Israel strikes Gaza on anniversary of October 7 attack — France 24

In Israel, the third anniversary of Hamas’s attack on the south of the country was marked on October 7 with memorial events. At the same time, Israel carried out new strikes on the Gaza Strip, despite a ceasefire that has officially been in effect for a year. As France 24 reports, Gaza officials said that five people were killed in the strikes.

Honoring the dead

Families of the victims gathered at the site of the Nova festival, where Hamas militants opened fire on attendees on the morning of October 7, 2023. During the commemorations at the festival site and in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, loud sounds could be heard from the direction of Gaza.

Ketia Zohar, whose daughter Bar Zohar was killed at the festival at the age of 23, called 6:29 a.m. the moment that forever changed her family’s life. Anna Davitashvili honored her 25-year-old son Sean, who was killed along with friends at Nova, by playing the last techno track to which festival participants danced before the attack began.

In the evening, a memorial ceremony organized by survivors and the families of the victims was held in a Tel Aviv park. Several thousand people attended, and the broadcast was shown by the country’s main television channels. The event was hosted by former hostage Eli Sharabi, who lost his wife and two daughters in the attack, while his brother died in captivity in Gaza.

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Anniversary on the eve of elections

Israel is set to hold its first elections since the attack on October 27. Polls indicate a tight race for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Leading opposition representatives attended the memorial events, including Netanyahu’s main rival, Gadi Eisenkot.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who seeks to remove Netanyahu, called the attack a colossal failure of the State of Israel. Yair Golan, leader of the center-left Democrats party, said that a government that has not destroyed Hamas rule in three years is dangerous for Israel.

Netanyahu lit a memorial candle in his office in Jerusalem and said that those responsible for the killings would be brought to justice. According to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data, 1,221 people were killed in the October 7 attack, and 251 hostages were taken to Gaza, 44 of whom were already dead at that time.