On October 7

The military wing of the Palestinian nationalist Islamist political organization Hamas massacred people attending an open-air music festival in southern Israel.

Palestinian nationalist groups launched armed incursions into the Gaza envelope, starting the Gaza war.

2008 TC3 exploded above the Nubian Desert in Sudan, in the first time that an asteroid impact had been predicted prior to atmospheric entry.

Anna Politkovskaya (pictured), a Russian journalist and human-rights activist, was assassinated in the elevator of her apartment block in Moscow.

Croatian War of Independence: The Yugoslav People's Army conducted an air strike on Banski Dvori, the official residence of the president of Croatia in Zagreb.

Near Point Barrow in Alaska, an Iñupiat hunter discovered three gray whales trapped in pack ice, which resulted in an international effort to free them.

During severe floods in Puerto Rico, about 130 people died as a result of the deadliest single landslide on record in North America.

The Holocaust: Sonderkommando work-unit members in Auschwitz concentration camp revolted upon learning that they were due to be killed; although a few managed to escape, most were massacred on the same day.

Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland University 222–0 in the most lopsided college football game in American history.

Seven-year-old Theo Faiss dies in an accident that Rudolf Steiner terms a voluntary sacrifice, and that inspires Edith Maryon's relief In Memory of Theo Faiss (pictured).

Japan captured Pohnpei from Germany, eventually leading to large-scale Japanese immigration to Micronesia.

The state funeral of Mindon Min (pictured), who ruled Myanmar for 25 years, took place; his death was reportedly preceded by strange omens, and his senior princes were unable to attend as they had all been arrested.

Ōdate, the last castle of the Satake clan in Japan's Tōhoku region, was captured during the Boshin War.

American writer Edgar Allan Poe died under mysterious circumstances at Washington Medical College four days after being found on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, in a delirious and incoherent state.

William II became King of the Netherlands after his father William I abdicated the throne.

The French privateer Robert Surcouf led a 150-man crew to capture the 40-gun, 437-man East Indiaman Kent.

American Revolutionary War: Patriots and Loyalist militias engaged each other at the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina.

King George III issued a royal proclamation that forbade British settlement of much of newly acquired French territory in North America, reserving the land for indigenous peoples.

Ottoman–Habsburg wars: The Battle of Lepanto was fought near the Gulf of Corinth, a significant setback for the Ottoman Empire and the last major naval battle fought entirely with galleys.

War of the League of Cambrai: A Venetian army under Bartolomeo d'Alviano was decisively defeated by the Spanish army commanded by Ramón de Cardona and Fernando d'Ávalos.