On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas (a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, or FTO) led surprise attacks against Israel from the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals (including at least 35 U.S. citizens in Israel) were killed. Hamas and other groups also seized 251 hostages on October 7. The stunning nature, scope, and lethality of the attacks and apparent intelligence failures have become a subject of analysis for Israeli and U.S. officials. Iran reportedly provides material support to Hamas, and according to U.S. officials may be complicit in a broad sense, but President Joe Biden said in October “there is no evidence” that Iran helped plan the attack.
By the end of the year, Israel and Hamas were in a major war, with hundreds of Israelis and thousands of Israelis killed, Hezbollah the Iranian proxy in Lebanon joining Hamas in attacks on Israelis, causing 70,000 Israelis to leave their homes in proximity to Lebanon, and Israel assassination major Hamas (Yahyah Sinwar) and Hezbollah (Hussein Nasrallah) leaders and dozens of others. Iran attacked Israel twice causing Israeli military responses, but not a full scale war between Tehran and Jerusalem. All efforts to conclude ceasefires to end the conflicts between Israel and Hamas- Israel and Hezbollah- Israel failed. In September Israel started a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. One ceasefire did yield an exchange of some Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.