October 7
The record of October 7: testimony, evidence, and remembrance.
Testimony and documentation
Two archives are held here in full, reproduced as published — their text, their media and their credits unaltered. They are not the same kind of record, and they do not ask the same thing of a reader.
First-hand accounts
Testimonies
People describing what happened to them, archived from October7.org. Each record names the witness, when it was published, and how much of the account the archive holds.
- Accounts
- 179
- Languages
- 7
The accounts are open text. Film published alongside them was recorded on the day and stays covered until you ask for it.
Films and photographs
Documentation
What was recorded that day, archived from Hamas-Massacre.net in English and Spanish, kept in the categories the source filed it under.
- Films
- 209
- Photographs
- 126
- The Nova Party Massacre68
- Murdered in Their Homes99
- Mass Rapes15
- Terrorists Raiding the Streets81
- Abductions to the Gaza Strip60
- Rockets Striking Civilian Areas11
- Uncategorised1
Every record in this archive is graphic. Nothing is shown until you ask for it, and nothing plays by itself.
Holding them here means the record survives whatever happens to any one site. It does not make this the only place they live, and the archives below hold testimony these two do not — recorded interviews with survivors, first responders and bereaved families, gathered by people with the consent and the process to do it:
- Historical testimony archiveEdut 710 — testimony from survivors, witnesses, first responders and bereaved families
- Oral-history archiveUSC Shoah Foundation — October 7 testimony collection
The record
What happened on October 7, 2023 was documented as it happened — by the perpetrators themselves, by survivors, by first responders, and by the forensic teams who came after. The figures below are drawn from public reporting; the fuller documentation is in the two archives above.
- 1,200+
- Killed in Israel that day, mostly civilians
- 251
- Hostages taken into Gaza
- 22+
- Communities attacked, plus the Nova festival and IDF posts
Denial of that day is not treated here as an opinion to argue with but as a documented phenomenon the record and the archives above answer directly.
What followed
- The attackVerified
Hamas and allied fighters attack southern Israel
Roughly 6,000 fighters cross from Gaza — primarily by land, with additional sea and paraglider infiltration reported elsewhere — while thousands of rockets are fired into Israeli territory. Twenty-two civilian communities, the Nova music festival, and about a dozen IDF bases and posts are attacked. It is the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. - The warVerified
Israel launches a ground offensive into Gaza
The start of the campaign to dismantle Hamas’s military and governing capability there. - HostagesVerified
A first ceasefire brings the first hostage releases
A temporary pause exchanges hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. - The warVerified
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is killed
Sinwar, believed to have planned the October 7 attack, is killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.- US Presidential DocumentsStatement on the Death of Yahya Sinwar, 17 October 2024
- DiplomacyVerified
A ceasefire is implemented
Superseded later the same year — see War Update for the ceasefire process that has been in effect since October 2025.- Israel Prime Minister’s OfficeFirst hostages return home — Prime Minister’s Office announcement, 19 January 2025
- HostagesVerified
The final 20 living hostages are released
All remaining living hostages come home within days, under the ceasefire process — see War Update for how it has held since. - HostagesVerified
The last deceased hostage is recovered
The body of Ran Gvili, the last hostage still held in Gaza, is recovered and returned, closing that chapter of the war.- Israel Ministry of Foreign AffairsPresident Isaac Herzog addresses the return home of the last hostage, Ran Gvili, 26 January 2026
- Published
- Aug 25, 2026
- Reviewed by
- Editorial desk