Hamas attack on Israel: The day that wouldn’t end

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It is still dark in the early morning of October 7 as men begin walking through the streets of the Gaza Strip knocking on the doors of homes and apartments belonging to Hamas commanders. Some are still sleeping.

The men are messengers. First, they alert the battalion commanders, each of which are responsible for around a hundred fighters. Then, the leaders of smaller units. Their message is short: They name various gathering points, all located near the 65-kilometer-long fence that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel. The commanders are to gather there before sunrise, together with their men. The messengers don’t give a reason.

All of this will later be described by attack participants in interrogations conducted by the Israeli secret service. 

The fighters only find out why they have been summoned when they are assembled a little while later, perhaps around 3,000 of them. They now learn that this is not an exercise, not a test – but that October 7 is the day for which Hamas has been preparing for years. The day their largescale attack will be launched. The real deal.  

It’s now about 6 a.m. Dawn is just beginning to break.

Hamas has done everything it can to keep the deployment secret. Hence the messengers, even though they are much slower than mobile phone messages. The Israeli secret service realizes that something unusual is going on in the Gaza Strip and registers movements, but it suspects it is just an exercise. There is no follow-up to these observations.

Some of the Hamas members have donned protective vests, others are wearing uniform shirts, and still others are in T-shirts and cargo pants. Weapons are handed out, assault rifles, hand grenades, rocket launchers. The men climb into offroad vehicles and onto motorcycles. The commanders are given their orders. The units are to storm Israeli military bases near the border, occupy roads to cut off the Israeli army and raid kibbutzim and towns. Maps are distributed, satellite images with symbols on them. Some terrorists take notes – jotting down the locations of surveillance cameras, for example.

Then, they start up the engines.

October 7, 2023, was the darkest day in the history of the State of Israel. The deadliest day for Jews since the end of the Shoah. A day full of horror and pain that has set back all efforts for peace between Israelis and Palestinians by years. The terrorist attack by Hamas triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, which has thus far resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and could, perhaps, lead to further wars in the region, such as an Israeli campaign against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon – or perhaps even to a conflagration that will also include Iran, the most important supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah. 

It was the promise of every Israeli government that a day like this would never come. That the State of Israel would be a safe place for Jews, no matter what happens. That promise proved empty on October 7. 

Thus far, Israel hasn’t produced an official investigation into the events. No analysis of the Hamas attack, no comprehensive appraisal of the failings of its own security authorities and military. Whether and when such an effort might be undertaken remains to be seen. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest in investigating possible mistakes made by his government.

Nonetheless, it is possible to recount the events of that day. A team of DIE ZEIT reporters set out to reconstruct what happened. This dossier is based on interviews with survivors and informants, confidential documents and research on social networks, satellite images, videos, Hamas propaganda and reporting from the international media. Together, they provide a detailed picture of the day that Israelis are now calling "Black Saturday." 

Gaza

6:22 a.m.: Hamas fires more than 3,000 rockets from the Gaza Strip within a short period of time, more than ever before. Most are intercepted by the Israeli missile defense system. But Hamas still manages to achieve its primary goal: The barrage of rockets is intended to distract from what is happening at the fence.

Terrorists begin attacking the border fortifications. The fence is six-meters high, and watchtowers with remote-controlled machine guns are located at regular intervals, ready to fire on anyone approaching Israeli territory. 

Hamas uses drones to drop grenades on the towers, disabling the cameras and sensors. Explosive charges tear holes in the fence. Bulldozers push poles and supporting struts to the ground. Some men start up motorized paragliders and fly across the border. Their mission is to drop grenades and provide information from the air. Others board rubber dinghies in the northwest corner of the Gaza Strip and make their way to Israel by sea. 

6:30 a.m.: Hamas announces the start of its operation, "Al-Aqsa Flood," on the messaging service Telegram. An audio message states: "We have decided to put an end to the crime of occupation." 

Hamas has penetrated the fence in almost 30 places. The terrorists are now on their way into Israel. In the air, on the water and on the ground, in cars, on mopeds and on foot. 

Two of the men participating in the attack on Israel on this day are Hassan Surob and Jihad Hamaida.

