Israel is on Wednesday marking the third anniversary of the Hamas attack. The attack of 7 October 2023 was the deadliest in the country’s history. A general election is due in the country three weeks after the anniversary.
It is the first anniversary of the attack since a formal ceasefire began in war-ravaged Gaza last year. Events are being held throughout the day in memory of those killed.
Palestinian fighters broke through the border into southern Israel and attacked with gunfire, rockets and grenades. By the AFP news agency’s count, based on official Israeli figures, 1,221 people were killed. A total of 251 were taken hostage to Gaza, of whom 44 have since died.
The attack began three years ago at 6:29am local time. At exactly that time a remembrance ceremony was to be held at Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the Gaza border, where 64 residents were killed and 18 abducted.
A ceremony has also been arranged at the site of the Nova music festival in southern Israel, where more than 370 people were killed and dozens taken hostage. Relatives of the dead were to gather in a park in Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening.
The events are being held three weeks before the general election and a week after an attempted attack on a passenger aircraft bound for Tel Aviv was foiled, so security has been tightened.
Israel’s defence minister said on Tuesday that the military had been placed on highest alert after intelligence on a possible Hamas plan to attack Israeli troops in Gaza on the anniversary.
At the state remembrance ceremony on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas would not rule Gaza. He also vowed to continue operations against those involved in the 7 October attack and in taking hostages.
In response to the attack Israel launched a massive military campaign. It has reduced most of Gaza to rubble, and by the count of Gaza’s health ministry more than 74,200 people have been killed.
Over the past three years Israel has stepped up military activity across the Middle East, fighting on several fronts from its conflict with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah to Iran.
Despite the fragile ceasefire announced with US mediation last October, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire. Hundreds of thousands of people still live in tents and makeshift structures, and there has been little real progress on the territory’s political future or reconstruction.
Israel says it controls more than 60% of the Gaza Strip and has vowed to continue air strikes aimed at eliminating the Hamas threat and at those involved in the 7 October attack.
The territory’s health ministry says more than 1,430 people have been killed in attacks by Israeli forces in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect.
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