Israel says Gazans will pay 'heavy price' if forces harmed on 7 October anniversary

Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, said on Tuesday he had put the military on high alert before the anniversary of Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack. His office said the instruction came "in light of intelligence regarding Hamas's intentions to attempt to carry out attacks and terror operations against our forces in Gaza on that day".

Katz's office said Gazans would pay a "heavy price" if Israeli forces were harmed. "If, heaven forbid, our forces are harmed, the ones who will pay the heavy price will be Hamas and the population of Gaza – beyond all proportion," the statement said, according to France 24.

Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack was the deadliest day in Israel's history, killing 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Militants also took 251 hostages into Gaza, 44 of them already dead, according to the same tally. Israel launched a military offensive in response, and most of Gaza lies in ruins, according to France 24. Gaza's health ministry says the offensive has killed more than 74,200 people; the ministry is under Hamas authority, and the United Nations considers its figures reliable.

Since a ceasefire was declared in October 2025, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,440 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry. On Monday, at a state ceremony marking three years since the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be "no Hamas rule in Gaza" and that Israel would keep targeting anyone involved in the attack or who held hostages.