
Access permitted
only to farmers
on foot
The new border fence
has a subway
Concrete barrier into one
unknown depth.
Israel’s perimeter fence
and restricted access area
Sand barriers too
slow invaders
100-300M
Access
permitted
only to farmers
on foot
The new border fence
has a subway
Concrete barrier into one
unknown depth.
Israel’s perimeter fence
and restricted access area
100-300M
Access permitted
only to farmers
on foot
Sand barriers too
slow invaders
The new border fence
has a subway
Concrete barrier into one
unknown depth.
Israel’s perimeter fence
and restricted access area
100-300M
Access permitted
only to farmers
on foot
Sand barriers too
slow invaders
The new border fence
has a subway
Concrete barrier into one
unknown depth.
How Hamas broke Israel’s Iron Wall
The ambush caught Israeli forces by surprise. Officials said the attackers overran more than 20 communities. It took 10 hours for the military to arrive in some cities. By this time, hundreds of civilians were already dead. Militants are believed to have taken more than 100 hostages to Gaza.
Maps and videos show how the deadly surprise attack on Israel unfolded
The fighting continues and the death toll is rising
Fighting with militant resistance fighters inside Israel continued as the country officially declared war on Hamas. Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group allied with Hamas, fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel.
Israeli forces launched a punitive campaign of air strikes on Gaza, displacing thousands of people in the first 24 hours.
Israeli soldiers stand at the site of a damaged police station occupied by Hamas gunmen in the southern city of Sderot on October 8. (Video: Portal)
The death toll continued to rise in Israel. More than 250 bodies have been recovered from the site of a trance music festival held just five kilometers from the Gaza border. Survivors described weary festival-goers running for their lives in a vast field as militants gunned them down.
A “full siege” of Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip and said Israel would cut off supplies of electricity, food and gas.
Residents of the Gaza Strip have been living under an Egyptian-backed Israeli blockade for 16 years and are heavily dependent on Israel for electricity and other basic services. Shutting off gas and electricity could leave many residents not only without electricity, but also without clean drinking water, adequate sanitation and health care.
Israel ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza. This is what it looks like.
A day later, UN human rights chief Volker Türk condemned the siege, saying that depriving civilians of “essential goods” was prohibited under international humanitarian law.
The two main sources of electricity in Gaza are the Israeli Electricity Company, which supplies electricity through ten lines, and the Gaza Power Plant, which is often at partial capacity due to its reliance on inefficient diesel fuel. Gaza could not receive electricity
from Egypt for several years.
Water treatment plant
Sewage pumping station
Electricity feed-in from Israel
Electricity feed-in from Israel
The two main sources of electricity in Gaza are the Israeli Electricity Company, which supplies electricity through ten lines, and the Gaza Power Plant, which is often at partial capacity due to its reliance on inefficient diesel fuel. Gaza has not been able to receive electricity from Egypt for several years.
Power feed-in
from Israel
sewage
Sewage treatment plant
sewage
Pumping station
Power feed-in
from Israel
Power feed-in
from Israel
The two main sources of electricity in Gaza are the Israeli Electricity Company, which supplies electricity through ten lines, and the Gaza Power Plant, which is often at partial capacity due to its reliance on inefficient diesel fuel. Gaza has not been able to receive electricity from Egypt for several years.
Power feed-in
from Israel
sewage
Treatment
Attachment
sewage
pump
Railroad station
Power feed-in
from Israel
Power feed-in
from Israel
The two main sources of electricity in Gaza are the Israeli Electricity Company, which supplies electricity through ten lines, and the Gaza Power Plant, which is often at partial capacity due to its reliance on inefficient diesel fuel. Gaza has not been able to receive electricity from Egypt for several years.
sewage
Sewage treatment plant
sewage
Pumping station
Electricity feed-in from Israel
Electricity feed-in from Israel
As the airstrikes continued on Gaza, the fleeing Palestinians’ last hope was destroyed. Attacks near the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, the last route out of the area, closed the checkpoint indefinitely, leaving civilians nowhere to go.
Scenes of further destruction
Bodies were still being found in Israel. After two and a half days of intense fighting in Kfar Azza – one of the first towns attacked – soldiers escorted journalists through scenes of utter devastation. Houses were burned, cars were smashed and the air smelled of death.
Israeli commanders said they had gained control of the Gaza border, but Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel even as IDF airstrikes targeted militant infrastructure and command posts. The military said it had carried out more than 2,000 strikes across the Gaza Strip since Saturday, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
Israel pledged to concentrate its fire on Hamas militants and abide by international law. Two members of Hamas’ political office were killed.
