October 7

Israel Declared War on October 7

Photo by Taylor Brandon on Unsplash

During a music festival in Israel on Oct. 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, breached a border security fence and killed 206 Israeli civilians. Since the festival, more than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, at least 4,500 have been injured and approximately 203 people have been taken as hostages. Of the 1,400 people murdered, at least 32 of them are Americans and of the 203 people taken as hostages, at least 11 of them are Americans.

Oct. 7 was a holy holiday for the Jewish people in Israel, Simchat Torah. This sacred day quickly turned into the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Thousands of armed Hamas terrorists tore down the Gaza border and invaded Southern Israel. During the invasion, Gaza sent over thousands of rockets towards Israel.

“It’s a terrible thing that is happening,” upper school history teacher Timothy Fitzpatrick said. “Personally, I don’t think U.S. involvement is a big thing that needs to happen right now but funding and supporting Israel is definitely something we need to be doing.”

Hamas made their way into Israeli towns and started shooting, beheading, raping, burning and abducting infants, children, men, women and the elderly. During this, Hamas terrorists infiltrated the Nova Music Festival where people from all over came to listen to their favorite songs. The people who did not make it to safety in time after hearing the sirens came into contact with the Hamas terrorists.

“I hate to see meaningless war and this killing for no reason,” senior David May said. “ I think that the US should be there to support Israel and make sure that this war does not expand out and cause a bigger loss of life.”

This is the first time that Israel has encountered such a large-scale attack from Gaza. In perspective, Israel only has around 9 million citizens. So, 1,400 people massacred in Israel in one day would be equivalent to about 50,000 people in the United States.

“Israel is our ally so we need to get involved and fight,” junior Kayla Iarossi said. “We need to help them as much as we can because this is a mass murder and I do think we need to get involved.

Israel declared war on Oct. 7 and both sides are still fighting today. The United States has sent troops, weapons and ships to support Israel and has pledged to help with humanitarian assistance.