TEL AVIV — Israelis gathered in a moment of silence on Wednesday to mark three years since the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023, which a UN inquiry confirmed killed 1,200 people and saw 252 taken hostage.
In southern Israel, families mourned at road junctions, bomb shelters and the site of the Nova music festival, all places overrun by militants in the deadliest attack against Israel.
It is the first anniversary on which all the hostages that survived have returned home, bringing a new phase of mourning.
Among those marking the day was Elkana Bohbot, 37, who was abducted from the Nova festival and is spending the anniversary in Israel for the first time. He was freed last year after 738 days in captivity, most of it in a tunnel 50 metres underground.
At the site of the Nova music festival, where Hamas militants in trucks and paragliders opened fire around dawn on October 7, family members bowed their heads in silence, although AFP reported at least one put on techno music in tribute to the fallen.
Up to 75,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as Israel retaliated, according to the United Nations.
Sustained aerial and ground assault has devastated vast parts of the Gaza Strip, destroying homes and neighborhoods and severely damaging its infrastructure and essential services.
While a ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10 has halted the heaviest fighting, Israeli strikes have continued, targeting what Israel says are Hamas militants. Since the ceasefire, 1,145 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Seven Israeli soldiers have been killed in that period.
Violence has also risen across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israel’s far-right government has emboldened extremist settlers who have attacked Palestinians and destroyed their property.
Hamas portrayed the Oct. 7 attack as a response to decades of Israeli military occupation, land seizures and settlement construction. But the Palestinians’ dream of an independent state appears even more distant.
The UN said this summer that about 1.7 million Palestinians, roughly 80% of the population, were living in tents and temporary accommodation, while Israeli maps show more than half of the Gaza Strip is now controlled by its troops.
On Wednesday, AFP reporters in Israel heard loud bangs from across the border in Gaza during the commemorations as Israel carried out new strikes, despite the ceasefire agreement.
Gaza officials said at least two people were killed in overnight strikes in the region, most of which has been reduced to rubble.
Wednesday’s gatherings were separate from the government’s official memorial services, held on 5 October to fall closer to the anniversary in the Hebrew calendar.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed there would be “no forgiveness for the murderers” and promised never to allow Hamas to rule in Gaza.
More than 200 former hostages and relatives wrote to Netanyahu last year demanding an inquiry into the 7 October attacks or his resignation but Israel’s leader opted to publish redacted government documents instead of launching an investigation and described the attacks as “a serious intelligence failure”.
Source: Saudi Gazette