The outbreak, the hostages, the assassinations: Key events that defined October 7 and the resulting war
The complete timeline of the war that changed Israel: the surprise attack, the ground offensive, the hostage release deals, the additional fronts, and the defining moments along the way
Three years ago today, the State of Israel awoke to a horrible reality, as the Hamas terrorist organization launched an unprecedented terror attack, the scale of which had never been seen before. Since then, Israel has been in one of the most complex and tumultuous periods in its history, with a war that has expanded from a single focal point to multiple regional arenas.
From the first sirens, through the ground offensives, the direct confrontation with Iran, and the hostage release deals, these are the events that have shaped the war from its beginning until today, changing Israel and the entire Middle East.
October 7, 2023 | 06:29 - The surprise attack begins
At 6:29 a.m., on Simchat Torah, Hamas launches a large-scale attack on Israel. Alongside heavy rocket barrages targeting communities in southern and central Israel, thousands of terrorists breach the border fence and infiltrate Israel by land, sea, and air.
The terrorists raid communities near the Gaza border, military posts and bases, including Be’eri, Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz, Netiv HaAsara, Nir Oz and Sderot. At the same time, they reached the Nova music festival near Re’im.
According to the Ministry of Defense, about 6,000 terrorists managed to infiltrate Israeli territory. A total of 251 people were kidnapped and brought into the Gaza Strip.
October 7 | 07:00–09:00 - The attack spreads
Simultaneously with the fighting in dozens of communities, the terrorists arrive at the Nova party. Hundreds of partygoers try to escape the scene, and many are murdered or kidnapped.
At Re'im, about 35 people fleeing the festival arrive at the kibbutz between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. At 7:51 a.m., the first terrorists infiltrate the kibbutz; at 08:01, dozens more enter. By 9:00 a.m., about 80 terrorists are already in Re'im.
October 7 | 06:29–09:55 - The political leadership’s timeline
According to the timeline published by the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu receives his first update about the attack at 6:29 a.m. At 6:44 a.m., he speaks with his military secretary and raises the issue of mobilizing reservists. At 7:30 a.m., he departs for the Kirya military headquarters, arriving sometime between approximately 8:00 and 8:22 a.m.
According to the timeline published by the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu receives his first update about the attack at 6:29 a.m. At 6:44 a.m., he speaks with his military secretary and raises the issue of mobilizing reservists. At 7:30 a.m., he departs for the Kirya military headquarters, arriving sometime between approximately 8:00 and 8:22 a.m.
October 7 | Throughout the day – Battles in the Gaza border communities
The fighting continues in the communities and outposts for hours. In Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz, Sderot, Ofakim, Re'im, and elsewhere, residents and local security teams fight terrorists alongside police and IDF forces.
The IDF later determined that full control over all southern communities was not restored until October 10, although large-scale fighting inside most communities had already ended by October 9.
October 7 | Evening hours – Israel goes to war
As fighting continues inside Israeli territory, the air force begins extensive strikes in Gaza. At 9:23 p.m., according to IDF updates from that day, the air force strikes infrastructure used by senior Hamas figures and units. Fighting inside some communities continues beyond 10:00 p.m.
October 8, 2023 | The second front opens
A day after the Hamas attack and the raids on Gaza border communities, Hezbollah begins firing at an IDF force on the Lebanese border. Israel responds with strikes. This marks the opening of the northern front, which will remain active throughout almost the entire war and develop into a broad campaign against Hezbollah in 2024.
October 19, 2023 | The Houthis Join the Campaign
The Houthis in Yemen also enter the conflict, launching missiles and drones toward Israel. The attacks from Yemen will later develop into another front in the war, with Israeli strikes in Yemen and American operations against the Houthis.
October 27, 2023 | Israel begins the ground maneuver
After three weeks of airstrikes, the IDF significantly expands its ground operations in Gaza. Troops enter northern Gaza, and the war moves into a phase of extensive ground combat.
October 30, 2023 | The first hostage is rescued
The IDF and Shin Bet rescued in a special operation the observer Ori Megidish, who had been abducted from the Nahal Oz base. This is the first rescue of a live hostage from the Gaza Strip during the war. Later, the IDF will define the return of the hostages as one of the main objectives of the campaign.
November 24, 2023 | The first hostage deal
After weeks of fighting, a temporary ceasefire is signed as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas. During the days of the truce, 105 hostages are released, including women, children, and foreign civilians, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
The fighting resumes on December 1. The deal transforms the hostage issue from a purely humanitarian concern into a central factor in the conduct of the war.