Explosion in the northern Gaza Strip
Al-Gharbi Mosque in the northern Gaza Strip
Al-Sousi Mosque near Rimal
Residential buildings near As Sabra
Source: Maxar Technologies
Explosion in the northern Gaza Strip
Al-Gharbi Mosque in the northern Gaza Strip
Al-Sousi Mosque near Rimal
Residential buildings near As Sabra
Source: Maxar Technologies
al-Gharbi Mosque
in the northern Gaza Strip
Explosion in the northern Gaza Strip
residential buildings
near As Sabra
Al-Sousi Mosque near Rimal
Source: Maxar Technologies
But mosques, hospitals, residential buildings and international aid organizations were also hit.
Israeli attacks on Gaza intensified, with many focused on densely populated areas in the north. The death toll topped 1,100 and more than 263,000 people were displaced across the Strip. The United Nations announced that 11 workers were killed.
Explosions or airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip
Explosion nearby
Mashroo Amer
wal Isra’a
Note: Due to data availability, not all events are included.
Sources: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance
Affairs (OCHA), Israel Defense Forces, Maxar Technologies,
Google Earth
Explosions or airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip
Explosion nearby
Mashroo Amer
wal Isra’a
Destroyed
al-Gharbi Mosque
Note: Due to data availability, not all events are included.
Sources: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance
Affairs (OCHA), Israel Defense Forces, Maxar Technologies, Google Earth
Explosions or airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip
Explosion nearby
Mashroo Amer wal Isra’a.
Destroyed
al-Gharbi Mosque
Several were destroyed by air raids
Mosques in the western Gaza Strip.
Significantly damaged by bombing
Hospitals in Gaza City.
Destroyed residential area
Buildings near As Sabra.
International Eye Clinic
Note: Due to data availability, not all events are included.
Sources: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israel Defense Forces,
Maxar Technologies, Google Earth
Explosions or airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip
Explosion nearby
Mashroo Amer
wal Isra’a
Several were destroyed by air raids
Mosques in the western Gaza Strip.
Significantly damaged by bombing
Hospitals in Gaza City.
Islamic
university
from Gaza
International Eye Clinic
Some of the most devastating attacks Israel has carried out in Gaza
Palestinian authorities said Gaza’s only power plant had run out of fuel and was no longer operating.
Israel supplies electricity to Gaza in two ways. Gaza Power plant runs on imported diesel fuel. There are also 10 direct power lines from Israel to Gaza. Now both sources have been cut off.
Where Gaza gets its electricity
The Gaza Strip has a total daily electricity supply of 195 MW.
Israel supplies 120 megawatts to Gaza every day, delivered through direct power lines.
The power plant in Gaza supplies 65 to 75 megawatts daily. The fuel that powers this plant is purchased by Israel and enters the Gaza Strip through the Karem Shalom border crossing.
FROM GAZA
POWER PLANT
Where Gaza gets its electricity
The Gaza Strip has a total daily electricity supply of 195 MW.
Israel supplies 120 megawatts to Gaza every day, delivered through direct power lines.
The power plant in Gaza supplies 65 to 75 megawatts daily. The fuel that powers this plant is purchased by Israel and enters the Gaza Strip through the Karem Shalom border crossing.
Where Gaza gets its electricity
The Gaza Strip has a total daily electricity supply of 195 MW.
Israel supplies 120 megawatts to Gaza every day, delivered through direct power lines.
The power plant in Gaza supplies 65 to 75 megawatts daily. The fuel that powers this plant is purchased by Israel and enters the Gaza Strip through the Karem Shalom border crossing.
Where Gaza gets its electricity
Israel supplies 120 megawatts to Gaza every day, delivered through direct power lines.
The power plant in Gaza supplies 65 to 75 megawatts daily. The fuel that powers this plant is purchased by Israel and enters the Gaza Strip through the Karem Shalom border crossing.
Total daily output
Supply: 195 MW
Preparing for a ground attack
On October 12, Israeli tanks stationed themselves on the border with Gaza, while an army helicopter flew near the northern border with Lebanon. (Video: Portal)
Israeli tanks and reservists stationed on the Gaza border arrived for duty at the Julis military base near Ashkelon.
Meanwhile, the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip continued.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesman, said in a televised news conference that Israel would no longer allow Hamas to exist next door.
“Unlike other operations, we are breaking down the leadership and sovereignty of the Hamas organization,” he said.
Deep underground in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, medics lined up hospital beds and prepared for the possibility of a major regional escalation. Following rocket fire from Syria earlier this week, Israel launched rocket attacks on two of the country’s main airports, authorities in Damascus said.