Israel had considered Hamas a terrorist organization but one that could play a useful role for Israel in the Gaza Strip, which the group controls. Now, senior Israeli officials say, Hamas must be crushed.
Palestinian militants kidnapped scores of Israelis in an unprecedented attack that took the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into unknown territory. Their relatives recount how they were captured.
The feeling of shock among Israelis over the attack by Hamas and the obvious intelligence failure that allowed it to happen is compounding the fear of what might yet be to come.