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On the morning of October 7, the Palestinian group Hamas launched one of the most devastating surprise attacks on Israel, firing a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip and breaching security barriers. The attack on Israel occurred during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. However, one of the bloodiest strikes occurred barely a day after the Yom Kippur War, which began 50 years ago on October 6, with the goal of recapturing territory gained by Israel during a brief fight in 1967.
On October 6, 1973, the holiest day in Judaism – known as ‘Yom Kippur’ – a coalition of Arab nations launched surprise attacks on Israeli-occupied territory, kicking off the Yom Kippur War. The majority of the combat took place in the Golan Heights, Sinai, and other territories under Israeli control since the 1967 Six-Day War. The countries’ geopolitical tensions reached a boiling point when then-US President Richard Nixon announced a global nuclear alert.
Hamas officials have blamed the current violence on long-standing tensions between Israel and Palestinians
Following the escalation of the conflict, Arab countries of The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) halted oil deliveries to all Western nations that had backed Israel. This resulted in a worldwide energy catastrophe.
After two weeks of conflict and the deaths of 20,000 people, Israel achieved victory and gained more land under its occupation than it had before the war began. Exactly after 50 years, more than 5,000 rockets were rained down on Israel as Hamas announced the initiation of ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’, as it appealed to the “resistance fighters in the West Bank” as well as in “Arab and Islamic nations” to join the war against Israel, which has been accused of “illegally occupying” Palestinian land.
Hamas officials have blamed the current violence on long-standing tensions between Israel and Palestinians, particularly the conflict over the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. It has been compared to the Yom Kippur War of 1973, as it is one of Israel’s worst attacks since then. The second parallel between the two conflicts is Israel’s criticism for being unprepared at both times when the attack was started. Even though Israel has sophisticated information and interception capabilities, the Hamas assaults caught Israel off guard. Israel was particularly unprepared for the Yom Kippur war because many soldiers were on leave due to Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, which is considered the holiest day in Judaism.
