Burgoyne made a final desperate reconnaissance in force, which American forces turned into a decisive defeat. Benedict Arnold, who had been relieved of command by Gates, rode onto the battlefield without orders and led a furious attack that stormed the Breymann Redoubt. Burgoyne's army, surrounded and out of supplies, surrendered 5,895 men on October 17th — the largest British surrender of the entire war.
The most consequential battle of the Revolution. France formally recognized American independence and entered the war as an ally in February 1778. Spain and the Netherlands followed. The conflict became a global war Britain could not easily win.
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Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood at 6:29 AM, breaching the Gaza security fence at more than 30 locations simultaneously. Approximately 3,000 militants — on foot, by motorcycle, and by paraglider — poured into Israeli communities. Kibbutz Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, and a dozen other communities were overrun. The Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re'im was attacked; over 360 festivalgoers were massacred. IDF response units took hours to reach the area. By nightfall, approximately 1,200 Israelis were dead and 250 had been taken hostage to Gaza.
The most deadly attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. The failure of Israel's surveillance and barrier system — considered state-of-the-art — was a catastrophic intelligence failure. The attack triggered Israel's declaration of war, the largest military mobilization since 1973, and a military campaign that would reshape Gaza entirely.
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