October 7th War Enters 11th Month: The Numbers

By Hana Levi Julian – the Jewish Press

Wednesday, August 7th, marks the start of the 11th month since thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, torturing and slaughtering and abducting Israelis and other nationals in a rampage against Jews not seen since the Holocaust.

One day later, fellow Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon joined the war, as did the Houthis in Yemen, another Iranian proxy, shortly after.

On October 7th last year, more than 1,200 people were murdered, many in some of the most sadistic ways ever seen. The victims included 860 civilians, of whom 53 were children.

More than 300 IDF soldiers were also murdered that day — most of them still in their teens and early twenties.

Around 80,000 Israelis were evacuated from their homes in southern Israel, including many who witnessed atrocities that left them with permanent, severe trauma.

In northern Israel, 62,254 residents were evacuated from their homes for their own safety, of whom 15,728 are minors.

In total, the residents of 98 cities, towns and villages were evacuated from the homes in northern and southern Israel due to the war launched by Iran’s proxies attempting to annihilate the State of Israel and its Jews.

A total of 140,000 Israelis have been — and in many cases continue to be — internal refugees as a result, including 80,000 Israelis of working age.

As difficult as it has been for these people, whose entire lives have been turned upside down, and whose children’s education has been seriously damaged, their lives were saved.

Between October 9, 2023 and August 6, 2024, Hezbollah alone has launched more than 7,500 rockets and 187 explosive drones at Israel; of those, 1,000 were either misfired or landed in Lebanese and Syrian territory, wounding and killing their own people.

The 6,500 rockets that reached Israeli territory have wreaked untold damage, and taken the lives of 43 people, including 19 soldiers and 23 civilians (one citizen of India among them). Of those, eight were children ages seven to 13, and four were ages 14 to 19. Another 258 have been wounded in the attacks, including 119 civilians and 139 soldiers.

Rockets and explosive drone attacks fired by Hezbollah often ignite fires upon landing, in addition to the destruction and damage to homes, community buildings, factories and agricultural infrastructure.

In northern Israel, 769 fires have been started from such attacks, leading to the blackening of 138,000 acres of land in nature reserves, forests and farms.

These attacks are launched, by and large, from within civilian areas — further complicating the task of the Israel Defense Forces to eliminate the threat to Israelis.

“That is a crime against humanity and another reason why Hezbollah needs to be kicked out of Lebanon, to protect the Lebanese people, never mind Israel. They are a menace to Lebanon,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer told reporters Wednesday at a briefing.

Of the thousands of children who have been displaced by the war, Mencer said, “Think of the disruption to their education.”

Nevertheless, ultimately Israel will win this fight, Mencer said.

“This country is able to defend itself … both in ways which our enemies have seen but also in ways they have not seen,” he said.

“We are well aware of all Iranian capabilities; we have shown that many times before. We know how to deal with this Iranian menace. They seek to stranglehold this country but together with our allies we are able to stand up to them.”