Israel celebrates the October 7 Hamas attack a year ago

RE’IM, Israel (AP) — Israelis held vigils and somber ceremonies Monday to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, the deadliest in the country’s history, which sparked the war in Gaza has left Israelis with indelible scars.

The surprise cross-border attackwhich caught Israel unprepared on an important Jewish holiday, destroyed Israelis’ sense of security and shook their trust in their leaders and military.

A year later, the aftershocks can still be felt. The The war in Gaza continues and Israel fights a new war against Hezbollahwhich began the attack on Israel on October 8th. There is that too an escalating conflict with Iran – which supports both Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups – threatens to plunge the region into a far more dangerous conflagration.

And on Monday, Hamas showed that it is still resisting. It fired rockets that triggered air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and closer to the Gaza border.

In Gaza, which still suffers from the burden of the ongoing warA formal memorial service is not planned. The massive destruction and displacement are a constant reminder of Israel’s retaliatory attack on the area, with no end in sight.

Israelis flocked to ceremonies, cemeteries and memorials across the country, remembering the hundreds and dozens of victims Hostages still in captivity and the soldiers were wounded or killed trying to rescue them.

At 6:29 a.m. – the exact moment Hamas launched its attack – the families of those killed were greeted Nova Music Festivalalong with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, gathered at the site where nearly 400 revelers were shot and where many others were taken hostage.

After briefly playing the same trance music that played during the festival, hundreds of family members and friends of the victims stood for a minute’s silence. A woman’s piercing wail broke the silence as the sound echoed from the fighting in Gaza just a few kilometers away.

“When we are here, we are close to our loved ones. This is the time when they danced and fled,” said Sigal Bar-On, whose niece Yuval Bar-On, 25, and her fiancé Moshe Shuva, 34, were due to marry in December 2023.

At 6:31 a.m., four projectiles were fired from Gaza at the very Israeli communities that came under intense attacks last year, the Israeli military said. The ceremony was not disrupted.

To mark the start of the Hamas attack a year ago, the families of the hostages still held in Gaza – about 100, a third of whom are believed to be dead – gathered near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence and stood during a two-minute siren blare . Replicating a custom from the most solemn dates of the Israeli calendar, Holocaust Remembrance Day and Remembrance Day.

“We are here to remind (the hostages) that we have not forgotten them,” said Shiri Albag, whose daughter Liri is among the prisoners. Her message to Netanyahu: “We won’t let you rest until everyone is back, every single one of them,” she told the crowd, which held up placards with the faces of the hostages.

A group representing the families of the hostages announced that another prisoner was dead. Idan Shtivi, 28, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival and is believed to still be alive. Israeli media reported he was killed in the attack and his body was taken to Gaza.

Flags in Israel’s Knesset have been lowered to half-staff and an official state ceremony celebrating acts of bravery and hope is set to be broadcast on Monday evening. The ceremony was recorded without an audience – apparently to avoid possible disruption – in the southern city Ofakim, where over two dozen Israelis were killed.

But anger over the government’s failure to prevent the attack and ongoing frustration over its failure to return the remaining hostages prompted the families of those killed and captured to hold a separate event in Tel Aviv.

The event was expected to attract tens of thousands of people, but was drastically scaled down because of bans on large gatherings due to the threat of missile attacks from Iran and Hezbollah.

The Hamas attack, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 as hostages in Gaza, continues to cast a shadow over daily life in Israel. For the dozens of hostages still held captive, there is no end in sight to their fight. Border communities have been upended and tens of thousands have been displaced. Soldiers are being killed in Gaza and Lebanon. Israel faces ongoing international criticism over its wartime behavior, and two world courts are examining its actions.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the territory’s 2.3 million residents and sparked a humanitarian crisis that has led to widespread hunger. Additionally, the tiny coastal enclave has been devastated beyond recognition as U.S.-led ceasefire efforts repeatedly fail.

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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

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