Israel officially declares war 

Colin Mullaney /Editor-in-Chief 

Correction: The Vista editorial staff collectively chose to print an earlier photo alongside this article, “Devastation reigns after Hamas attacks Israel” that was not suitable to the photo caption nor the written content of the article. The previous photo showed an explosion in Gaza from 2021, along with the caption: “Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel last Saturday, sending shockwaves through the world.” However, the photo selected by The Vista’s staff was from 2021 and did not depict the latest and most recent events of October 2023, which the photo caption made direct reference to. We regret this error and acknowledge the need for update and clarification.

 Last Saturday, the militant group Hamas launched a coordinated surprise attack on Israel, including hundreds of missiles and a ground invasion into Israel. As of Oct. 10, the Israeli death toll surpassed 1,000 — mostly civilians living near the border. Another estimated 150 Israelis were reportedly taken hostage by Hamas, according to The New York Times. As of Oct. 10, Tuesday, 14 Americans have reportedly been killed in the fighting, and over 800 Palestinians killed in the counterattack.

Rockets fired across the border into Israel are not uncommon, and usually shot down with Israel’s iron dome technology. However, this time, aerial attacks — including on Tel Aviv — were followed by a ground invasion. USA Today estimated that up to 1,000 Hamas militants entered Israel. Crossing through many border gaps and checkpoints, Hamas blew up segments of the cement barrier to smithereens. The sophisticated “touch fence” used to detect a border siege was not functional, possibly due broader intelligence failure.

 Hamas attacked border communities and 11 Israeli Defense Force (IDF) bases, which were evidently short-staffed due to the recent Jewish holiday. From there, Hamas killed Israelis in their homes, often shooting victims at point-blank. Civilians hid in their houses, but Hamas burned down buildings to draw civilians out — to massacre them. Entire families were killed on the road in cars that were shot up, leaving bodies sprawling from their vehicles.

Video footage posted by NBC News appears to show an Israeli woman taken hostage and shoved in the back of a car, bleeding through her pants after being raped. Various Hamas fighters subsequently posted videos on social media, mutilating corpses of the deceased. Women, children and the elderly were among the casualties, and an Israeli rave/dance festival also appeared to be targeted, where 260 were slain, according to the Washington Post.

Many have likened Hamas to a terrorist organization, including U.S. President Joe Biden, who said, “the United States stands with Israel; we will not ever fail to have their back… thousands of rockets in the space of hours raining down on Israeli cities… killing not only Israeli soldiers, but Israeli citizens. In the street. In their homes. Entire families taken hostage by Hamas — just days after Israel marked the   holiest of days in the Jewish calendar — is unconscionable.”

Although tensions have run high for decades between Israel and Hamas, this is the largest coordinated attack on Israel in 50 years. Declaring a state of war on Saturday, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, launched a counterattack on the Gaza Strip, which has been governed by Hamas since 2006. Israel has no maintained presence in the Gaza Strip since the early 2000s, as part of a “disengagement plan,” but remains an external power.  

500 buildings in the Gaza strip were targets of Israel’s return missiles on Sunday night into Monday, The New York Times reported, and Israel has now activated 300,000 reservists. It is not clear how far this counteroffensive will escalate the war, with some speculating that Israel will decimate Hamas entirely, and annex the Gaza Strip. So far, around 700 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict. 

Hillel of San Diego, an organization of Jewish students in San Diego — including USD — posted a statement on Oct. 7, on Instagram: 

“Our hearts are breaking as we watch what is happening in Israel in horror. Specifically, our sister region of Sha’ar HaNegev, the community where some of our Hillel students just interned this summer, is undergoing direct attack with many of our friends and family fearing for their lives and in hiding.”

USD President James T. Harris III wrote a message to all USD community members.

“This weekend’s deadly terrorist attack in Israel and its aftermath have left us shocked and heartbroken. While we are not aware of any USD students or faculty studying or working in the area at this time, the impact of the violence is especially acute for those with ties to the area,” Harris said. “We hold the victims and their families in our hearts and prayers and condemn terrorism and acts of violence in any form.” 

Harris invoked Pope Franics’ call to end violence of any kind, urging all at USD to “bridge differences and approach the complexities of our world with compassion and respect.”

USD’s Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSCUSD), which currently has around 380 Instagram followers, made a statement in direct response to Harris’ email.

“The President’s letter failed to mention anything of the 700+ Palestinian lives that have been killed at the time of writing, most of which are in Gaza, whose population consists of 80% refugees or descendants of refugees from the 1948 ethnic cleansing.”

PSCUSD was also critical about the lack of historical perspective that Harris’ letter afforded to the Palestinian perspective.

“It perpetuates this growing trend of misrepresenting the nature of the events unfolding in Gaza, Palestine, and Israel. PSCUSD condemns the killing of all civilians and holds the Israeli Apartheid regime responsible for all violence occurring… we condemn and are disheartened by the lack of acknowledgment and minimization of the genocide that Palestinians in Gaza are facing at the hands of the Israeili government.”

PSCUSD claims the origin of this recent attack by Hamas is historical oppression of the Palestinian people. 

“The root cause is the 75-year colonial ethnic cleansing and displacement, occupation, brutal domination, and apartheid rule over Palestinian land… President Harris, we demand you rewrite the letter, along with an apology to the Palestinian community, and a commitment to further educate yourself.”

USD engineering students hoping to study abroad in Jerusalem this coming January received    an     update from Professor Frank Jacobitz that “safety is our priority and the conflict may impact the class as planned for January. USD is evaluating the situation and will inform students as decisions are made.” 

Many flights from the U.S. to Israel have been canceled, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, as the region braces for a brutal road ahead.