The fifth season of the series "Fauda" has arrived on Netflix, and over the past day, social media has been filled with reactions from viewers who were exposed, some for the first time, to the horrors of Hamas' October 7, 2023, massacre through episodes 7 and 8.
I just finished watching episode 7 and 8 of Fauda season 5.
All I can say is, we were WAY too lenient on Gaza.
Wayyyyyy too lenient!
— C. Weber (@CWBOCA) September 9, 2026
Thousands of viewers from Germany, Italy, Portugal, the United States, and other countries have written about their viewing experience. "Episodes 7 and 8 of 'Fauda' are shocking," an Italian viewer wrote, while another added, "I just finished watching episodes 7 and 8 of Fauda season 5. All I can say is, we were WAY too lenient on Gaza."
Other viewers said they felt genuine anxiety. "Season 5 is a gut punch," one wrote. "Episodes 7 and 8 depict the horrors of October 7, and from that moment on, it's hard to treat the plot as fiction. Everyone has already seen real images from the massacre, most of them filmed by the terrorists themselves, but this time the creators put us inside the horror. I was truly shaken. Not only because I watched the massacre through the victims' eyes, but also because I pictured the Israeli actors.
I just finished episodes 7 and 8 of #Fauda, and I honestly feel broken.
This wasn't just a TV series. For those two episodes, I was taken to October 7, to the fear, the helplessness, the families hiding and fighting to survive.
And knowing that this horror was real makes it…— Giannis Argyriou 🇬🇷🇨🇾🇮🇱🇺🇦 (@giannisargyriou) September 9, 2026
"The most representative image is of actor Yaakov Zada Daniel, who plays the agent Eli, at the moment he enters his home in a kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas terrorists. It's breathtaking. He wasn't performing a distant tragedy; he was reconstructing in front of the camera an event that struck his own country, his family, his friends, and the show's crew. Actor Idan Amedi was wounded during the war. Matan Meir, a member of the show's crew, fell in the war. Maybe that's why these episodes feel different. It doesn't look like an attempt to imagine the horror; it takes us straight into it."
Assisti à 5ª temporada de Fauda, a série israelense na Netflix. Essa sempre foi uma série desconfortável. Criada por Lior Raz e Avi Issacharoff, ex-integrantes de unidades israelenses, ela acompanha agentes infiltrados no conflito entre israelenses e palestinos, evitando quase… pic.twitter.com/E9VGQSXeAo
— luciano pires (@lucianopires) September 12, 2026
Another viewer wrote, "I just finished episodes 7 and 8 of Fauda, and I honestly feel broken. This wasn't just a TV series. For those two episodes, I was taken to October 7, to the fear, the helplessness, the families hiding and fighting to survive. And knowing that this horror was real makes it almost unbearable to watch.
"This is also why my support for Israel has never wavered. Because behind every debate, every headline, and every political argument, there were real innocent people whose lives were destroyed before everything started. I finished the episodes and just sat there in silence. October 7 must never be forgotten."
One particularly surprising statistic was the show's performance in the Middle East. In Lebanon, whose Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah joined Hamas' war against Israel, "Fauda" is ranked No. 1 on Netflix. The show is also highly popular elsewhere in the region, ranking No. 2 in Jordan and drawing large audiences in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and even Saudi Arabia.
