JERUSALEM—More than 700 Israelis were killed and at least 2,150 injured—with hundreds in critical condition—in a combined attack from Gaza by land, sea and air that began at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct 7. More than 100 Israelis, including women and children as well as Israel Defense Forces, were kidnapped or captured by Hamas terrorists and are being held in the Gaza Strip. Border towns were secured on Monday morning after fighting continued for nearly two days.

Hundreds of terrorists in vans, motorcycles, on foot, in boats and with paragliders penetrated into Israeli territory along the entire length of the border fence in Gaza, which was breached by Hamas bulldozers. Entire settlements in the Gaza Strip and IDF bases fell into the hands of the terrorists who went from house to house murdering, vandalizing, and setting fire to buildings and taking hostages. Gun battles were continuing in the towns of Kfar Aza and Magen. More than 400 terrorists were killed and dozens captured by Sunday night.

Thousands of rockets continued to be fired into Israel on Monday, with casualties earlier reported far from the Gaza border in Rehovot, Tel Aviv and Kfar Chabad as sirens wailed as far away as Jerusalem and Netanya. Virtually the entire center and south of the nation took cover in safety rooms and public bomb shelters during the day on Saturday. Relentless rocket attacks continued along the Gaza corridor into Monday.

There were more than two days of virtually unrelenting fear and loss in towns and cities near Gaza, and Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and volunteers provided aid and support to communities and security forces in Ofakim, Sderot and Ashkelon, as they did throughout the country.

“It’s been an indescribably painful time,” Rabbi Shneur Kenig of Chabad of Ofakim told Chabad.org, his voice choking up. “It started at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday. It’s Sunday night, and it’s not over yet.”

“We lost many friends, several who attend our Chabad House and danced with us last night,” Kenig said. The rabbi operates a soup kitchen in cooperation with the municipality. The Home Front Command and municipality coordinated security for him and his volunteers to bring food door-to-door on Sunday to those in need. On Sunday night, Ofakim was still under lockdown. Security forces were unsure if there were still terrorists in hiding.

Cars burning from rocket strike in Rishon LeTzion - Photo by Yossi Aloni/ Flash90
Cars burning from rocket strike in Rishon LeTzion
Photo by Yossi Aloni/ Flash90

Sderot was one of the first targets of the incursion from Gaza, and throughout the day, Saturday terrorists drove through the streets of the city, randomly shooting and killing residents. They occupied a local police station, killing a number of officers, and fought battles with Israeli security forces throughout the day.

The Chabad House of Sderot has a very large bomb shelter, and so when the soldiers arrived in the city on Shabbat, Rabbi Asher Pizam opened the shelter for them, helped them get organized inside and gave them food as they went out to fight in pitched gun battles through the day and night.

“In between rockets, we are running to people who are at home and in need,” said Pizam. People are hungry—they need food and medicine, and other essential supplies. They are tired and scared; everyone lost friends or family.

In Tel Aviv, which was not spared from a number of direct hits from missiles from Gaza, Rabbi Chaim Tveria, who directs Chabad of Florentin in the south Tel Aviv neighborhood, provided spiritual and moral support for neighborhood residents, including a family whose home on Abarbanel Street was hit by shrapnel from a rocket attack. On Shabbat, he brought the family (who asked to remain anonymous) wine, challah and food so they could still observe the holiday of Simchat Torah.

On Sunday, he set up a tefillin stand for the community at the Chabad House, where he offered to help residents do the mitzvah. That morning, some 20 men waited patiently to don tefillin and say their morning prayers inside.

“My job here is to provide moral and spiritual activation,” said Tveria. “What we’ve seen in Tel Aviv in the past 24 hours has been fear and trauma. That’s when you need this kind of love and support the most.”

Tel Aviv residents put on tefillin outside Chabad of Florentin in Tel Aviv. A number of buildings in the neighborhood were damaged by a barrage of rocket fire launched from Hamas in the Gaza Strip. - Photo courtesy Chabad of Florentin
Tel Aviv residents put on tefillin outside Chabad of Florentin in Tel Aviv. A number of buildings in the neighborhood were damaged by a barrage of rocket fire launched from Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Photo courtesy Chabad of Florentin

Declaration of War for ‘Operation Iron Swords’

Following an Israeli security cabinet meeting and formal declaration of war late Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “What happened today has never been seen before in Israel, and we will ensure it never happens again.”

The war declaration for “Operation Iron Swords” grants the prime minister and the security services special authority. “The IDF will immediately use all its power to destroy Hamas’s capabilities,” said Netanyahu. “We will fight them to the bitter end and avenge this black day they plotted for Israel and its people,” he said, noting that he had spoken to the opposition leaders in Israel and that all were united behind the war effort.

The IDF mobilized tens of thousands of reserve soldiers and launched artillery and missile strikes beginning Saturday morning. Many predicted that an invasion of Gaza by IDF troops was inevitable. A full-scale invasion has been avoided by a succession of Israeli governments since Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in the summer of 2005, when it dismantled 21 settlements and handed control of the area to the Palestinian Authority, which was ousted by Hamas in 2007.

With many still unaccounted for, the Home Front Command set up missing persons centers at Ben-Gurion International Airport and at police stations around the nation on Saturday night, and families arrived throughout that night and the next day carrying photos and items containing DNA of their loved ones. The Israeli police have set up a phone hotline to assist. “People should call *105 to provide as much information as possible about the missing,” said Cmdr. Shelly Harush of the Israel Police. A hotline sponsored by the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration to provide emotional support for those impacted by the attack is available in English, Russian, Arabic, French and Spanish at *3201.

Shnapnel from a rocket that struck a building in central Tel Aviv. - Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90
Shnapnel from a rocket that struck a building in central Tel Aviv.
Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90

Lists of Casualties and Hostages

Although the government has not provided official information about kidnapped civilians—mostly women, children and the elderly—some family members posted photos of their loved ones who they identified in videos taken and circulated on social media by Hamas. Some are alive and some are presumed dead, said former IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, who confirmed that children, women, the elderly and the disabled were among those taken. Officials have not yet confirmed the names of any hostages and are reported to be working through third-party nations to secure their safe return.

On Sunday, the IDF released its first list of names of soldiers who lost their lives in the fighting, and some of the many civilian casualties became public as well. A partial list of people killed in the attack is here. The list will be updated as names are made available.

Prayers and Good Deeds

Prayers, Psalms and additional good deeds in the merit of everyone impacted by the war have been going on virtually non-stop in Israel and around the world from the moment the first sirens were heard as people were preparing for prayers on the joyous holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, which took place this year on Shabbat.

Although some services were canceled in towns under direct attack near the Gaza border, the Simchat Torah hakafot took place in synagogues around Israel during lulls between rocket attacks. The prayers, singing and dancing contained an intense combination of unbridled joy and anxious pleas for safety and protection that many said they had never experienced before.

After the holiday and in the day since the attack, spontaneous acts of kindness have been taking place around Israel, as well as centralized programs to help those in need.

During past conflicts in the Land of Israel, and during times of danger for the Jewish people, the RebbeRabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—made practical suggestions of mitzvahs that would elicit G‑d’s blessings and protection. Among them are tefillin, Shabbat candles, mezuzah, charity and acts of kindness, and Torah study.

To pray for the safety of all residents of the Holy Land, Psalms 20, 22, 69 and 150 are traditionally said in times of distress.

This story was reported, written and published after the conclusion of Yom Tov in Israel.