Today, Wednesday, Israel commemorates the third anniversary of the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the taking of 251 hostages.
Israel responded by launching a massive military offensive in Gaza that has so far killed at least 74,200 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Today, several memorial events are being held across Israel to commemorate the October 7 attacks, including a ceremony at the site of the Nova Music Festival, where hundreds were killed and others were taken hostage.
Ceremonies are scheduled to be held throughout the day to honor the victims of the attack.
Three years later, calls continue in Israel to establish an independent investigation committee into what are described as the security failures surrounding that day.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has criticized current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for "not preventing the attack," joined the tribute ceremony at Nova.
“It was a miserable failure for the State of Israel, which was created to defend the Jews in our land,” Bennett told reporters.
He added: "But during those minutes, young Israelis from all over Israel rose to fight, to protect and save lives, the lives of their brothers and sisters, and a generation of heroes was born. We owe it to this exceptional generation to rebuild our country stronger and better."
Israel witnessed a number of events: At 06:29, the time when Hamas launched its attack three years ago, a national minute of silence was held. A memorial was also erected in Kfar Azza, a kibbutz near Gaza that was attacked.
Other ceremonies will be held throughout the day, including at Re'im, the site of the Nova music festival where more than 378 people were killed and 44 were taken hostage.
Bruno Ritaio, the candidate of the Republican Party in the French presidential elections, was present at the venue, and he believed that Hamas had “distorted” the Palestinian cause with its attack, which led to the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, according to Ritayo.
The October 7 commemoration ceremony is being held under a heightened security alert, three weeks before the legislative elections, the first since the attack, and a week after what was described as an attempted attack on a Flydubai plane heading to Tel Aviv.
On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz ordered the army to increase vigilance, based on what was described as “intelligence information about possible Hamas attacks” on Israeli forces.
In turn, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham praised "those who were killed without cause by Hamas terrorists" in the October 7 attacks, as he described it.
He said in a post on social media, “The impact of the attacks was not limited to Israel, but extended to Jewish communities around the world, which continue to bear the brunt of the tragic events that occurred that day.”
He noted a "worrying rise in anti-Semitic behavior in the UK" in the years following the attacks.
He added: "I want the Jewish community in Britain to hear this directly from me: We stand with you. Any form of abuse or violence against you will not be tolerated."
What happened on October 7?
Shortly after sunrise on October 7, 2023, the Hamas-led attack on Israel began.
It started with a barrage of thousands of missiles fired at the country.
As the rockets launched, an estimated 6,000 Hamas-led militants were able to breach the border into Israel in dozens of locations, entering using cars, motorcycles, and in some cases by gliders.
They attacked military bases and stormed a number of kibbutzim, which are small residential communities, near the border, setting fire to homes and killing civilians.
On Kibbutz Nir Oz, 41 people were killed and 76 kidnapped from a community of 400 people.
The attackers also targeted a music festival in the Negev Desert. They opened fire on Nova Festival goers, killing 378 people and kidnapping 44 others, according to Israeli army statistics.
In all, about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
