Why Hamas choose October 6 to attack Israel? The date was October 6, 1973. The Yom Kippur War began when a coalition of Arab nations unexpectedly attacked Israeli-occupied territories on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for Jews.
Israel launched an offensive against the Arab coalition after drawing battle lines. Most of the fighting occurred in the Golan Heights, Sinai, and other areas that Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War.
When US President Richard Nixon issued a global nuclear alert, geopolitical tensions reached a breaking point.
Oil deliveries to all Western nations that backed Israel were halted by the Arab members of OPEC as the fighting grew more intense, resulting in a global energy crisis.
After two weeks and nearly 20,000 fatalities, Israel won the conflict and now controls a larger area than it did at the outset.
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On October 6, 2023, exactly 50 years from now, the Gaza-based Hamas organization declared the start of “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” and urged “resistance fighters in the West Bank” as well as in “Arab and Islamic nations” to join the fight against Israel, which it accuses of “illegally occupying” Palestinian territory. Over 5,000 rockets rained down on Israel that day.
Officials from Hamas claimed that the ongoing hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians, particularly the dispute over the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, were to blame for the recent violence.
Both Muslims and Jews revere this place, which has a violent past that includes the brutal 11-day conflict in 2021 between Israel and Hamas.
The surprise attack that started the Yom Kippur War in 1973 was reminiscent of the Israeli shock on Simchat Torah, one of Judaism’s holiest days.
Why Hamas choose October 6 to attack Israel?
Hamas’ selection of this day, is significant because it is both holy in Judaism and the 50th anniversary of the 1973 conflict. Many Israelis on Saturday drew comparisons between the ongoing conflict and the events from decades ago as a result of recent media coverage of the Yom Kippur War.
Simchat Torah was about to be celebrated by many Israelis, but Hamas put a stop to the festivities by launching thousands of missiles and conducting a sensational land, sea, and air invasion of Israeli territory, both of which resulted in hundreds of fatalities.
After the Hamas attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed a “state of war” and began an offensive against the Palestinian organization, focusing on the delicate Gaza Strip.
Hamas has urged its fighters to join the conflict with Israel from the West Bank, as well as from the Arab and Islamic worlds. Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank are still high in light of the most recent conflict.
