Your guide to Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel

Here’s what our columnists are saying. [Bloomberg](  This is a special early edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today. [Sign up here](. Israel Is at War Photographer: Mohammed Dahman/AFP It’s now been more than 48 hours since Hamas terrorists broke out of the Gaza Strip, leading to the bloodshed and death of hundreds of innocent civilians. And at this point, there are thousands of [explainers]( on the internet about how this surprise attack unfolded and why it happened. I have over 100 tabs open on my computer right now, chock full of atrocious images. There’s a tab for the [motorized paragliders](. There’s a tab for the young women who say they were [raped]( next to the corpses of their friends. There’s a tab for the [19 members of the same Gaza family]( who died in an Israeli airstrike. There’s a tab for the people surveying the rubble after [a rocket]( (one of [thousands]() destroyed their home. There’s a tab for the [German Israeli]( woman whose body was paraded around naked in the back of a pickup truck. There’s a tab for the Hamas supporters [holding Nazi imagery]( in Times Square. There’s a tab for the elderly woman who was reportedly killed by Hamas militants who [filmed it]( with her phone and uploaded the video to her Facebook — which is how her granddaughter found out about her death. The grotesque events and stories coming out of the Middle East are arriving to our social feeds in droves. I could spend my day sorting through the [screenshots]( and weeding out [misinformation](, trying to deliver a semi-cognizant newsletter for you. But simplicity and brevity and timeliness matter most in these moments. So that’s why I’m forgoing our usual lineup and providing you with expert commentary from Bloomberg Opinion’s writers and editors with no added fuss. In the coming days and weeks we’ll surely learn more, but for now, here’s a brief glimpse into what our columnists are saying: “Israel’s priority must be to destroy the ability of Hamas and its ilk to further threaten the country’s security. Pursuing peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors will be much harder in the near term, which no doubt was one of the militants’ aims.” — The Editorial Board, [The World Must Support Israel’s War Against Terror]( “Hamas lit the fuses of which the region has such an endless supply. The tenuous cease-fire between Israelis and Palestinians is now canceled, the spirals of hate and misery are churning again, and the pressure on the Saudis and others to sympathize with their fellow Arabs will pause any further warming with Israel.” — Andreas Kluth, [Hamas Just Torched Biden’s Deal to Remake the Middle East]( “A war in Gaza threatens at a stroke to upend the direction of travel in the Middle East. It puts Israel in the invidious position of having to choose between appearing weak — a dangerous strategy in the region — and inflicting the kind of mass casualties in the crowded Gaza Strip that will enrage Israel’s entire Palestinian population, forcing tough decisions on Arab leaders in the Gulf and beyond.” — Marc Champion, [Attack on Israel Is Calculated and Ruthless — And That’s Hamas]( “The Pax Americana of the post-Cold War period is over. For a generation after 1991, the world saw historically low levels of geopolitical and ideological competition, mostly because Washington and its allies had such decisive advantages. That’s changing as revisionist actors — principally China, Russia and Iran — try to throw back American power and create their own spheres of influence.” — Hal Brands, [Hamas Consigns the Pax Americana to History Books]( “This was unmistakably a move designed to provoke a response, and ideally an overreaction. The two best comparisons I can think of came in 1991, when Saddam Hussein fired missiles into Israel after the US-led allied forces began bombing Iraq. His aim was to provoke Israel into joining the conflict, and thereby bring other Arab nations into the war on Iraq’s side. The second came a decade later with the terrorist attacks of 9/11, an assault on the US so horrible that some response was certain.” — John Authers, [Gaza Won't Hamper Markets — Unless Israel Strikes Iran]( “On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the world’s first oil crisis, the parallels between October 2023 and October 1973 are easy to draw: A surprise attack on Israel and oil prices rising. But the resemblance ends there.” — Javier Blas, [For Oil, It’s Not 1973 Again – But It Could Still Turn Ugly]( Further Watching How will Israeli society come out of this? Will it turn into an authoritarian war-state or a more robust democracy? [Watch]( as Andreas Kluth, Tim O’Brien and Javier Blas discuss the Israel-Gaza conflict on X. Notes: Please send feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads](, [TikTok](, [Twitter](, [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. 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