Israel began its commemorations Monday of the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack, with an outpouring of emotion at vigils at massacre sites and rallies calling for the return of hostages.
Ceremonies and events are planned across Israel and in cities around the world to mark the anniversary of the unprecedented attack by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, which claimed more than 1,200 lives.
President Isaac Herzog began the day with a moment of silence at 6:29 am — the moment the attack began — at Kibbutz Reim, the site of the Nova music festival where at least 370 people were killed by heavily armed Hamas fighters in the deadliest attack on October 7.
Families of those killed attended the memorial, many of them crying, as Herzog met the crowd, an AFP correspondent reported.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of people attended events in cities around the world, both to pay tribute to the victims of Hamas’s attack and to voice support for the Palestinian people after a year of war in the Gaza Strip.
“Coming to this event one year after this terrible massacre that happened on October 7, it’s very touching,” said organiser Solly Laniado at a ceremony Sunday in Tel Aviv to remember the victims of the Nova attack.
The anniversary comes with Israel still fighting in Gaza and engaged in a fresh war to the north in Lebanon against Hamas ally Hezbollah. It is also preparing its retaliation against Tehran over an Iranian missile attack last week, raising fears of an even wider conflict.
The Israeli army said Monday that at least four projectiles were fired from Gaza just minutes after the commemorations began, adding it had “struck Hamas launch posts and underground terrorist infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip”.
Hamas’s armed wing said in a statement that its fighters had fired rockets at “enemy gatherings” at Rafah crossing, Kerem Shalom crossing and Kibbutz Holit near the border with Gaza.
The military also said sirens sounded Monday morning in northern Israel, which has seen daily rocket fire from neighbouring Lebanon.
