【英文】国会研究服务处报告：以色列和哈马斯2023年10月冲突：常见问题（77页）

英文研究报告 2023年11月10日 07:46 管理员

On October 7, 2023, Gaza Strip-based militants led by the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas (a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, or FTO) engaged in a series of surprise attacks by land, sea, and air against Israel (see Figure 1. Israel and Gaza: Conflict Map). Palestine Islamic Jihad (or PIJ, another FTO) claimed that its forces also participated in the attacks, and others outside of Hamas and PIJ may also have joined. The assault targeted Israeli military bases and civilian areas during the final Jewish high holiday, just over 50 years after the Egypt-Syria surprise attack that sparked the 1973 Yom Kippur War, known in the Arab world as the October War. The attacks’ scope and lethality against Israel have no precedent in the 16 years Hamas has controlled Gaza.

The nature of the violence stunned Israelis and many others. 3 The apparent intelligence and operational failures in preventing the assault or limiting its impact have become a subject of analysis for Israeli and U.S. officials.4 In response to the attacks, Israel’s cabinet formally declared war on Hamas, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserting that Israel will win a long and difficult campaign. On October 7, the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, sent a letter to the Security Council that stated, “this is an initiated attack by terrorist organizations led by Hamas.”5 That same day, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield reaffirmed to Israeli officials “our ironclad support for Israel’s security and right to self-defense.