Israel marked three years since Hamas’ 2023 attack with memorials. The anniversary arrives weeks before a national election.
JERUSALEM — Israelis marked the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Wednesday with silent tributes, memorial services and grassroots gatherings. Mourners assembled at sites including the former Nova music festival grounds near Kibbutz Re’im and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where many people were killed or abducted. Organizers planned a minute of silence at 6:29 a.m., the time the assault began. AFP reported that new Israeli strikes on Gaza also took place on the anniversary.
Israel held its official state ceremonies on Monday, which aligns more closely with the anniversary on the Hebrew calendar. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid a wreath at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem. Most of Wednesday’s events were organized by survivors and victims’ families, including groups known as the October Council and Kumu. The October Council has called for an independent state inquiry into the failures that preceded the attack. Military chief of staff Eyal Zamir said at a ceremony on Monday that the military’s later achievements do not erase its failure on Oct. 7 and that investigating it is a duty.
Israeli figures put the death toll from the attack at roughly 1,200 people, most of them civilians, with about 250 others taken hostage. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has since killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, and halted the heaviest fighting. Israeli strikes have continued, however, and the ministry says more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began. The next stages of the agreement remain largely stalled. Israeli forces control more than half of the territory, and Netanyahu has said they will not withdraw until Hamas disarms.
The anniversary falls less than three weeks before Israel’s Oct. 27 national election, the first since the attack. Accountability for the security failures has become a central campaign issue, and opposition leaders used the anniversary to criticize the government. Israeli media have reported that the United Arab Emirates and Egypt gave Israel preliminary warnings before the attack. Those reports have not been independently verified. Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs said it had identified 262 pro-Palestinian protests and events in 37 countries around the anniversary.
Information for this report came from CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post.