Israel Marks One Year Since Devastating Hamas Attack
As Israel marks the one-year anniversary of the devastating October 7 Hamas attack, the country is still reeling from the devastating consequences. The attack sparked the Gaza war, which has now engulfed neighboring Lebanon, creating a perilous regional crisis.
President Isaac Herzog will lead a memorial service at Sderot, one of the cities hardest hit during the onslaught by Palestinian militants. A rally calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will be held at Beeri, a kibbutz community where more than 100 people were killed last October 7. A memorial is also planned at kibbutz Reim, site of the Nova music festival where militants murdered hundreds of people.
Families and supporters of hostages held by Palestinian militants since the October 7 attack held a demonstration outside the Israeli ministry of defence in Tel Aviv, calling for an immediate deal or their release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to deliver a televised address to the nation on Monday, although details of official events to mark the painful anniversary remain unclear.
"Our wounds still cannot fully heal because they are ongoing. Because hostages are still being tortured, executed, and dying in captivity," Herzog said in a statement issued on Saturday to mark the anniversary. "Because they and their families are still living in the loss and the terror of October 7 right at these very moments… In many senses, we are all still living the aftermath of October 7."
The attack, which marked the deadliest in Israel’s history, resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Militants abducted 251 hostages on October 7, 97 of whom are still captive in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military has said are dead.
Israel’s relentless offensive on Gaza has so far killed at least 41,825 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory. The figures have been found to be reliable by the United Nations.
The war has also expanded to include Israel’s border with Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah has been firing rockets at Israel. The cross-border attacks have displaced more than 60,000 people inside Israel, and the fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces has intensified over the past month.
Iran has fired about 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and former Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran in July. Iran and Hamas blame Israel for Haniyeh’s death, but Israel has not commented.
"The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms, and will win," Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a rare sermon on Friday. Iran and the international community are now bracing for a potential Israeli retaliation after the missile attack.
