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Yes.
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 Antisemitism 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.
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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