The Israel Defense Forces say Hamas “continues attempts to rebuild and rearm” as Israelis mark three years since the Oct. 7 attack, when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and dragged 251 hostages into Gaza. The IDF assesses that Hamas is no longer the military and governing organization it was before the assault. But it hasn’t given up the fight.
The figures show the reach of the threat. Over three years, the military says, more than 31,500 rockets, missiles and drones were launched at Israel from multiple fronts. That includes 10,200 projectiles from Gaza, at least 5,000 of them on Oct. 7 alone, as well as 20,000 from Lebanon, around 50 from Syria, 90 from Yemen and 1,200 from Iran. The tally leaves out rockets that misfired inside Gaza, Hezbollah rockets that fell short in Lebanon and Iranian ballistic missiles that never reached Israel.
The Security Picture
Israel struck back on every front. The IDF says it has hit approximately 100,000 targets: 65,000 in Gaza, 28,000 in Lebanon and Syria, 4,500 in Iran and 80 in Yemen. It says it has killed more than 24,000 combatants in Gaza and an estimated 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the Oct. 7 assault. Four leaders of Hamas’s military wing have died, along with 17 brigade commanders or equivalents, about 30 battalion commanders and about 300 company commanders.
Gaza remains divided between Israeli- and Hamas-controlled areas. During the ceasefire, Israel expanded its control from an initial 53% to around 63%, maintaining about 40 army posts in the Israeli-held zone. Talks on Hamas disarmament and reconstruction have made only limited progress.
In the West Bank, the IDF says its troops have arrested more than 45,000 wanted Palestinians for questioning since Oct. 7, including people it describes as terrorists planning imminent attacks. Troops seized more than 3,800 weapons and NIS 46 million ($15.1 million) in cash intended for terrorism. The Palestinian Authority health ministry says Israeli forces or settlers have killed more than 1,100 Palestinians in the territory. The IDF says the vast majority were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks. The base reporting also notes that Israel’s far-right government has emboldened extremist settlers who attacked Palestinians and destroyed property.
Civilian Impact
Gaza’s civilians have paid a heavy price. The Gaza Health Ministry reports more than 74,000 Palestinians killed and says around half were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and doesn’t distinguish civilians from combatants, though U.N. agencies and independent experts consider its figures generally reliable. The IDF says it believes the overall count is largely accurate. Israeli military officials estimate that two to three civilians were killed for each dead militant.
Around 90 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced, often more than once. Most of the roughly 2 million people live in tent camps, while restrictions on goods and aid have contributed to a severe hunger crisis. The ministry says 1,145 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect Oct. 10, 2025; seven Israeli soldiers died during that period. Israeli strikes continued almost daily.
Hamas has described the Oct. 7 attack as a response to decades of occupation, land seizures and settlement construction. That account doesn’t explain an assault that targeted communities, an outdoor rave and military bases, killing mostly civilians.
The Regional Threat
The war quickly spread beyond Gaza. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese group, began firing on Israel the day after the attack, saying it acted in support of Gaza; the conflict later escalated into all-out war. Israeli troops later occupied a large part of southern Lebanon, and more than 300,000 Lebanese remain displaced. Israel and Iran fought directly in several rounds, including 12-day and 40-day wars in 2025 and earlier in 2026. Iran’s proxies in Yemen and Iraq also attacked Israel. The United States joined Israel in two rounds of attacks on Iran’s military and nuclear program.
Fighting has largely subsided since an October 2025 ceasefire in Gaza, an April ceasefire in Iran and a June truce in Lebanon.
The Cost at Home
The IDF reports that 970 soldiers, reservists and local security officers have been killed and 6,424 wounded since Oct. 7. Of those, 472 were killed and 3,004 wounded in the Gaza ground offensive. The Defense Ministry says more than 30,000 wounded personnel have sought care, about 63% of them for psychological conditions including PTSD, anxiety and depression. The reserve force has grown by about 36%, and combat reservists are expected to serve an average of 80 to 100 days this year, compared with an initial estimate of 55.
At a military conference, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said the army is concluding its Oct. 7 investigations. “One of our greatest lessons from October 7 is the need to expand the security margin,” he said. “The size of the IDF is our strategic depth.”
This was the first anniversary with all hostages returned. Elkana Bohbot, 37, spent 738 days in captivity, most of it 50 meters underground in a dark, damp tunnel after being abducted from the Nova festival. He received little food, bathed only every few weeks and was forced into propaganda videos. His daughter Michele was born in August. She is “not a symbol for my people, she is more of a symbol for the enemy,” he told The Associated Press. “This child is the message for you that we were here, and we will always be here forever.”
The mourning at home carries political weight. Families marked the date amid divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war and his reluctance to order an official inquiry into the failures of Oct. 7. A Haaretz analysis said the collapse of Israeli intelligence and security remains unresolved, officials who dismissed warnings are still in charge, and the government is delaying an independent inquiry. A contentious election is due at the end of the month.
Why This Matters: Three years on, the IDF’s own assessment is that Hamas is weakened but still trying to rebuild. Disarmament talks have made only limited progress, while Gaza remains divided between two armed authorities. That leaves open who governs the Strip and what prevents another attack. Iran-backed groups opened fronts in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, showing how a single assault can widen into regional war. Zamir’s remarks suggest Israeli commanders now regard a larger security margin as a lesson of Oct. 7. The prospect of an independent Palestinian state appears more distant, and without a credible security arrangement, any political track faces the same gap exposed on Oct. 7.