Israelis on Monday marked the first anniversary of the devastating Hamas-led attack that triggered a war which has sparked protest worldwide and risks igniting a far wider conflict in the Middle East.
Ceremonies and protests in Jerusalem and Israel’s south began around 06:29 a.m. local time, the hour when Hamas-led militants launched rockets into Israel at the start of the Oct. 7 attack last year.
They killed some 1,200 people dead and took another 250 hostage, at least 70 of whom have since died, according to Israeli media. Among the dead were several Canadian citizens.
Outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem, around 300 people led by families of hostages holding up photos of their loved ones, observed a minute of silence for the dead as a siren sounded.
On the one-year mark of the day Hamas-led militants stormed across the Gaza-Israel border and killed over a thousand people and kidnapped 250, family members and friends are mourning those they have lost and those who remain in Gaza. While they hope they’ll eventually be able to move forward in their lives, some describe a feeling of being trapped in the memories of Oct. 7, 2023.
“We’re still stuck in October 7th, 2023, in one unending day of terror, of fear, of anger, of despair,” said Yuval Baron, whose father-in-law Keith Siegel is hostage in Gaza.
“We wanted to start this day together to remind ourselves, our prime minister, the public of Israel that even though it is a day of grief there is still a holy mission to bring back the hostages,” said Baron.
In Gaza, 101 hostages remain as Israeli forces press on with their mission to end Hamas’s rule of the enclave and demolish its military capabilities. The Israeli government has said it believes about one-third of those hostages are no longer alive.
“We remember our fallen, our hostages that we are obliged to return,” Netanyahu said while lighting candles at Jerusalem’s Swords of Iron memorial.
Trudeau condemns rise in antisemitism
World leaders also noted the sombre event, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who in a statement condemned a “terrifying surge in antisemitism” over the past year in Canada, in the form of harassment of individuals and vandalism and arson attacks on Jewish institutions.
“Our thoughts go to all Israelis and Jewish people, whose lives have been shaken by this unthinkable tragedy and who continue to live in pain, fear and uncertainty — including those still praying for the return of a loved one or who are piecing back their lives through incredible grief,” said Trudeau.
Trudeau said the Canadian government is committed to “working toward an irreversible path to achieving a two-state solution, where Israelis and Palestinians can live securely within internationally recognized borders.”
Pope Francis, in an open letter to Catholics in the Middle East, criticized what he called the “shameful inability” of the international community to end the war.
“Violence never brings peace. History proves this, yet years and years of conflict seem to have taught us nothing,” he said.
Front Burner32:32‘Time stopped on October 7th’
Israel’s president joins mourners at music fest site
The surprise assault by Hamas, considered a terrorist group by several Western governments including Canada’s, was one of the worst security failures for a country that prides itself on a strong, sophisticated military. The attack shattered many citizens’ sense of security and sent their faith in its leaders to new lows.
Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip has laid waste to the densely populated coastal enclave, killed more than 41,900, according to Palestinian health authorities, and displaced most of the 2.3 million population.
CBC’s Saša Petricic visited a sunrise memorial ceremony at the site of the Supernova music festival, which armed Hamas militants attacked last year, killing hundreds of people and taking dozens hostage. Survivors and loved ones of those killed gathered at the festival grounds to mark the one-year anniversary of the attack.
In Re’im, the site of the Nova music festival where more than 360 people were killed and dozens taken hostage, President Isaac Herzog presided over the memorial ceremony which began with the last track that was played at the party a year ago.
“We will remember always who kidnapped, who murdered, who raped, who slaughtered. At the same time, we have also seen extraordinary fortitude. We have a wonderful people and on this day we strengthen it and call for unity,” said Herzog.
Hamas, Hezbollah fire rockets
Security forces were on high alert across the country on Monday’s anniversary.
Hamas’s armed wing attacked Israel’s Tel Aviv with a missile salvo, the militant group said in a statement, with the Israeli military saying sirens were sounded in central Israel.
In recent weeks, the focus of the war has increasingly shifted north to Lebanon where Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Hezbollah since the Iranian-backed group launched a barrage of missiles in support of Hamas on Oct. 8.
Hezbollah rockets hit Israel’s third-largest city Haifa early on Monday. Hezbollah said it targeted a military base south of Haifa with a salvo of Fadi 1 missiles and launched another attack on Tiberias, 65 kilometres away.
Israeli police confirmed that rockets had struck Haifa, also a major Mediterranean port, on Monday and local media said 10 people were hurt.
What began as limited daily exchanges has escalated into bombardments of Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut and a ground offensive into border villages meant to stamp out its fighters there and allow tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from their homes in the country’s north to return.
CBC’s Margaret Evans travelled to Tyre, Lebanon — a trip heavily controlled by Hezbollah — to see the damage from recent Israeli airstrikes and hear from the people who refuse to leave the region despite the danger.
Israel’s assault, which has killed over 1,000 people in the past two weeks, has triggered a mass flight from southern Lebanon, where an estimated 1.2 million people have been displaced.
Netanyahu in a statement defended the government’s forceful response to Hamas and Hezbollah militants during the past year.
“We are changing the security reality in our region, for our children’s sake, for our future, to ensure that what happened on Oct. 7 does not happen again,” he said.
In south Lebanon, 10 firefighters were killed on Monday in an Israeli airstrike on a municipal building in the town of Bint Jbeil, according to the country’s health ministry.
The Israeli military said the air force was carrying out extensive bombings of Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon, and that two Israeli soldiers were killed in border-area combat, taking the military death toll inside Lebanon so far to 11.
Meanwhile, movement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was further hampered as many checkpoints shut down, residents said, and some Palestinians with entry permits received notices on their mobile phones saying they will not be allowed into Israel on Monday.
A 12-year-old Palestinian boy was killed in confrontations between youths and Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The Israeli military said it was checking the report.