Beyond October 7: 'Do you condemn Hamas?'

At about 6.30am October 7, 2023, thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel. About an hour later, in daylight, Hamas’s armed wing and other groups broke through the wire fence along the northern border of the enclave, launching an attack that became the biggest security breach in Israel’s history.

The scenes were bloody and barbaric. People ran for their lives as chaos, panic and fear took over. The fighters infiltrated several Israeli towns near the border, entering homes and taking families captive. By the time the Israeli military intervened, it was too late. About 1,200 people were killed and at least 240 taken as hostages into Gaza.

As the scenes unfolded in Israel, they did so on screens around the world. In those moments one question loomed: how will Israel retaliate?

It has been a year since the war in Gaza began. It has been a year of bombing, destruction, pain and bloodshed. So far, more than 41,700 Palestinians have been killed and 96,000 injured, with thousands more missing under rubble.

This is the first episode in a Beyond the Headlines limited series covering the October 7 attack and the Gaza war. In this episode, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Palestinian, Israeli and American political experts, as well as The National’s Gaza correspondents, to unpack what happened on that fateful day.

They also look at the dire conditions in Gaza before October 7, where 17 years of siege and four previous wars had brought the enclave to the brink. And they discuss the ideology and motivations behind Hamas’s decision to conduct its deadly attack, knowing full well that Israel would retaliate and that Gazans would pay the heaviest price.