What happened on October 7, 2023: a timeline of the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel

The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel began on October 7, 2023, with a large rocket barrage at approximately 6:29 a.m. Terrorists breached the Gaza border and attacked military positions, communities, towns and people attending the Nova music festival. Civilians and security personnel were killed, and people were abducted into Gaza.

The events did not follow one continuous route. Attacks unfolded simultaneously, and the experience of one community cannot stand in for another. Local resistance, the first arrival of responders, evacuation and restoration of control occurred at different times. Some fighting and rescue operations continued after October 7 ended.

All times below are Israeli local time. Exact minutes from later military investigations remain attributed findings. Where the reviewed record does not establish a reliable minute, the timeline uses a broader window. A displayed camera clock is not automatically an accurate timestamp.

Approximately 6:29 a.m.: the opening rocket barrage

Rocket launches from Gaza marked the opening of the attack. Reuters' reconstruction and later military reporting place the start at approximately 6:29 a.m.; other accounts use 6:30. That small difference does not establish a separate event. The useful historical description is an opening barrage at around that time.

For residents and festivalgoers, the rockets initially created an immediate need to shelter or leave exposed areas. Ground attacks were developing at the same time. The national start time should not be reused as the minute terrorists entered every kibbutz, reached a particular road or began shooting at a specific location.

From around 6:30 a.m.: border breaches and military positions attacked

Terrorists crossed at multiple points and attacked military installations alongside civilian locations. Human Rights Watch's investigation identified Hamas's Qassam Brigades as leading the assault, with other Palestinian armed groups participating. That description does not assign every visible attacker to Hamas or treat every breach as occurring at an identical minute.

Images and subsequent investigations document attacks on surveillance infrastructure and bases. The opening phase matters because civilian communities were not attacked in isolation from the military positions around them. It does not, by itself, resolve every question about prior warnings, command decisions or the timing of reinforcement orders.

Approximately 6:49 a.m.: entry into Nir Oz

The military investigation reported in March 2025 placed the first terrorists' entry into Nir Oz at approximately 6:49 a.m. It described local defenders resisting while timely ground reinforcements failed to arrive. These minutes come from that reconstruction, rather than from an independently inspected master clock shared across the attack sites.

Killing, abduction and looting continued during the morning. The investigation's account of kidnappings beginning there around 8:30 a.m. is specific to Nir Oz. It is not the time of the first abduction anywhere in the attack. People were taken from multiple communities, roads and military locations.

Approximately 6:55 to 7 a.m.: terrorists enter Be'eri

Reuters' later reconstruction placed gunmen at Be'eri's entrance around 6:55 a.m., with an infiltration warning following at about 7. It combined security video, messages and interviews. The investigation also explained that a camera displayed standard time, an hour behind the summer time then in use.

That clock discrepancy illustrates why early captions need checking. A timestamp copied without adjustment can move an event into the wrong hour. The gate sequence also does not establish when every home was attacked. Violence spread through the community while residents sheltered, communicated with relatives and sought help.

Early morning onward: Kfar Aza and other communities

Kfar Aza was among the communities attacked. Residents hid in their homes while terrorists moved through the kibbutz; some people were abducted. Reuters' reporting and Human Rights Watch's investigation document the assault, but the reviewed material does not establish a reconciled first-entry minute for this account.

The absence of a precise minute is not uncertainty about whether the attack happened. It marks the limit of this chronology. Later access by journalists, recovery operations and the rescue of an individual family are separate milestones. They should not be turned into a single unsupported claim about when the whole community became secure.

Morning into midday: the Nova festival and escape routes

At the Nova festival near Re'im, people began fleeing after the rocket barrage. Terrorists attacked at the festival and along surrounding routes and shelters. Movement away from the grounds did not necessarily bring people out of danger. Some encountered gunmen while attempting to escape.

Investigations of video have established particular encounters along those routes. Human Rights Watch described verified shelter and parking-area incidents at different morning and midday times. Those records should not be collapsed into one alleged start minute for the entire festival attack. A roadside shooting and entry onto the main grounds are different events.

Early casualty reports were later revised as identification and investigation continued. A timeline should avoid mixing an early recovery figure with a later hostage count as though they described one settled assessment. The essential sequence remains clear: rockets, attempted escape, attacks across the area and abductions.

Early morning onward: Sderot and Ofakim

In Sderot, terrorists attacked civilians and seized the police station. Police and soldiers fought back. The station battle continued overnight into October 8. A report announcing control of the station is not automatically the exact time it was secured, and control of one building is not the same as clearing the entire city.

In Ofakim, a later military investigation described resistance by police, civilians and individual soldiers. Its chronology placed the end of terrorists operating openly in the streets around 10:45 a.m. That did not end every incident. The hostage siege at the Edry family home continued into the following night.

The reported investigation placed that rescue at approximately 2:25 a.m. on October 8. The distinction matters: the opening rocket barrage, the street attacks and the end of a hostage siege were separate points in the city's experience. Searches and security operations could continue after a specific confrontation ended.

Throughout the attack: abductions into Gaza

Terrorists took civilians and security personnel into Gaza from multiple sites. The historical cohort is generally described as 251 people abducted on October 7. That number is not a statement about how many remained captive at any later date. The cohort also includes people taken alive and bodies taken into Gaza.

A recording of a person under armed control can establish a particular moment of captivity. It does not alone establish the complete route, the border-crossing time or the person's later fate. Those questions require additional records and individual case evidence. Present-day hostage status belongs in a separately verified update.

Afternoon, night and October 8: response and rescue

Local security teams, police, soldiers and civilians resisted while the national response expanded. Israel launched airstrikes, and emergency measures widened. The first soldiers reaching a location did not necessarily restore control or immediately free residents trapped elsewhere in it. Response timelines therefore need to be examined community by community.

At Nir Oz, the reported military investigation placed Border Police Yamas arrival at 1:10 p.m. and an IDF Egoz force at 1:47 p.m., after the terrorists had left. At Be'eri, rescues and fighting continued overnight. Ofakim's hostage rescue and the Sderot station battle also extended into October 8.

Reading the chronology without losing its scale

About 1,200 people were killed in the attack, a rounded historical description that includes civilians and security personnel. It should not be restated as 1,200 civilians. Human Rights Watch's October 7 investigation documents killings and hostage-taking across numerous civilian sites.

The timeline connects those events without pretending to replace the individual investigations. Precision means giving a reliable minute where the evidence supports it, retaining attribution where required and leaving an honest time window elsewhere. It also means remembering that the day ended on the calendar before every battle or rescue ended on the ground.