December 2023–January 2024 | The war expands to southern Gaza
After taking control of large parts of the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF is expanding its ground operations to Khan Yunis. The war is now also focused on the southern part of the Strip, to which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled.
December 15, 2023 | "The Shuja'iyya Incident" - Three hostages killed by IDF fire
An IDF force operating in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City spots three figures approaching them, shirtless, unarmed, and waving a white flag. Despite this, the force decides to open fire at them.
It was later revealed that the three were the abductees Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samar Talalka, who had managed to escape from their captors. An IDF investigation determined that the shooting was carried out in violation of the rules of engagement.
February 12, 2024 | "Golden Hand" - Two hostages rescued in Rafah
In a special operation by the IDF, Shin Bet, and Yamam, two Israeli hostages are rescued from Rafah: Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har. The operation lasts less than an hour and a half and is carried out under fire, as the forces break into the apartment where the two were held.
April 13, 2024 | Iran directly attacks Israel
After months of operating through proxies, Iran is directly attacking Israel in response to the assassination of a senior Revolutionary Guards official in Syria and Lebanon, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, in a strike attributed to Israel near the Iranian embassy in Damascus.
Iran is launching hundreds of UAVs, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles toward Israel. Most of the threats were intercepted in a joint operation by Israel and its allies. This is a dramatic shift: for the first time during the war, Israel and Iran are confronting each other directly.
May 2024 | The campaign moves to Rafah
The IDF is beginning ground operations in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, after months in which the city became a concentration point for hundreds of thousands of displaced persons.
The operation in Rafah is becoming one of the most controversial moves on the international stage, but from Israel's perspective, it is presented as part of the effort to dismantle the remaining Hamas battalions in the area.
June 8, 2024 | "Operation Arnon" - Four hostages return alive
One of the most dramatic actions of the war: Shin Bet and Yamam forces, backed by the IDF, raid two buildings in the Nuseirat refugee camp and rescue Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv.
Yamam commander and fighter, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, was critically wounded during the operation and died of his injuries. The operation was named after him.
July 13, 2024 | Israel eliminates Mohammed Deif
The IDF is striking a compound in Khan Yunis where, according to Israeli intelligence, Mohammed Deif — the head of Hamas's military wing, who has been at the top of Israel’s most-wanted list for years — was staying. Subsequently, Israel announced that Deif has been eliminated.
27 July 2024 | 12 children killed by a Hezbollah rocket strike in Majdal Shams
On Saturday evening, Hezbollah launched a rocket that hit a soccer field in Majdal Shams while children were present. Hezbollah denied involvement in the incident, but intelligence sources in Israel and the United States stated that there is no doubt Hezbollah was responsible for the attack.
July 31, 2024 | Assassination of the Hezbollah Chief of Staff
The IDF kills Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Hezbollah’s most senior military official, Shukr effectively served as its chief of staff. The strike follows the escalation along the northern border and the attack on Majdal Shams.
On October 3, 2024, Khader al-Shahabiya, the commander of the Har Dov sector in Hezbollah, who commanded the rocket fire on Majdal Shams, was eliminated.
July 31, 2024 | The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau, was eliminated in a guest apartment of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran after attending the inauguration ceremony of the Iranian president. In addition to Haniyeh, his bodyguard was also eliminated; the bodyguard was one of the perpetrators of the infiltration attack near Kibbutz Nahal Oz during Operation Protective Edge, in which five Israeli soldiers were killed.
The assassination of Haniyeh is attributed to Israel, even though at the time Israel did not officially claim responsibility.
August 20, 2024 | Recovery of the bodies of six hostages
The IDF and Shin Bet recover from a tunnel in Khan Yunis the bodies of: Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger, Alex Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yagev Buchshtab, and Nadav Popplewell.
An IDF investigation published several months later determined that the six were murdered by Hamas terrorists on February 14. The operation highlights the shift in the campaign: alongside efforts to secure the release of hostages alive, Israel is also working to locate and recover the bodies of the fallen.
August 31, 2024 | Six hostages are murdered in a tunnel in Rafah
Hamas lookouts notice IDF forces approaching the tunnel where six hostages were held: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Carmel Gat. Once the information is received, the terrorists holding the six hostages are ordered to execute them, and they shoot them at close range.
On August 31, several days after the murder, an IDF force located the tunnel, inside which were the six bodies of the fallen. After their bodies were returned to Israel, they showed signs of extreme neglect and being underweight, as well as severe signs of violence and gunshot wounds.
