Israel marks three years since October 7 Hamas attack amid ongoing Gaza conflict

Israel paused on Wednesday to mark three years since the morning Hamas-led gunmen crossed the border and killed roughly 1,200 people in a coordinated assault that would reshape the region. Families gathered at the sites where their loved ones died—the Nova dance festival in the south, the kibbutzim along the perimeter—to lay flowers and speak the names of the dead. The attack had taken 251 people hostage. Now, three years later, none remained in Gaza.

At the Nova festival grounds near Kibbutz Re'im, where 378 people were shot and killed on October 7, 2023, survivors and bereaved families stood together on Wednesday morning. Ahuva Yavin Mayze, whose 21-year-old daughter Adi was among them, described what occurred there as dystopic and unimaginable. Shlomo Sharf, a former Israeli footballer, came to remember his granddaughter May Naim, 24, also killed at the festival. Yarden Bibas, who had been taken hostage himself and later released, spoke of his wife Shiri and two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, who were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and later died in captivity in Gaza. He told the Times of Israel: "Sorry. Sorry that you are up there and I am here."

At Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where 64 residents were killed and 19 taken hostage, the small cemetery filled with mourners. Zion Regev, a community leader, said most survivors had not returned to their homes because of the trauma. "This is the first time we are doing all the things here in the kibbutz," he told Reuters. "It's a very emotional day, it's a very difficult day for our community, three years after 7 October."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the national memorial ceremony at Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park on Wednesday evening. He said Israel would remember those "who knew that they had to give their lives in order to save others." In a statement released that afternoon, Netanyahu said he had lit a memorial candle for every victim. "We will complete the mission: we have settled the score and will continue settling the score with all the murderers," he added. At a ceremony on Monday, he claimed Israel had killed 4,000 of the roughly 6,000 Palestinians who infiltrated from Gaza that day. Yet Netanyahu faced protesters demanding an independent state inquiry into the security failures that allowed the attack to succeed. Many senior Israeli defence and security officials have resigned or been fired since October 7, but there has been no independent commission of inquiry. Netanyahu has rejected personal responsibility and refused to establish a state inquiry led by Israel's Supreme Court, arguing the judiciary would be biased against him. In Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square, anti-government protesters dyed the fountain red and held banners reading "a complete failure" and "guilty" next to his image.

The assault triggered a military response that has reshaped Gaza. Israel's offensive has killed more than 74,200 people according to the Hamas-run health ministry, figures the UN considers reliable. A ceasefire agreed almost a year ago has not held. Violence continues. More than 1,460 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza's health ministry. The Israeli military says at least seven Israeli soldiers have been killed in the strip over the same period. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.1 million population remain displaced. An estimated 80 percent of all structures have been destroyed or damaged, leaving more than 60 million tonnes of rubble and 1.2 million people living in tents or shelters, according to the UN.

Mohammed Emad al-Din, a 38-year-old barber in Gaza City, has been displaced five times. His home was destroyed and his shop partially damaged. He told the BBC he fears Gaza has been deliberately rendered uninhabitable. "I don't believe Israel caused all this destruction for nothing," he said. "They have turned Gaza into a place that is almost impossible to live in, and I fear that we will eventually end up outside the place where we were born." Another displaced Palestinian, Atta Saeed Hassan Shweikh, said his son, daughter, sister and her children had all been killed during the war. Speaking from Gaza City, he described Palestinians as "living in graves while still alive."

International leaders marked the anniversary. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called October 7 a "profound rupture" and said antisemitism must be confronted with "even greater resolve." UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Britain's Jewish community: "We stand with you." Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the "unspeakable savagery and terror of 7 October must never happen again" and said the EU "remains ready to help turn today's fragile ceasefire into a durable peace, based on a two-state solution." US President Donald Trump told reporters he had spoken to Netanyahu and called October 7 "a horrible day, a horrible tragedy."

Hamas released a statement calling the October 7 attack a "historic milestone" in its "ongoing struggle project" and described it as "a natural response" to "bitter suffering" imposed by Israel. On Wednesday, Israeli strikes in the northern town of Beit Lahia and the southern city of Khan Younis killed at least three Palestinians, medics said. The Israeli military said it struck two Hamas operatives in northern Gaza overnight, one of whom it accused of planting explosives near the Yellow Line marking territory still occupied by Israeli forces. The war continues without resolution.