Israelis queue to buy guns in aftermath of Hamas attacks

In a suburb of the Israeli city of Kefar Sava, gunshots rang out on a quiet Friday from firearms practice at a nearby shooting range. And in the city of Holon, a queue snaked around a building as Israelis lined up to buy guns.

Firearms sales have surged among Jewish Israelis since October 7, when civilians were forced to fight off Palestinian Hamas militants while waiting for the army to respond to a cross-border raid that claimed 1,400 Israeli lives, according to Israeli authorities.

The deadliest attack within the country since 1948 shattered Israelis’ sense of security and triggered a war between Israel and Hamas that has inflamed tensions across the region.