More than 2,000 people have been killed in the past five days following the unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas on Israel and the resulting Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
The Israeli military says more than 1,200 people have been killed in Israel and Gaza’s health ministry says there are more than 1,050 people dead in the territory.
The attack by Hamas put Israel on a wartime footing in what’s been considered the worst attack on the country since the Yom Kippur war in 1973, and “Israel’s 9/11.”
Here’s a timeline looking back at what has happened since the attack on Saturday morning.
'We are at war': Oct. 7
At approximately 6:30 a.m. local time in Israel — roughly midnight eastern time — Hamas launched more than 2,000 rockets in its first barrage, setting off air raid sirens and forcing residents to take shelter.
The attack began on Simchat Torah, one of the most joyous days of the Jewish calendar, and the death toll would mount quickly over the coming hours and days.
The militant group had begun a multi-pronged ground invasion, with the Israeli military reporting gunmen had crossed into Israel at about 7:40 a.m. local time. Fighters blew up parts of the country’s highly fortified separation fence to enter communities and traded fire with the military.
The Associated Press reported that Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, shortly after the attack began said it was the beginning of what he called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.”
A music festival near Israel’s border with Gaza saw some of the first casualties in Hamas’s attack, with partygoers fleeing once gunfire erupted after the rockets.
Many people were killed as they attempted to flee and around 260 bodies have been found.
Hamas said it was also holding “dozens” of Israeli soldiers captive in Gaza, something Israel’s military confirmed later on Saturday, as well as civilians.
At about 10:30 a.m. local time — four hours after Hamas’s attack began — Israel began its counterattack, launching retaliatory strikes in Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring shortly after that the country was “at war.”
“This is not a so-called military operation, not another round of fighting, but war,” Netanyahu said at the time.
In the hours that followed, the leaders of various Israeli allies voiced their support for its defence, with U.S. President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz voicing condemnation of the Hamas attack.
Saudi Arabia, which has been in the process of negotiating a potential diplomatic deal with Israel — brokered by the U.S. — called for both sides to protect civilians and exercise restraint.
Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said he had proposed forming an emergency government with Netanyahu, suggesting the prime minister replace his far-right coalition with a broad unity government of centrist parties.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said as of Saturday evening, more than 20,000 people were sheltering in its schools around Gaza, with an official noting three of its schools had suffered “collateral” damage from Israeli airstrikes and nine of its water wells were also stopped.
About 12 hours after fighting began, an Israeli army spokesperson said fighting was continuing in 22 locations in southern Israel.
The fighting continues: Oct. 8
By Sunday morning, the death toll had mounted to at least 600 Israelis and another 313 killed in Gaza from retaliatory airstrikes.
Millions of Israelis woke that morning to air raid sirens once more as rockets fired again, with soldiers reportedly battling Hamas fighters on the ground.
Germany’s Scholz stressed the need to avoid a wider “conflagration” in the Middle East, with the country saying it would be reviewing its aid for Palestinian areas following the attack.
As fighting continued, Israel’s security cabinet approved the state of war Netanyahu had vowed a day earlier, adding that it had approved cutting off the supply of electricity, goods and fuel into Gaza.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that day that he had directed the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which includes multiple missile destroyers and cruisers, to move to the eastern Mediterranean.
Austin said they would also provide the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) with additional equipment and resources, including munitions, with the first assistance to move that day and arrive in the coming days.
Israel’s UN ambassador told reporters ahead of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that the attack was “Israel’s 9/11.”
More condemnation came Sunday from world leaders as well, with Pope Francis urging an end to violence, saying “terrorism and war bring no solutions.”
Several countries also started speaking up about foreign nationals in Israel, including whether some were missing or killed.
Global Affairs Canada said at the time that there were no signs of any Canadian nationals killed or injured, while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN’s State of the Union they were working to verify reports of missing or dead Americans.
The BBC reported that a young German woman was believed to be among those taken by Hamas, while a British man serving in the Israeli army was among those killed.
With the fighting ongoing, several major airlines, including Air Canada and American Airlines, cancelled or suspended flights to Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, making it more difficult for foreign nations to evacuate.
'Complete siege' of Gaza: Oct. 9
Israel’s defence minister ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza on Monday as the military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters and guarded the breaches in its border fence with tanks while pounding Gaza from the air.
A spokesperson for the army said they had regained control of border communities where Hamas fighters had remained, though militants continued to fire barrages of rockets, setting off air raid sirens once again in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The military also confirmed that a “substantial” number of people had been abducted, suggesting in government statements that the number was more than 100. Among those believed to be abducted were Canadians, with former federal justice minister Irwin Cotler posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, that respected humanitarian Vivian Silver was one of the captives.
