October 2, 2004 (Saturday)
- U.S. presidential election, 2004: Fox News apologizes for an incident on Friday, October 1, in which it posted a story containing false quotes attributed to presidential candidate Senator John Kerry. Fox says the reporter who wrote the story, Carl Cameron, had written the article "in jest" and had not intended for it to be posted. (Houston Chronicle) (The Guardian)
- A series of bombings in the states of Nagaland and Assam in north-east India kill at least 48 people. Local police suspect a rebel group, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB). (BBC) (Hindustan Times) Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- Yassir Arafat declares a state of emergency in the Gaza Strip and calls for international aid following Israel's raid into Jabaliya. (News 24 [S. Africa])
- Israeli forces shoot dead four Palestinian militants, members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and Hamas, who had tried to infiltrate the Israeli Kibbutz of Nahal Oz, about 200 meters outside of that Kibbutz. (Haaretz) (Al Jazeera) (The Statesman [India]) (INN [Israel])
- The U.S. government issues a statement urging Israel not to use excessive force during its current offensive into the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
- The Palestinian militant group Hamas says that it will continue using rockets to attack Israeli communities that border on the Gaza Strip, or Israeli settlements within it, regardless of Israeli military operations. (BBC)
- The Israeli military begins an operation to create a 9 km (5.5 mile) "buffer zone" within the northern Gaza Strip. Israel says that the purpose of the zone is protect Israel from attacks using Qassam rockets (which have a 9 km (5.5 mile) range). (The Telegraph) Archived 2007-12-24 at the Wayback Machine