42,000 Israeli Women Apply For Gun Permits Post Hamas Attack

New Delhi: The unexpected and unprecedented attack by Hamas eight months ago has changed the lives of Israelis in many ways.

Among the changes triggered by the October 7 attacks is women applying for gun permits.

Even as feminist groups have criticised this trend, the number of women who have and are continuing to seek gun permits has soared to a never-seen-before level in the country, reported AFP.

According to data available with Israeli Security ministry, as many as 42,000 applications for gun permits have been by received from since the October attack.

Already 18,000 permits have been approved, which is triple the number of pre-war licenses held by women.

The tremendous surge has obviously been caused by a sense of insecurity and fear that has gripped Israelis.

Loosening of gun laws by Israel’s right-wing government has helped in hastening the clearance of gun permits.

Over 15,000 female civilians now own a firearm in Israel and the occupied West Bank, with 10,000 enrolled in mandatory training, according to the Security ministry.

“I would have never thought of buying a weapon or getting a permit, but since October 7, things changed a little bit,” Political Science professor Limor Gonen told AFP during a weapons handling class at a shooting range in a West Bank settlement.

Hamas’ attack resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

The attack led to Israel’s retaliatory offensive and a full-fledged war, killing more than 37,000 people in Gaza, again mostly civilians, according to the Palestine territory’s Health ministry.