Friday, Oct. 13, 2023
Was Hamas’ recent attack on Israel the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust?
Roughly 250 people were killed during Hamas’ Oct. 11 attack on Israel, according to multiple sources. Nearly three in four Israelis are Jewish.
U.S. Special Anti-semitism Envoy Deborah Lipstadt called the attacks “the most lethal assault against Jews since the Holocaust” and former Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said it was “by far the worst day in Israeli history.”
“There have been bloody days in Israel’s history and for Jews around the world since 1945, but none has had a civilian death toll this high,” The Times of Israel reported.
During the largest murder campaign of the Holocaust, 14,348 Jews were killed per day.
Roughly 6,373 Israelis died between 1947 and 1949 during the Arab-Israeli War, which displaced 700,000 Palestinians. The deadliest Israeli loss (estimated 127) then was the Kfar Etzion massacre.
From 2008 through August, 308 Israelis and 6,407 Palestinians have died in the ongoing conflict.
Editor's Note (10/18/23): This brief removed an incorrect reference to the Arab-Israeli War as Nakba. Nakba refers to the displacement of Palestinians during the war. Additionally, this brief was updated to include Palestinian casualties.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- CBS News At least 250 killed in unprecedented Hamas attack in Israel; prime minister says country is "at war"
- X (formerly Twitter) Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt
- Times of Israel Was Hamas’s attack on Saturday the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust?
- Science Quantifying the Holocaust: Hyperintense kill rates during the Nazi genocide
- Israeli Embassy Israel's War of Independence (1947-1949)
- USA Today 15,000 murders a day: August-October 1942 were the Holocaust's deadliest months
- Tablet Magazine Before the Kidnappings, There Was the Massacre at Kfar Etzion
- AP News Israel Hamas War Live Updates
- Guardian Massacre that marred birth of Israel
- BBC Live Updates
- United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Data on casualties
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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