Israel is observing the first anniversary of a deadly attack inside its territory by the Palestinian group Hamas, a massacre that was followed by Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
President Isaac Herzog kicked off the commemorations on Monday, with memorials held to honour 1,139 Israelis and nearly 100 people still in captivity in Gaza.
Herzog began the day with a moment of silence at 6:29am (03:29 GMT) – the time the attack began exactly a year ago – at kibbutz Reim, the site of the Nova music festival where 364 people were killed by Hamas-led fighters.
After briefly playing the same trance music that was blared during the festival, hundreds of family members and friends of the victims stood for a moment of silence, many of them crying, as Herzog met the crowd.
“When we are here, we are near our loved ones, this is the time they danced and fled,” said Sigal Bar-On, whose niece, Yuval Bar-On, 25, and her fiance Moshe Shuva, 34, were supposed to get married in December last year.
Herzog called the attack on the Nova music festival “a scar on humanity” as he appealed to the world to support Israel against its enemies.
“The world has to realise and understand that in order to change the course of history and bring peace, a better future to the region, it must support Israel in its battle against its enemies,” said the president in a statement.
Mourners also gathered in Tel Aviv, interceptors booming over Israel’s commercial hub as Hamas fired a barrage of rockets.
“It still feels surreal, like a nightmare that we are still supposed to wake up from eventually,” resident Ariel Tamir told the AFP news agency.
In West Jerusalem, Shir Siegel said the wait for her father’s return from captivity has been agonising.
“A year has passed but actually one long day has passed that feels like an eternity,” she told AFP.
Anger over Gaza captives
Earlier, dozens of protesters, carrying flags and portraits of the captives, gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, demanding the return of the remaining captives from Gaza.
“We are here to remind [the government] that we haven’t forgotten them,” Shiri Albag, whose daughter Liri is among the captives, told The Associated Press news agency. “We won’t let you rest until all of them are back, every last one of them.”
In the year since the October 7 attack, frequent demonstrations have been held across Israel by angry family members of the captives, who have questioned the government’s failure in bringing them back home and refusing to enter a ceasefire with Hamas. Many protesters have been alleging Netanyahu has deliberately kept the war going for his political gains.
Amid the protest, the Israeli campaign group Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced on Monday the death of Idan Shtivi, 28, who was captured from the site of the Nova festival. The group said his “body is still held captive by Hamas”.
Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Jordan’s capital Amman because Israel has banned Al Jazeera, said many in Israel feel Netanyahu has not made bringing back the captives a priority.
“Anger will continue to rise … asking this government to make a ceasefire deal in Gaza and to bring the captives back. And that has certainly fallen off the table when it comes to this government,” she said.
The anniversary of the Hamas-led attack came as Israeli forces continue to bomb and displace the Palestinians in Gaza and recently launched a ground offensive in Lebanon against Hamas ally, Hezbollah.
Israel is also preparing its retaliation against Iran over a missile attack last week, raising fears of an all-out regional war.
Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 97,000 injured in Israel’s yearlong war on Gaza, as hunger and diseases stalk its displaced people.
Hamas rockets land in Tel Aviv
Hamas and its Lebanese allies have pledged to keep fighting, with the Palestinian group describing their October 7 attack as “glorious” and Hezbollah branding Israel as a “cancerous” entity that must be “eliminated”.
Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said on Monday it launched a rocket barrage on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv – the first attack by Palestinian fighters on a big Israeli city since August.
The attack originated from the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, said a statement by the Israeli military, adding that at least two women were injured.
Al Jazeera’s Dekker said the fact that Qassam Brigades fired rockets at Tel Aviv on the October 7 anniversary is “hugely significant”.
“Of course the rockets were intercepted, but the group’s ability a year on to still fire rockets puts a big question mark on Israel’s military strategy. It also highlights that there is simply no end to this conflict through military means alone – a political solution is needed. However, the Israeli government has maintained it is not negotiating a ceasefire,” she said.
