October 7 Hamas attack: Eyewitness News reporter Josh Mancher reports from Israel a year later

ISRAEL (WABC) – At the site now and forever known as Geiselplatz, commemorations of the October 7th anniversary take on a particularly subdued tone.

Large gatherings are restricted due to the risk of an attack from Iran.

Yet a year after the Hamas massacre, after 1,200 people were slaughtered, a hundred people remain captive in Gaza. Seven of them are Americans.

“On one hand it’s like a year, but it’s more like Groundhog Day where you wake up every day and it’s a day that goes on over and over again,” said Ruby Chen, the hostage’s father.

Chen’s son Itay is among the missing. The IDF believes the 19-year-old soldier with dual citizenship was killed at the border as Hamas fighters poured across the border. His body was carried back to Gaza.

Itay’s father and other families had an important message when they met with U.S. Ambassador Jack Lew on Sunday.

“At some point you have to say that there are different ways to get to the destination of all hostages, but especially the US hostages. This government has a duty to get them out, and we urge them to do everything possible to get them out,” Chen said.

But it is no easy task as the region moves ever closer to all-out war.

Overnight, Israel attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs as part of its ongoing campaign to destroy Hezbollah, as the region prepares for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to the ballistic missile attack Iran fired at Israel’s densely populated center on Tuesday has.

RELATED: Manhattan community still holds hope one year after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel

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