Israelis gathered on Wednesday to commemorate the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people, took 251 hostage and sparked a devastating war in Gaza that has left much of the territory in ruins and its 2 million residents living in squalid conditions.
In southern Israel, families mourned at intersections, shelters and the site of a music festival that was overrun by gunmen three years ago in the deadliest attack in the country’s history. It is the first anniversary of the return of all hostages, living and dead, marking a new phase of grief.
For Palestinians, the anniversary brings another day of misery after Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza that killed tens of thousands of people.
Most of Gaza’s population lives in spacious and dirty camps, where large parts of the Strip’s cities have turned into rubble. More than half of the territory remains in the hands of the Israeli army. Despite the ceasefire agreement reached almost a year ago, Israeli strikes continue on an almost daily basis.
For the region, this day highlights the amazing transformation witnessed in the past three years.
Israeli forces occupy a large area of southern Lebanon in their conflict with the armed group Hezbollah, which began firing on Israel in 2023 in support of Hamas. Iran and the United States are locked in a standoff that has seen attacks across the Gulf Arab states and rocked the global economy — a conflict that Israel helped launch and for which the Gaza war paved the way, even if there is no direct connection between them.
Families mourn at the Nova Festival site
Near the town of Reem, where a music festival was being held when the gunmen attacked, families gathered around photos of their killed relatives. Hundreds of people participated in the funerals of more than 350 people killed in and around the festival site. Videos from that day showed gunmen shooting fleeing revelers, shooting the wounded at close range, and ambushing those seeking shelter in nearby bomb shelters.
On Wednesday, relatives of survivors embraced at 6:29 a.m. — the same time the first rockets were fired three years ago — as explosions rang out in neighboring Gaza.
Get daily national news
Get Canada Daily News delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss the day’s top stories.
Anya Davitacelli, who lost her 25-year-old son Sean, said she visits the site every Saturday. It’s the place where she feels closest to him.
“I have a video of him dancing here that ends at 6:29 a.m., and he’s in front of my eyes the whole time,” she said. “Every morning, you wake up and there is endless lack.”
Israeli soldiers patrol a memorial to the victims at the site of the October 7, 2023 Nova Music Festival attack by Palestinian gunmen, in Kibbutz Reim in southern Israel, on March 30, 2025.
Menachem Kahane/AFP
The released hostage marks his first day on October 7th
Elkana Bohbot (37 years old) is celebrating the anniversary in Israel for the first time since his release after 738 days of captivity. He said that he was detained for most of that period underground in a dark and damp tunnel.
He added that Bohbut, who was kidnapped from the festival, was held in a small cell with other hostages, given little food and only allowed to shower every few weeks. His kidnappers forced him to participate in propaganda videos, including one in which he made a fake call to his family.
In the year following his release, Bohbot underwent physical and emotional rehabilitation. In August, his wife, Rivka, gave birth to a daughter, fulfilling a promise to himself in the tunnels to give his 5-year-old son, Reem, a sibling.
Bohbot told the Associated Press that newborn Michelle “is not a symbol of my people, but rather a symbol of the enemy.” “This baby is the message to you that we were here and we will be here forever.”
Freed hostages Keith Siegel and Aviva Siegel participate in an interview ahead of the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks on October 06, 2026 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Alexei Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Palestinians in Gaza live surrounded by rubble
No events are expected to occur on Wednesday in Gaza, but in a statement Hamas praised the October 7 attack, describing it as an example of “heroism, steadfastness and national solidarity” and saying it brought the Palestinian issue back to the world’s attention.
She added, “The conflict with the enemy did not begin on that day, as its final chapters had not yet been written.”
Palestinians in the Strip said that the extent to which their lives have deteriorated over the past three years was previously unimaginable.
“We witnessed death, destruction and bombing that we had never seen before,” said Walid Akram, a Gaza City resident who, like most Gazans, was displaced by the war.
The coastal neighborhood of Raed Khazq in Tal al-Hawa was largely razed to the ground. He said: Nothing in his life now is the same.
“No country in the world has gone through what we witnessed here,” he said. “War of extermination, famine, the absence of schools and universities – there is nothing left.”
More than 74,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in the Strip, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its numbers, but says that about half of them are women and children. Figures from the ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, are generally considered reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.
While a ceasefire that took effect on October 10, 2025 halted the heaviest fighting, Israeli strikes have continued, targeting what Israel says are Hamas fighters. Since the ceasefire, 1,460 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the ministry. Seven Israeli soldiers were killed during that period. Food security experts say that restrictions on the entry of goods and aid have contributed to the hunger crisis.
The anniversary comes to a radically changed Middle East
This year’s anniversary is overshadowed by controversial elections in Israel at the end of the month. The government’s official memorial service was held on October 5, close to the anniversary of the attack according to the Hebrew calendar.
The separate celebrations reflect deep divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his handling of the war and his reluctance to launch a formal investigation into the failures that occurred at the time.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who hopes to oust Netanyahu, looked at photos of those killed in Reem and spoke with sobbing members of his family.
Gadi Eisenkot, opposition leader, Yashar! He met families in a bomb shelter where many were killed while trying to escape.
The attack set off a chain of events that led to wars across the Middle East as Israel faced off against Hamas and Hezbollah and their backer, Iran. Israel seized large areas of land in Syria and Lebanon, where more than 300,000 Lebanese are still displaced. The United States joined Israel in attacking Iran’s military and nuclear program in two rounds, hammering Iran and flipping global markets off the battlefield.
Violence has also escalated across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as Israel’s far-right government has tightened restrictions on Palestinians while emboldening extremist settlers who have attacked them and destroyed their property.