Hamas initially claims that the casualties were killed as a result of an IDF attack, but later releases a statement saying that following Operation Arnon, new instructions were issued to the terrorists in charge of guarding the hostages: to murder them if the IDF approaches their location.
September 17–18, 2024 | The Northern Front Erupts: The Pager Operation in Lebanon
Thousands of walkie-talkies and beepers used by Hezbollah operatives explode across Lebanon and Syria in two waves. 59 people are killed in the operation, and about 4,500 are injured, 450 of them in critical or serious condition. Approximately 1,500 terrorists have been rendered unfit for action, among other things due to blindness or loss of limbs.
The operation is attributed to Israel, although Israel does not claim responsibility at the time. Two months later, Prime Minister Netanyahu acknowledges that Israel carried out the attack.
This marks a turning point in the campaign against Hezbollah. The security cabinet adds returning northern residents to their homes to the list of war objectives. Several days later, the IDF strikes approximately 1,000 Hezbollah launchers aimed at Israel, preventing a broad retaliatory attack in response to the pager operation. Hezbollah subsequently fires hundreds of rockets a day at northern Israel, expanding its range to the Jezreel Valley and Haifa Bay.
September 27, 2024 | "New Order": The Elimination of Hassan Nasrallah
The air force carries out a heavy bombardment of Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut’s Dahieh district, targeting the organization’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. A day later, the IDF officially confirms that Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has been killed.
Other senior figures are killed alongside Nasrallah, including Ali Karaki, Hezbollah’s southern front commander, and the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force in Lebanon. It is one of the war’s most significant assassinations, coming after more than three decades in which Nasrallah led the organization.
October 1, 2024 | Israel launches a ground incursion into southern Lebanon
The IDF is beginning ground operations in southern Lebanon as part of Operation "Northern Arrows," to target Hezbollah infrastructure and push the threat away from northern communities. At the same time, tens of thousands of Israelis are being evacuated from their homes in the north, and Hezbollah is starting to launch missiles at the central region as well.
October 1, 2024 | Iran launches hundreds of missiles at Israel
In response to Israeli actions against Hezbollah and assassinations of the organization's senior members, Iran carries out a direct ballistic missile attack on Israel for the second time. Israel intercepts a significant portion of the missiles, and in the following months plans its response.
October 17, 2024 | Yahya Sinwar is killed
The IDF spots a group of Hamas fighters in Rafah and opens fire. It later emerges that one of the terrorists was Yahya Sinwar, killing the man regarded as the principal architect of the October 7 attack and Hamas’s leader in Gaza.
November 27, 2024 | Ceasefire with Lebanon
After months of fighting in the north and a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, Israel and Lebanon agree to a ceasefire. The agreement is supposed to bring an end to the fighting and to distance Hezbollah forces from the border area.
December 2024 | The fall of the Assad regime in Syria – Israel enters an additional front
The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria transforms the regional landscape. Israel takes advantage of the change to target Syrian military infrastructure and prevent weapons from reaching hostile actors.
The IDF entered the buffer zone along the Syrian border and took control of several strategic points, including the summit of the Syrian Hermon.
January 19, 2025 | The second hostages deal
After months of negotiations, a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip has come into effect, which includes the release of 30 live hostages, 8 deceased hostages, the release of hundreds of terrorists and Palestinian detainees, and the expansion of humanitarian aid entry into the Strip.
The first phase begins with the gradual release of Israeli hostages. On January 19, the first three hostages released under the deal, Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher, return to Israel.
Dozens more hostages are subsequently released, including the five military lookouts abducted from the Nahal Oz post: Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Agam Berger, as well as Yarden Bibas.
On February 8, Israeli hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami are released in a state of severe malnutrition. Images of them spark outrage in Israel and around the world.
February 20-22, 2025 | The return of the bodies of the Bibas family
On February 20, under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas returns four bodies to Israel. Three are identified as Oded Lifshitz and brothers Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were abducted from Nir Oz and murdered in captivity.
Hamas claimed that the fourth body was that of Shiri Bibas, but the body did not match her or any other hostage. It was eventually determined that the body belonged to a Palestinian resident of the Gaza Strip. Shiri Bibas's body was finally returned to Israel on February 22.
The Institute of Forensic Medicine determined that Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas were murdered by Hamas terrorists in November 2023. The IDF spokesperson also said that Ariel and Kfir were brutally murdered by hand, with an attempt to cover up the evidence.
