The Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, will go down as one of the worst terrorist attacks in history. Recognizing its impact, however, involves understanding the many dimensions of the attack, its consequences for a small state like Israel and a small area like the Gaza Strip, and its global ramifications.
In this commentary, CSIS researchers in the Transnational Threats Project present 10 figures to illustrate different dimensions of the attack. These include comparisons of the attack’s fatalities and the hostages taken with other such terrorist operations in other countries, comparisons between October 7 and past attacks on Israel, and images of Hamas’s tactics on October 7. Taken together, these visualizations and images can help illustrate why Israeli leaders felt compelled to launch a devastating response to the October 7 attacks, how the casualties Israel inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza compares with past operations, and the difficulties Israel faces regarding the hostages taken and other challenges.
The October 7 Attack in Historical Context
Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 is the third-deadliest terrorist attack since data collection began in 1970, based on number of fatalities, with the 9/11 attacks representing the worst mass fatality terrorist attack. Islamic State attacks are three of the top nine deadliest attacks, with two attacks in the top five. Since the October 7 attack, Israeli officials compared Hamas’s tactics with the scale of the violence to the Islamic State’s campaign in Iraq and Syria. Although Hamas’s attack was brutal, the Islamic State undertook multiple mass casualty attacks across several years—a level of violence Hamas has not equaled. Estimates of fatalities from Islamic State terrorist attacks and military operations are greater than 33,000 people.
www.csis.org
Hamas’s October 7 Attack: Visualizing the Data
CSIS researchers present 10 figures and images to illustrate different dimensions of Hamas's October 7 attack, Israel's response, and the impact for Gaza and the world.
www.csis.org www.csis.org
In this commentary, CSIS researchers in the Transnational Threats Project present 10 figures to illustrate different dimensions of the attack. These include comparisons of the attack’s fatalities and the hostages taken with other such terrorist operations in other countries, comparisons between October 7 and past attacks on Israel, and images of Hamas’s tactics on October 7. Taken together, these visualizations and images can help illustrate why Israeli leaders felt compelled to launch a devastating response to the October 7 attacks, how the casualties Israel inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza compares with past operations, and the difficulties Israel faces regarding the hostages taken and other challenges.
The October 7 Attack in Historical Context
Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 is the third-deadliest terrorist attack since data collection began in 1970, based on number of fatalities, with the 9/11 attacks representing the worst mass fatality terrorist attack. Islamic State attacks are three of the top nine deadliest attacks, with two attacks in the top five. Since the October 7 attack, Israeli officials compared Hamas’s tactics with the scale of the violence to the Islamic State’s campaign in Iraq and Syria. Although Hamas’s attack was brutal, the Islamic State undertook multiple mass casualty attacks across several years—a level of violence Hamas has not equaled. Estimates of fatalities from Islamic State terrorist attacks and military operations are greater than 33,000 people.
www.csis.org
Hamas’s October 7 Attack: Visualizing the Data
CSIS researchers present 10 figures and images to illustrate different dimensions of Hamas's October 7 attack, Israel's response, and the impact for Gaza and the world.
www.csis.org www.csis.org
