Hamas attacks Tel Aviv on Oct. 7 anniversary

The Israel Defense Forces on Monday reported that missile sirens were sounding across Tel Aviv on the anniversary of the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas’ biggest attack on Israel. A channel affiliated with Hamas on the social media app Telegram reported that militants used M90 rockets to attack the Israeli capital Monday morning. The terrorist group said it was responding to alleged Israeli massacres of Palestinian civilians.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militants snuck across the Israel-Gaza border and attacked Israeli civilians. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin marked the grim anniversary in a statement Monday. The militants killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel. They also captured roughly 250 prisoners, Austin said. Roughly 100 of the captured people remain in Gaza, according to a group of the hostages’ family and friends. It remains uncertain whether they are dead or alive. The United Nations alleges that more than 41,000 people have died in Gaza in the year since the attack, citing Hamas’ numbers.

What else is occurring in the region? Over the past year, Israeli forces have conducted a ground war in Gaza, deflected rockets from Iranian proxies in several directions, and eliminated many militant leaders. The Israeli military has effectively defeated Hamas’ military wing and eliminated most of the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah’s senior leadership, Israel’s top commander Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Sunday.

Presently, Israeli forces are continuing ground incursions in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. The military’s ground operations were dismantling the terrorist infrastructure that Hezbollah prepared to attack Israeli settlements, Netanyahu said. Israeli strikes in Lebanon also continued over the weekend. The IDF on Saturday claimed credit for precision strikes that killed two of Hamas’ top commanders in Lebanon.

Dig deeper: Read Jill Nelson’s report in WORLD Magazine about how Israel is under pressure to allow for the existence of an independent Palestinian state near its borders.