Symbolism of war: Why fears of a big bang around October 7

Six empty chairs around the dining table of the Bibas home as the couple sit for Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish celebration, tells the tragic story of family members lost to Hamas terror attack.
Then there’s the photo of a little girl in a colourful sweater and blood on her face lying on the floor. A pair of gloved-hands of a medic is seen inspecting her lifeless body in Gaza.
The first photo was posted by the Israeli government on October 3 on X to show how families remain bereaved by the terror attack on the Jewish nation on October 7, 2023. “Grandparents Margit and Yossi, murdered on October 7. Yarden, Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel, are still held hostage in Gaza,” Israel said on X.
The second image was shared by Al Jazeera English, which quoted an Oxfam report to say that “Israel has killed more children in the Gaza Strip over the past 12 months than the equivalent period of any other war in the last two decades”.
People on both sides of the divide will agree on one thing at least — it’s been a year of death and devastation in the Middle East.
It has also been a battle of images. That is only going to intensify as October 7, the day that plunged the Middle East into chaos last year, nears. There’s symbolism everywhere in the war in the Middle East, unlike in the Ukraine-Russia theatre. In fact, October 7 is the biggest of them all.

In the last year since the beginning of the October 7 Israel-Hamas war, gruesome pictures of death and devasation can be seen all over the internet. (Image: State of Israel/Anadolu News Agency)

When Hamas terrorists broke into Israel in a surprise attack, killing hundreds of Israelis and taking back dozens of hostages into Gaza, it was October 7.
It was the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.
Yom Kippur is the holiest day in Judaism. In 1973, Yom Kippur was on October 6.
On Yom Kippur day in 1973, the armies of a coalition of Arab countries, led by Egypt and Syria, launched a surprise attack when the Jewish nation was busy marking the religious festival.
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the fourth Arab-Israeli war, was initiated to avenge the humiliation the Arab world faced in the 1967 war.
The war, which went on till October 26, was won by Israel with military support from the US.
The Yom Kippur War saw the signing of the historic Camp David agreement, which ended three decades of hostilities between Israel and Egypt.
Egypt, by then, had featured in all the Arab-Israeli wars.
Then came the Abraham Accords of 2020. It helped bring a thaw in ties between Israel and other Arab countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
In 2023, Saudi Arabia, the most powerful Sunni country in the Middle East, was on the verge of signing a deal with Israel, when the Hamas attack and the Israeli pummelling of Gaza shelved it.
Experts have suggested that Iran, the biggest Shia force in the Middle East, orchestrated the attacks on Hamas to scuttle the Israel-Saudi deal.
That the attack came on October 7, the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, was significant.
Images of Syrian troops kneeling and raising their hands in surrender from the Yom Kippur War remained ingrained in the Arab psyche.

Syrian soldiers surrender to Israeli forces in the Golan Heights on October 10, 1973, on the fifth day of the Yom Kippur War. (Image: Getty)

It is very likely that Iran saw the planned Israel-Saudi deal as another surrender by Arab nations, and wanted to not just scuttle it, but use the symbolism of the Yom Kippur war.
It has been reported that Israel planned the pager blasts, that saw Hezbollah’s communications and members crippled, for later and advanced it. Was it planned close to October 7?
That would have been the first anniversary of the Hamas attack.
The explosions were advanced after Israel suspected that Hezbollah had got a whiff of the attack, which it was working on for around two years. Then, the electronic devices were set off early, according to the Axios report cited by the BBC.
Israel has always hit back. It did the last time Iran attacked it with a swarm of drones and rockets.
“The State of Israel will do everything necessary to defend itself,” Netanyahu had said at the time.
In the second round, after Iran attacked Israel with around 200 ballistic missiles on October 1, the Jewish nation promised a befitting response.
“Iran made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it. Whoever attacks us, we attack them,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Its Israel’s turn now, and on the battlefield of the Middle East where symbolism around October 7 is unmissable, people are fearing a major strike around the day.
However, more than symbolism, it is practicality and impact that determines war efforts and strikes. So, while October 7 might hold its own significance, and see a clash of images and messages, it would be a day far from springing a surprise. However, people fear a big bang around October 7.