One Year of Israel’s War Against Hamas and Hezbollah Terrorists: Anniversary of the 7 October Massacre and Hostage-Taking

Today, 7 October, Israel marks one year since the start of the war against terrorists. The Israeli Defence Forces on Monday published new data on its operations in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Lebanon, based on the number of rockets fired at Israel to the number of targets hit by the Israeli Air Force, the Times of Israel reports.

Since the beginning of the war, terrorists have launched more than 26,000 rockets, missiles and drones at Israel from several fronts. These figures include 13,200 projectiles fired by terrorists from Gaza - at least 5,000 on 7 October alone - 12,400 from Lebanon, about 60 from Syria, 180 from Yemen and 400 from Iran - the latter of which in two direct attacks on Israel on 13 April and October. 

Approximately 17,000 Hamas fighters and members of other terrorist groups have been killed by the IDF in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war. This is in addition to the 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on 7 October, when gunmen rampaged through southern communities. Hamas terrorists killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251 people to Gaza.

Israel responded to the terrorists with a military campaign to overthrow the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip, destroy the terrorist group and release the hostages.

According to the Israeli IDF, since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, about 40,300 targets have been hit, and troops have discovered about 4,700 tunnel shafts.

The day after the Hamas attack, the Lebanese-based terrorist group Hezbollah launched attacks along Israel's northern border, claiming to be acting in support of Gaza. This struggle has been steadily escalating for months, until it boiled over last month after Israel launched a new offensive against the terrorist group, killing all of its senior leadership and launching a ground operation in southern Lebanon.

In Lebanon, the Israeli Defence Forces claimed to have killed more than 800 terrorists, mostly members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organisation. According to the IDF, this number included 90 Hezbollah commanders.

According to the IDF, the military struck nearly 11,000 Hezbollah positions.

In total, 728 Israeli soldiers, reservists and local security forces have been killed in the war since 7 October, and 4,576 more have been wounded - the latest on Sunday. Of these, 346 were killed and 2,299 wounded during the ground offensive in Gaza.

Since 7 October last year, IDF troops have arrested more than 5,250 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank, including more than 2,050 associated with Hamas terrorists. In addition, about 690 armed men, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists who carried out attacks were killed by troops in the West Bank, the IDF said.