On This Day, Oct. 7: In 2023, Hamas-led Militants Launched Surprise Attacks on Israel

On This Day spotlights a historic New York Times front-page article. For teaching ideas, visit this resource . 2023 PALESTINIAN MILITANTS STAGE ATTACK ON ISRAEL By Patrick Kingsley and Isabel Kershner Israel battled on Saturday to repel one of the broadest invasions of its territory in 50 years after Palestinian militants from Gaza launched an early-morning assault on southern Israel, infiltrating 22 Israeli towns and army bases, kidnapping Israeli civilians and soldiers and firing thousands of rockets toward cities as far away as Jerusalem.

By early evening, the Israeli military said fighting continued in at least five places in southern Israel; multiple Israelis had been abducted and taken to Gaza, including an elderly grandmother; and at least 250 Israelis had been reported dead by officials and more than 1,400 wounded. Israel retaliated with huge strikes on Gazan cities, and the Gaza Health Ministry said at least 234 Palestinians had been killed in either gun battles or airstrikes.

In an assault without recent precedent in its complexity and scale, the militants crossed into Israel by land, sea and air, according to the Israeli military, leading to some of the first pitched battles between Israeli and Arab forces on Israeli soil in decades. This article was first published digitally on Oct. 7, but appeared in the Oct. 8 issue of The New York Times. Read the entire article . What else happened on Oct. 7? 1949 “ Soviet Zone Forms New German State as Rival to Bonn ” The Soviet occupation zone established the German Democratic Republic, creating a Communist East German state in response to the Federal Republic of Germany, founded in the Western occupation zones earlier that year. 1950 “ Tibet Reported Invaded ” The People’s Liberation Army of China began its advance into eastern Tibet, defeating Tibetan forces at Chamdo later that month.

Tibet remains under Chinese control today, though the Tibetan government in exile disputes China’s sovereignty. 1959 “ Satellite Rounding Moon; Data on Far Side Awaited ” “The Soviet Union’s new satellite has passed the moon and presumably has begun to study at least a part of its hidden face,” The Times reported. The Luna 3 spacecraft transmitted the first photographs of the moon’s previously unseen far side. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

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