Surob, a boyish-looking 21-year-old with just the hint of a beard on his chin, is studying nursing at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza City and is originally from the town of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip. Hamas has deployed him as a medic. There are numerous selfies on his Facebook and Instagram profiles – some show him wearing a polo shirt, others a paramedic’s coat. He often shares religious adages, like: "The righteous compete in fervently praying for the prophet, be one of them." He decorates many posts with emojis: hearts, flowers, glitter. Relationship status: single. 

Surob doesn’t write anything about his Hamas membership. But among the kitschy pictures and short texts are a number of photos of his uncle, Nasmi Surob. According to the Israeli army, he was a Hamas commander who used a residential building as a command center years ago. In August 2014, the army fired on the building and killed 15 members of the Surob family. Hassan Surob’s uncle also died, but possibly in a different military operation.

Hassan Surob was 12 at the time. A few months later, he posted a picture of his uncle on his Facebook page for the first time – in camouflage. Later, he also posted Hamas propaganda, for which he received likes from his relatives.

In December 2021, he wrote on Facebook: "God, forgive me for what is past and bless me with success in everything you love."

Jihad Hamaida also has a "martyr" in his family. According to reporting by DIE ZEIT, a photo from summer 2018 shows him in a procession of mourning men in a narrow alleyway in the Gaza Strip. They are carrying the body of a man on a stretcher, wrapped in the green flag of Hamas. The man is Mohammed Hamaida, a 24-year-old who was shot dead by Israeli security forces during a demonstration – very likely Jihad Hamaida’s brother.

Several of the details from the backgrounds of Hassan Surob and Jihad Hamaida apply in one way or another to many of the October 7 terrorists. They often come from families that have been closely associated with Hamas for years, sometimes decades. Even as children, they received ideological indoctrination and weapons training for the fight against Israel.

Jihad Hamaida and Hassan Surob would go on to survive October 7, but they are arrested by the Israeli army. During his interrogation, Hamaida will say: "The order with regard to civilians was to kill the men."

This matches up with written instructions issued to Hamas commanders on this morning that have been obtained by DIE ZEIT. Some excerpts:

"Mission: Attack on Kibbutz Sa’ad with the aim of gaining control, inflicting as many casualties as possible and taking hostages; also securing Road 232."

"Kill anyone who poses a danger or distracts you."

"Take soldiers and civilians prisoner."

"Gather hostages in the dining room and prepare to transport some of them to Gaza."

 6:39 a.m.: The sun rises over the Gaza Strip.

The Nahal Oz Military Base

On the morning of October 7, Sergeant Osher Pardo wakes up at around 6:20 a.m. because he has to pee. Most of his comrades are still sleeping and silence hangs over the barracks.

When Pardo, 20, is in the bathroom, he hears an explosion in the distance, then another. The usual, Pardo thinks to himself. That’s how he will describe it later. He’s been stationed for two years at Nahal Oz, which is located around 700 meters from the Gaza Strip. Hamas regularly fires rockets into Israel. It’s nothing new for Pardo.

But this time the explosions don't stop. Instead, they keep getting closer and closer. Pardo hurries back into the sleeping container to wake the others, then grabs his trousers, his mobile phone and his rifle and runs, shoeless and bare-chested, into the shelter, a small, whitewashed concrete cube right next to the outer wall of the barracks.

At only about 400 meters long and 200 meters wide, the Nahal Oz military base isn’t very large. It consists of living and sleeping containers, office barracks and a small hall with a corrugated iron roof. The roads are covered in desert sand, the few palm trees are more gray than green, and there is a basketball court in one corner.

Normally, not quite 200 soldiers are based here. Their mission: to secure the border. Each morning at dawn, a patrol checks the fence. But on this day, there are only 80 men and women in the barracks, of whom only 25 are trained for combat. The rest are off with their families for the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah. Which is why the patrol has been cancelled.

Pardo has hardly reached the bunker before he hears shots fired from automatic rifles and the impact of grenades from outside. The attackers have entered the barracks. Drones are buzzing in the air. One circles over the parking lot in front of the bunker, where military vehicles are parked. Three soldiers have sought shelter behind a minibus. A grenade is released from the drone and detonates, seriously injuring one of the soldiers. The other two drag him across the asphalt behind another vehicle. Bullets are whipping through the air. Pardo hears their cries from the bunker. "Help us, help us!" The injured man is the commander of the battalion, the highest-ranking soldier at the base.