Israelis gathered on Wednesday at some 400 protests across the country to mark the third anniversary of the October 7th, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
They renewed calls for a state commission of inquiry into the security failures that preceded the worst day in the country’s history, when 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage to Gaza.
Israeli president Yitzhak Herzog launched the commemorations by lighting a memorial candle at the president’s residence at 6.29am, the time the Hamas attack started.
Herzog then travelled to Netiv HaAsara, a farming community on the Gaza border, where militants on hang gliders landed on October 7th at the start of the invasion.
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Memorial services took place at kibbutzim and other communities along the Gaza border that bore the brunt of the Hamas onslaught after the border fence was breached at more than 100 separate locations in the first hour of the attack.
At noon on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of people observed a moment of silence across the country.
Protesters brought the burnt-out shells of cars belonging to victims of the Nova music festival massacre to the demonstration outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem.
Some 378 people were killed at the Nova site, the vast majority of them young revellers who were still dancing when the first rockets landed in the area. The rockets were followed minutes later by gunmen on motorcycles who opened fire indiscriminately.
Provocative art installations were also a feature of Wednesday’s events. At Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square, protesters dyed the fountain water red. Rows of cut-out human figures were laid along a Tel Aviv beach, alongside a message reading: “October 7th – the price of the failure.”
Nine-month-old Kfir Bibas was the youngest victim of the Hamas attack. He died in captivity in Gaza along with his mother and elder brother, Ariel (4). His father Yarden, who was kidnapped separately and returned to Israel, issued a heartfelt message at the ceremony in kibbutz Nir Oz. “Shiri, Ariel and Kfir. Sorry. Sorry that you are up there and I am here.”
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu lit a memorial candle honouring the October 7th victims, saying: “We will complete the mission. We came to settle the score with all the murderers, and we will.”
Netanyahu has rejected blame for the security breach and resisted calls for an independent investigation.
A survey released on Wednesday found that most Israelis believe the goals set out by Netanyahu at the beginning of the war, described as “total victory”, have not been achieved.
Fewer than 20 per cent believe these goals have been achieved to a large extent or in full. Fewer than half of respondents believe Israel is safer today than it was before October 7th, while nearly a third believe the country is not as safe.
Israel’s bombardment and ground operations in Gaza since the October 7th attack have killed more than 74,000 people, including at least 1,400 killed in the past year since a US-brokered ceasefire, which halted major fighting but has failed to stop Israeli attacks or secure the disarmament of Hamas.
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