Israelis gathered in silence on Wednesday at a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was stormed by Hamas militants on October 7 three years ago, mourning the victims of the attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza and plunged the Middle East into war.
In the Gaza Strip, devastated by two years of Israeli bombardments, Palestinians sheltering among the ruins of destroyed cities recalled life before a war that displaced almost the entire population and separated families.
The attacks of October 7, 2023 marked the bloodiest day in Israel’s history. Militants led by Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, a cross-border incursion that traumatized Israelis, who demanded accountability from the government.
The Israeli airstrikes and subsequent ground operations in Gaza have killed more than 74,000 people, including at least 1,400 killed in the last year, since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted major fighting but failed to stop Israeli attacks or to guarantee Hamas’s disarmament.
“A VERY DIFFICULT DAY”
In Kfar Aza, where Hamas militants killed dozens of Israelis before taking 19 hostages to Gaza, residents held a vigil in memory of the dead, remaining in silence as a trumpet sounded a solemn call. A resident read aloud the list of the deceased.
Zion Regev, the kibbutz community leader, said that most residents remain displaced and have not yet returned, with the trauma of October 7 continuing to mark their lives.
“It is the first time we are carrying out all these activities here at the kibbutz,” Regev said of the vigil. “It is a very moving day, it is a very difficult day for our community, three years after October 7.”
In other parts of Israel, protesters who were demonstrating against what they view as a lack of accountability for the security failure gathered outside the Parliament in Jerusalem, blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for refusing to allow an independent investigation into the attack.
Some protesters carried signs reading: “The people will remember October 7 on October 27,” a reference to the upcoming Israeli general elections in about 20 days and seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s long tenure in power.
“We need change, we need hope, and we need to know that we have a government that cares about the public and does not work only for itself,” said the protester Shaked Arrad.
Netanyahu rejected blame for the security failure and resisted calls for an independent investigation. This frustrated many in Israel, including the families of the attack victims, some of whom entered the electoral race.
On the eve of the anniversary, he said at a cabinet meeting that Israelis “remember with sorrow and pain our heroes who died in the War of Redemption and our brothers and sisters who died in the terrible massacre in the communities along the Gaza border.”
Polls show that neither Netanyahu nor his main rivals would be able to secure enough seats in Parliament to form a coalition if the vote were held today.