March 18, 2025 | “Might and Sword” — Fighting resumes in Gaza
After nearly two months of ceasefire, Israel resumes extensive strikes in Gaza. The operation is named “Might and Sword.” Hundreds of Palestinians, including senior Hamas figures, are killed in the opening strikes, and fighting later expands into Rafah. The war in Gaza enters a new phase that lasts for months.
June 13-24, 2025 | “Rising Lion” — Israel attacks Iran
At 3:30 a.m., Israel launches a broad operation against Iran. The operation targets Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missile capabilities, and security and command structures. It includes the killing of senior Iranian officials and significant damage to air defense and missile systems.
The campaign lasts 12 days, during which Iran launches numerous missiles toward Israel. Thirty-three civilians are killed by Iranian missile strikes, and thousands of buildings in Israel are damaged, including the Haifa oil refineries, Soroka Hospital and the Weizmann Institute.
After 12 days of fighting, Israel and Iran reach a ceasefire, following, among other developments, the American attack on the Fordow nuclear facility.
The direct confrontation marks another shift in the war: from a conflict fought primarily through proxies to a sustained direct campaign between Israel and Tehran.
Summer 2025 | "Gideon's Chariots" – The war in Gaza continues
Fighting continues in Gaza alongside repeated efforts to reach a deal. Operations to locate and recover the bodies of hostages also continue. In August 2025, for example, the IDF and Shin Bet recover the body of Ilan Weiss, who was murdered in Be’eri and whose body was taken to Gaza.
September 9, 2025 | The Israeli strike in Doha
Israel attacks a Hamas target in Doha, Qatar, in an attempt to harm the organization's leadership, which fails. The event becomes one of the most dramatic moments in the diplomatic campaign, as the attack takes place in a country that mediates between Israel and Hamas.
The attack on Qatar was sharply condemned by the United States, which subsequently provided Qatar with security guarantees. Three weeks after the strike, Prime Minister Netanyahu called the Emir of Qatar at the request of the United States to apologize.
October 2025 | The deal that brings the living hostages home
After about two years of war, a new agreement was signed between Israel and Hamas. As part of the first stage of the agreement, all the living hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip will return to Israel.
On October 13, Israel held a day marking the return of the living hostages to their families after 738 days in captivity. At the same time, a new ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip.
In the weeks that follow, the remaining bodies of the abducted fallen who remained in the Gaza Strip are returned to Israel, including the body of Hadar Goldin, who was abducted during Operation "Protective Edge."
January 26, 2026 | The last hostage returns
More than two years and three months after October 7, Israel announces, following a military operation, the recovery of the remains of Ran Gvili, the last hostage still in Gaza. Gvili, a member of the police’s Yasam special patrol unit, was killed on October 7, and his body was taken into Gaza.
The IDF announces that after identification, the return of all the hostages, both the living and the deceased, from the Gaza Strip has been completed. The event marks the closure of one of the main chapters of the war.
February 28, 2026 | Operation “Lion’s Roar”
On Saturday morning, Israel and the United States launch a massive surprise attack on Iran, aiming to strike its nuclear program, ballistic missile array, and military and governmental targets.
In the opening strike, the air force drops dozens of heavy bombs on the compound of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Israel subsequently announces that Iran’s supreme leader has been killed. Iran responds by launching missile attacks on Israel.
March 2, 2026 | Hezbollah re-enters the campaign
Two days after the initial strike in Iran, Hezbollah officially announces the end of the ceasefire with Israel and joins the fighting, beginning to launch rockets and UAVs toward Israeli communities and IDF bases in the north.
At the same time, the IDF, which has not fully withdrawn from Lebanon, begins a broad ground invasion of the south of the country. On March 11, Hezbollah launches a massive barrage of about 200 rockets towards Israel, in an operation that was pre-planned with Iran.
April 7, 2026 | Temporary ceasefire with Iran
The United States and Iran sign a memorandum of understanding brokered by Pakistan, which leads to a temporary two-week ceasefire between the two countries, as well as between Israel and Hezbollah.
June 19, 2026 | As part of direct negotiations taking place between Israel and Lebanon under American mediation, another ceasefire agreement was signed between Israel and Hezbollah. Despite the agreement, the IDF still controls large areas in southern Lebanon and continues operations to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure in the area.
October 7, 2026 | The campaign is not over yet
The return of Ran Gvili in January 2026 completed the recovery of all hostages from Gaza, but it did not bring a complete end to the fighting.
The IDF continues to carry out strikes in Gaza and holds a substantial portion of its territory. Meanwhile, Hamas is not cooperating with the Board of Peace and is trying to maintain its position in Gaza while rebuilding its military capabilities.