Devastated Israelis attend ceremonies to mark 7/10 anniversary

Grief-stricken Israelis have attended ceremonies and memorial sites around the country to mark the first anniversary since the deadly Hamas massacre.

At exactly 6.29am, the moment terrorists launched the October 7th attacks, families and friends of those gunned down at the Nova music festival gathered for an emotional event on Monday, attended also by President Isaac Herzog.

At one stage the pounding techno beats of the track played last at the festival before the terrorists struck was played to those at the gathering, which saw family members repeatedly hug, and break down in tears as they recalled the nightmare of the past 12 months.

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“When we are here, we are near our loved ones. This is the time they danced and fled,” said Sigal Bar-On, whose niece, Yuval, 25, and her fiancé Moshe Shuva, 34, were due to marry in December 2023.

Minutes after the ceremony begun the Israeli army sa at least four projectiles were fired from Gaza .

The IDF said it had “struck Hamas launch posts and underground terrorist infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip”.

After the ceremomy ended at the Nova festival site, many families and other attendees stayed to inspect the moemorial, which included photographs of the 364 revellers who were murdered by Hamas there, or taken captive.

In Jerusalem, families of hostages still held in Gaza gathered near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence.

They stood during a two-minute siren, usually sounded on Holocaust Remembrance and Memorial Day.

“We are here to remind (the hostages) that we haven’t forgotten them,” said Shiri Albag, whose daughter Liri is among the captives.

Her message to Netanyahu: “We wont let you rest until all of them are back, every last one of them,” she told the crowd.

At least 20 family members of hostages still held in Gaza were present during the early morning gathering, including the parents of hostage Naama Levy, a surveillance soldier; the family of Ofer Calderon, taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz; the daughter of Ohad Ben Ami from Kibbutz Be’eri; the daughter of Keith Siegel; the brother and father of hostage Matan Angrest, a soldier taken hostage from his tank; and the parents of Omer Wenkert, abducted from the Nova party.

Shiri Albag, whose  daughter Liri Albag is one of five soldiers taken hostage from the Nahal Oz basem told those at the ceremony:”You are our hope these days.”

“You’re our hope in these hard days,” says Shiri Albag to the crowd of hundreds of supporters.

Her daughter Liri Albag was one of five surveillance soldiers taken hostage from the Nahal Oz base.

“It’s been a nightmare of a year,” says Eli, Liri’s father.

“We won’t remember the operations. What we’ll remember forever are the captives, Ron Arad and the 101 hostages. Oy vavoy if they don’t come home, because that’s all we’ll remember.”

The uncle of Edan Alexander, a soldier from Tenafly, New Jersey, who was taken by Hamas terrorists from his base near the Gaza Strip, also spoke while wrapped in his tallit and tefillin, stressing how we are currently approaching Yom Kippur and the moment of judement.