Today in History: October 7, surprise attacks spark Israel-Hamas War

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Today is Tuesday, Oct. 7, the 280th day of 2025. There are 85 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants launched air and ground attacks on Israel, killing nearly 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages. The attacks, followed hours later by Israeli counterattacks, marked the beginning of the current Israel-Hamas War.

Also on this date:

In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress convened in New York to draw up colonial grievances against England.

In 1913, the first moving assembly line began operation at the Ford Motor Company factory in Highland Park, Michigan.

In 1916, in the most lopsided victory in college football history, Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland University 222-0 in Atlanta.

In 1985, Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro (ah-KEE’-leh LOW’-roh) in the Mediterranean Sea. The hijackers shot and killed Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish American tourist in a wheelchair, and pushed him overboard, before surrendering on Oct. 9.

In 1992, trade representatives of the United States, Canada and Mexico initialed the North American Free Trade Agreement during a ceremony in San Antonio, Texas, in the presence of President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was beaten and left tied to a wooden fencepost outside of Laramie, Wyoming; he died five days later. Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney are serving life sentences for Shepard’s murder.

In 2001, war in Afghanistan started as the United States and Britain launched air attacks against military targets and Osama bin Laden’s training camps in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The U.S. military completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end the 20-year war on Aug. 30, 2021.

In 2003, California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis and elected Arnold Schwarzenegger their new governor.

Today’s Birthdays: Author Thomas Keneally is 90. Singer John Mellencamp is 74. Rock musician Tico Torres (Bon Jovi) is 72. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is 70. Recording executive and TV personality Simon Cowell is 66. Singer-actor Toni Braxton is 58. Rock singer-musician Thom Yorke (Radiohead) is 57. Actor Nicole Ari Parker is 55. Football Hall of Famer Charles Woodson is 49. Singer Taylor Hicks is 49. Actor Omar Miller is 47. MLB outfielder Mookie Betts is 33.