From the document: "On October 7, 2023, Gaza Strip-based militants led by the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas [hyperlink] (a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, or FTO) engaged in a series of surprise attacks by land, sea, and air against Israel [...]. The assault targeted Israeli military bases and civilian areas during the final Jewish high holiday, almost exactly 50 years after the Egypt-Syria surprise attack that sparked the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The Biden Administration [hyperlink] and Israel [hyperlink] have stated publicly that they do not have evidence that the Iranian government had a planning role, but are looking at the question. Some figures from Hamas and the Iran-backed Shia Islamist group Lebanese Hezbollah [hyperlink] (also an FTO) have claimed [hyperlink] that Hamas received support for the attacks from Iran, though a senior Hamas official has denied [hyperlink] an Iranian planning role. Iranian officials have praised the assault [hyperlink] publicly. The attacks' scope and lethality against Israel have no precedent in the 16 years Hamas has controlled Gaza. The nature of the violence stunned Israelis [hyperlink]; apparent intelligence and operational failures [hyperlink] in preventing the assault surprised Israeli, U.S., and other Western officials."