A year of war between Israel and Hamas has changed the lives of many for generations
Sky News’ Yalda Hakim reflects on a year of war between Israel and Hamas, tracing the fighting, grief and future through one year, two sounds, three miles and four weeks
One year…
It’s been just over one year since the day that changed the lives of Israelis and Palestinians for generations.
The tragedy of 7 October lives inside most Israelis in a visceral way that is magnified by a unique history.
After enduring bloody pogroms and the Holocaust, this is a nation whose modern existence was meant as the ultimate guarantor that ‘never again’ would the Jewish people be slaughtered defenceless.
Yet on that day, as Hamas infiltrated Israel, a bloody chime of history sounded as 1,200 Jews were murdered.
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What happened on 7 October 2023
For those in Gaza and now Lebanon, it is one year since Israeli retaliation began against Hamas and Hezbollah.
Displacement, disease and death hang in the air in these places, creating tragedy for hundreds of thousands of people.
And what began as a terrorist attack against Israel increasingly feels like it has become a regional war that risks engulfing the entire Middle East.
A year ago, it felt like the once inconceivable normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia might be inevitable.
Instead, the Palestinian issue is back on the international agenda at the price of thousands of dead.
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Across the world, and especially in the United States and Europe, the war in Gaza has polarized and enflamed societies in a way no other conflict has – with an outpouring of emotions about Israel and the Palestinians.
Hundreds of thousands march in capitals every weekend calling for an end to the conflict.
Two sounds…
The morning at the memorial was sombre and emotional. Parents wept for their lost children.
Read more:
Israel’s darkest day will forever be a part of its history
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Silence, screams and the sounds of war
As I walked around the site of the Nova Music Festival in Re’im, I was struck by two distinct sounds.
First, the anguished wailing of mothers – breaking the silence to cry out in unspeakable grief. The other – every 90 seconds – was the sound of artillery fire going into Gaza.
These are two sounds which have become inextricably linked over this year.
As mothers cry in Israel, just three miles away in Gaza, mothers also weep for their dead children.
According to the UN – at the time of writing – 11,355 children in Gaza have been killed by Israeli bombardment.
The health ministry in Gaza puts the total number of dead at over 42,000 people.
According to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there are an estimated further 10,000 people still not found under the rubble.
In Lebanon, the death toll is also growing. Their health ministry says over 2,000 people have now died as a result of Israeli bombardment, and a fifth of the population is now displaced.
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Father of 7 October victim speaks to Sky
Three miles…
That is the distance between where I was standing at the site of the Nova Music Festival memorial and the Gaza Strip.
All that separates the two worlds – because they do feel like separate worlds – is a wall. A wall that was torn through on 7 October 2023.
In the early hours of that day, Hamas brutally killed more than 350 people gathered here at a music festival and took as many as 40 others hostage.
People hid for hours on end, watching helplessly as their friends were killed in front of them and others were dragged back into Gaza.
Many texted relatives saying the IDF was coming but it took the army five hours to arrive – arguably the worst intelligence and security failure in Israeli history.
In other communities, it was as many as 12 hours.
Three miles away, Hamas is no longer in control of Gaza, yet the overwhelming majority of hostages are still not freed and Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the 7 October attack, has not been captured or killed.
Gaza itself is in rubble. One in five buildings has been destroyed, and almost half damaged. Mosques, schools and shops are flattened.
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Life has changed for every single person in the Gaza Strip. The UN says nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced.
Four weeks…
It’s now just under four weeks until a knife-edged US presidential election.
Whoever wins is likely to inherit a widening war that is no longer centred on just the Israelis and the Palestinians, but Iran, its regional proxies and allies stretching from Lebanon to Yemen, and the fate of its quickening nuclear programme.
On one hand, Donald Trump is unpredictable. He says he would end the Ukraine war on day one, he claims there would never have been 7 October if he had been in the White House, and he warns darkly about the threat of World War Three absent his return to power.
But what would he do? Will he embolden and support Israeli pushback on the Iranians, or will he rein them in? No one knows for certain – including perhaps Trump himself.
Kamala Harris’s foreign policy will probably look similar to Joe Biden’s: Words of warning to Benjamin Netanyahu, but military and economic support to Israel.
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Israel’s offensives in the last few months have showcased the limits of American power, at least as wielded under President Biden.
Before Americans vote, however, it seems all but certain the Israelis will strike Iran – retaliation for an unprecedented ballistic missile attack on the Jewish State earlier this month that Israel and the US largely blunted.
How and when Israel hits Iran is the source of intense speculation – including whether the target could include the country’s energy infrastructure or nuclear sites.
The term ‘October surprise’ was coined in 1980 when Ronald Reagan feared that a last-minute deal to release American hostages in Iran might earn Jimmy Carter enough votes to remain as president.
Forty-four years later, and less than a month before election day, Iran and the wider Middle East could once again deliver another surprise.
World
Arrest warrants issued for Israeli PM Netanyahu and former defence secretary Gallant over alleged war crimes
Arrest warrants have been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence secretary Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The warrants are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza that Israel launched following the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
The prime minister’s office said the warrants against him and Gallant were “anti-semitic” and said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions”.
Another warrant was issued for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Al Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, was the mastermind behind the 7 October attacks.
It is unclear if he is still alive, following an airstrike that Israel claimed killed him earlier this year.
