Nahal Oz is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the northwestern part of the Negev desert close to the border with the Gaza Strip and near the development towns of Sderot and Netivot, it is under the jurisdiction of Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council. In 2022, it had a population of 479. A nearby IDF military base is known by the same name.
Unit 5101, more commonly known as Shaldag, is one of the premier Israeli Air Force (IAF) Sayeret units. The unit is part of the 7th Special Air Forces Wing and is based in the Palmachim Airbase. The unit is led by an officer at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Be'eri is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the north-western Negev desert near the eastern border with the Gaza Strip, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 1,071.
The 2006 Gaza cross-border raid was an armed incursion carried out by seven or eight Gazan Palestinian militants on 25 June 2006 who attacked Israel Defense Forces (IDF) positions near the Kerem Shalom Crossing through an attack tunnel. In the attack, two IDF soldiers and two Palestinian militants were killed, four IDF soldiers were wounded, one of whom was Gilad Shalit, who was captured and taken to the Gaza Strip.
The Hannibal Directive is the name of a controversial procedure that was used by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) until 2016 to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces. According to one version, it says that "the kidnapping must be stopped by all means, even at the price of striking and harming our own forces." It was introduced in 1986, after a number of abductions of IDF soldiers in Lebanon and subsequent controversial prisoner exchanges. The full text of the directive was never published, and until 2003, Israeli military censorship forbade any discussion of the subject in the press. The directive has been changed several times, until it was officially revoked in 2016 by IDF chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot. The Directive's replacement has not been published.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups named the attacks Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, while in Israel they are referred to as Black Saturday or the Simchat Torah Massacre, and internationally as the 7 October attack. The attacks launched the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.
The battle of Sderot began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched a large-scale surprise attack on southern Israel, which was widely condemned as an act of terrorism. The Israeli town of Sderot, located close to the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, has frequently been the target of rocket attacks and incursions during the course of the Gaza–Israel conflict. Hamas militants massacred at least 50 civilians and 20 police officers.
Vivian Silver was a Canadian-Israeli peace activist and women's rights activist. She was killed during the Be'eri massacre, a part of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
On 7 October 2023, in the opening attacks of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Hamas militants carried out a massacre at Be'eri, an Israeli kibbutz near the Gaza Strip.
On 7 October 2023, as part of the Hamas-led attack on Israel at the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war, Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups abducted 253 people from Israel to the Gaza Strip, including children, women, and elderly people. In addition to hostages with only Israeli citizenship, almost half of the hostages are foreign nationals or have multiple citizenships. The precise ratio of soldiers and civilians among the captives is unknown. The captives are likely being held in different locations in the Gaza Strip.
On 7 October 2023, during the Re'im music festival massacre, Shani Nicole Louk, a 22-year-old German-Israeli tattoo artist and influencer, was killed. Shortly after the attack, a video circulated showing her body paraded through the streets of Gaza by Hamas militants in the back of a pickup truck. Described by security experts and commentators as Hamas's social media propaganda, it became one of the first viral videos of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The globally-seen images turned into a visual emblem of militants' conduct toward civilians in the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
On 7 October 2023, as part of the surprise attack on Israel, Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, led by Hamas, invaded the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel. They killed scores of kibbutz residents, burned homes, and abducted civilians. According to the Israeli military, up to 150 militants participated in the massacre.
On 7 October 2023, the Hamas Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades attacked Holit, a kibbutz close to the border fence with the Gaza Strip, as part of a surprise attack on Israel.
On 7 October 2023, the Hamas Nuseirat Battalion attacked Nir Yitzhak, a kibbutz close to the border fence with the Gaza Strip, as part of a surprise attack on Israel.
On 7 October 2023, 25-year-old Israeli woman Noa Argamani was abducted by Hamas during the Re'im music festival massacre, part of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. In one of the first Hamas videos released of the massacre, she was seen being abducted by motorcycle as she yells, "Don't kill me!" Her arms are outstretched toward her boyfriend Avinatan Or, who was also being kidnapped. The footage of her kidnapping, became a symbol of the hostage crisis and has led to Argamani being described as "the face of the Nova music festival hostages". Despite other hostages being released during a ceasefire in November 2023, Argamani remained captive.
On 7 October 2023, as part of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and the Nir Oz massacre, the Palestinian Islamist militant organization Hamas abducted the Israeli-Argentinian/Peruvian Bibas family from the Nir Oz kibbutz. The youngest child, baby Kfir, was the youngest hostage taken in the 7 October 2023 attacks. Shiri's parents, abducted from their kibbutz, were later found murdered. Amidst widespread concern and a campaign for their release, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hamas transferred the family to a different Palestinian terror group within Gaza. Efforts to release Shiri and her children during a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas were unsuccessful; Hamas later claimed that they were killed as a result of an Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis.
On 7 October 2023, 21-year-old French-Israeli woman Mia Schem was abducted by Hamas during the Re'im music festival massacre, part of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Her abduction, a video of her in captivity in Gaza, and subsequent release on 30 November garnered international media attention, and she became a face of the hostage crisis during the Israel–Hamas war.
In specific cases there were incidents of friendly fire in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The vast majority of casualties in the conflict were killed by the opposing side, i.e. Israelis killed by Palestinian militants and Palestinians killed by the Israeli military.
The rescue of Ori Megidish was an Israel Defense Forces military operation on 30 October 2023 during the Israel–Hamas war in Gaza that led to the rescue of Israeli soldier Uri Magidish from Hamas imprisonment in Gaza to Israel. Megidish was rescued in a joint operation between the IDF and the Israeli Shin Bet, based on specific intelligence of her whereabouts. Two Hamas militants were killed during the operation.
On 7 October 2023, 19-year-old Israeli woman Naama Levy was abducted by Palestinian militants during the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. In one of the first videos released of the massacre, she was seen being dragged into a jeep at gunpoint, her hands bound and a large bloodstain on the seat of her pants, leading to widespread concern she had been raped or sexually assaulted.