By Monday afternoon, a post by the Israel government said 900 Israelis had died, with the Gazan Ministry of Health saying the death toll had risen to 687.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters he was “deeply distressed” by the announcement of the siege and said there were about 137,000 people currently sheltering in UN facilities in Gaza. He urged both sides to allow entry into Gaza in order to get aid to Palestinian citizens trapped in the region, especially as the situation there had already been “extremely dire.”
Netanyahu made another public address in the late afternoon, saying Israel had “only started” its offensive against Hamas.
“What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations,” he said.
More details also were released Monday about further deaths of foreign nationals, with Biden issuing a statement that the death toll of Americans in Israel had risen to 11. Montrealer Alexander Look was also believed by his family to be among those killed at the music festival, with the school of Ben Mizrachi in Vancouver also expressing concern for his safety.
Hamas put out a statement that it would kill a hostage every time civilian targets were bombed without warning, prompting a warning from Israel’s foreign minister, saying it was a “war crime” that would not be forgiven.
In Canada, Trudeau issued stern condemnation of the attack and reiterated his government’s support for Israel during a solidarity rally in Ottawa. He said of Hamas, a listed terrorist entity under Canadian law: “No one in Canada should be supporting them, much less celebrating them.”
'War crimes': Oct. 10
The death toll mounted once more on Tuesday, with more than 1,900 total killed in Israel and Gaza as the military said it had regained effective control over its south and border with Gaza.
Israeli embassy officials said roughly 1,000 had died, with another 900 killed in Gaza and the West Bank, according to authorities there. Thousands have been wounded on both sides.
Israel expanded its mobilization of military reservists to 360,000, according to local media, appearing to signal it could potentially launch a ground assault. It said on X that aircraft had hit military targets, including weapons storage and manufacturing sites.
The Israeli military said it had also killed two senior Hamas officials in airstrikes.
In the U.S., Biden called the Hamas attack an act of “sheer evil,” adding that the American death toll had risen to 14.
He said the U.S. was sending ammunition and interceptors to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system.
Biden also warned any organization or country “thinking of taking advantage of the situation” to not do so.
Just hours later, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that 20 Americans or more were unaccounted for. He said Blinken would be travelling to Israel in the coming days to deliver a message of solidarity.
A second Canadian man, Mizrachi, was confirmed to have died as well.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly also hinted that the government would be planning the “assisted departure” of Canadians in the coming days.
The UN Human Rights commission of inquiry for the region announced on Monday that it was investigating “war crimes committed by all sides” in the ongoing conflict since Saturday.
“There is already clear evidence that war crimes may have been committed,” the office said in a statement.
More than 2,000 dead: Oct. 11
The death toll on both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict surpassed 2,000 people on Wednesday with no signs of easing and Israel forming a wartime cabinet.
More than 1,200 people, including 155 Israeli soldiers, have been killed in Israel, its army said. In Gaza, 1,055 people have been killed, according to authorities.
Days after Israel said it would cut off electricity and fuel from Gaza, its power plant ran out of fuel, forcing it to shut down, the Energy Ministry said. Now, only generators will be able to power the territory, leaving many in the dark as residents face blackouts.
Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, a senior opposition figure and former defence minister, announced the creation of a wartime cabinet to oversee the fight, joined by current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The rest of Netanyahu’s existing government partners, a collection of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, would remain in place to handle other issues, with the wartime cabinet only focused on the war.
The number of dead and missing foreign nationals also mounted, with the family of a third Canadian — Adi Vital-Kaploun, who is Israeli Canadian — confirming she was killed. Canadian officials have also said at least three Canadians remain missing.
There have been 22 Americans killed, with 17 still unaccounted for, according to U.S. officials. Colombia announced the first death of one of its citizens and the number of UN staffers killed in Gaza rose to 11, some of whom were killed in their homes with their families, a UN official said.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Wednesday it was also believed “several children” from France were among those possibly kidnapped from Israel, though did not provide added detail.
King Charles III also spoke out about the attack, calling it “barbaric acts of terrorism in Israel,” and said he had asked officials to keep him updated on developments in the Middle East.
People stranded in the region also lost another way out as British Airways became the latest to suspend all flights to Israel after a Tel Aviv flight was diverted back to London due to security concerns. Virgin Atlantic and Israeli flag carrier El Al still run flights, but availability is low.
Canadians and permanent residents may have found an opportunity, though, as Joly provided more details Wednesday morning on the evacuation flights she alluded to Tuesday, saying the first flights will depart Tel Aviv by the end of the week with help from the Canadian Armed Forces.
Those flights will head to Athens, Greece, with Air Canada partnering with the government to fly Canadians, permanent residents and their families back to Canada from Athens.
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