Neither Israel nor the US are members of the ICC. Israel has rejected the court’s jurisdiction and denies committing war crimes in Gaza.
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were a “mark of shame” for the ICC.
The court originally said it was seeking arrest warrants for the three men in May for the alleged crimes and today announced that it had rejected challenges by Israel and issued warrants of arrest.
The new UK Labour government said in the summer it would not oppose the ICC’s right to issue the warrants.
Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN general assembly. Pic: Reuters
Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
In its update, the ICC said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged crimes.
These, the court said, include “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
Netanyahu previously spoke of his “disgust” at the suggestion the ICC would seek an arrest warrant for him.
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A video released by Hamas in 2005 shows a man identified as Mohammed Deif. Pic: AP
Warrant for Hamas leader
The ICC also said it has issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Al Masri, saying it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that he is responsible for crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, torture, rape, as well as war crimes including taking hostages.
Discussing the 7 October attacks, the court said: “In light of the coordinated killings of members of civilians at several separate locations, the Chamber also found that the conduct took place as part of a mass killing of members of the civilian population, and it therefore concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of extermination was committed.”
In its statement, the ICC said the prosecution was not in a position to determine whether Al Masri is dead or alive, so was issuing the arrest warrant.
The court previously said it was seeking an arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas who was subsequently killed in July.
Four people have died and a number of others are in hospital after allegedly being served drinks laced with methanol.
According to reports, six British travellers are among those being treated in Laos, after falling ill last week.
Two Danish women in their 20s and a 56-year-old US citizen are reported to have died in what authorities fear was a mass poisoning.
On Thursday, it was confirmed an Australian woman – named as Bianca Jones, 19, from Melbourne – had become the fourth person to die.
Holly Bowles Pic: Facebook
Her friend Holly Bowles is being treated in hospital after calling for medical help at their accommodation, Nana’s Backpackers Hostel.
In a statement given to the Herald Sun, Ms Jones’s family said: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the news that our beloved daughter and sister, Bianca Jones, has passed away.
“She was surrounded by love, and we are comforted by the knowledge that her incredible spirit touched so many lives during her time with us.
“We want to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support, love, and prayers we’ve received from across Australia.”
Simone White Pic: Squire Patton Boggs
One of the British travellers being treated in hospital has been named as Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent.
According to The Times newspaper, she became ill last week in Vang Vieng – a resort popular with backpackers.
Ms White’s friend, Bethany Clarke, a healthcare worker also from Orpington, posted on a Laos Backpacking Facebook group to warn other travellers.
“Urgent – please avoid all local spirits. Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars,” she wrote.
“Just avoid them as so not worth it. Six of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.”
New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry also confirmed one of its citizens was also unwell in Laos and could be a victim of methanol poisoning.
Ukraine has fired British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russia, a source has told Sky News.
The UK and Ukraine have not yet confirmed the use of the long-range weapons in Russia but their deployment has been widely reported in British media.
Footage has been posted on Telegram reportedly showing wreckage from one of the missiles in Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.
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What are Storm Shadow missiles?
Ukraine war: Follow latest updates
The UK had previously said that British tanks, anti-tank missiles and other military equipment could be used inside Russia as part of Ukraine’s defence – but had kept restrictions on the use of long-range missiles.
It comes just days after US President Joe Biden authorised the same policy shift.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine had fired six US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) in the Bryansk region.
A Russian state news agency cited the ministry as saying the missiles caused no casualties.
The missile is also called SCALP by French forces. File pic: AP
Missiles will have a ‘marginal effect’
Sky News’ security and defence editor Deborah Haynes says Ukraine’s allies have been pursuing a strategy of ambiguity and “it remains to be seen whether we get official confirmation on this from the UK or from Ukraine”.
“There is also the uncomfortable reality that Ukraine’s stockpile of Storm Shadow missiles is severely limited, so their use will only have a marginal effect.”
Meanwhile, Sky’s military analyst Sean Bell says he would be amazed if this attack really marks the first time such a missile has been used by Ukraine to hit inside Russia.
“I would be quite surprised if they haven’t been used for selected targets further on [into Russia] because they are… very, very effective at striking Russian logistics hubs, headquarters, ammunition dumps,” he said.
British forces used Storm Shadows in the Iraq war in 2003. File pic: Reuters
The same missiles are also used by French forces, using the alternative name SCALP, and are made by the Anglo-French arms manufacturer, MBDA.
Embassies shut over air attack fears
Earlier, the US and some other Western embassies in Kyiv closed amid fears Russia was preparing a major air attack on the Ukrainian capital.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been asking Kyiv’s allies to give his troops the capability to strike deeper behind Russian lines for over a year.
Mr Biden’s change of policy is linked to changing tactics by the Russians, which began deploying North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces.
The White House is set to announce more military aid for Ukraine worth up to $275m (£217m), the US defence secretary has said.
Lloyd Austin said the support would “meet critical battlefield needs” and would include munitions for rocket systems, artillery and tank weapons, along with anti-personnel landmines.
Russian politician Maria Butina and Donald Trump Jr, the son of US President-elect Donald Trump, both warned that Mr Biden’s decision over Ukraine’s usage of long-range missiles could spark the start of a third world war.
Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold required for the use of nuclear weapons after the US move, adding to fears the conflict could escalate.
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