A sombre day of commemoration began in Israel to mark the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks. As dawn broke, hundreds of people gathered at the site of the Nova festival to honour those killed there that day. Hours later, a memorial was held at a Kibbutz Nir Oz, where one in four residents were killed or abducted by Hamas.
Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 people and triggered a humanitarian crisis, catalyzing a widening regional conflict.
The Israeli military launched a new offensive in Northern Gaza this weekend, and struck multiple locations in the enclave overnight, including a hospital compound.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country faces war on seven fronts, naming Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel’s Defence Minister told CNN “everything is on the table” for its response to last week’s Iranian missile barrage.
Israel has pounded Beirut in recent days with some of the most intense bombing of its war against Hezbollah, which has killed more than 1,400 people in Lebanon. In Israel, a Hezbollah rocket attack on Haifa has wounded five people in what appeared to be the first time the group has struck the northern city during the conflict.
Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that the Hamas-led October 7 attacks last year “set the Zionist regime (Israel) back 70 years.”
He made the statement in a Hebrew-language X post sent at 6:29 a.m. Israel time on Monday, the exact time the attacks started a year ago.
At the exact same time, the Israeli military posted on X: “One year ago today, our country’s history was forever changed.”
Khamenei led a rare sermon in Tehran on Friday to commemorate the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last month, during which he praised Hamas’ October 7 attack and described it as “legitimate.” Hamas and Hezbollah are part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” an alliance of Islamist militant groups spanning Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen.
Meanwhile, a memorial ceremony to commemorate the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack has ended in Israel’s Kibbutz Nir Oz, just a few miles from Gaza.
The agricultural commune of 400 people was among the worst impacted by the attack, with one in four residents murdered or kidnapped.
The Bibas family – husband and wife Yarden and Shiri, their young son Ariel, and baby Kfir – were among those kidnapped on that day. They, along with more than 20 others from the kibbutz, are still being held in Gaza.
In a particularly poignant moment, the names of those murdered in the kibbutz last year were read aloud. The speakers struggled to get through the long list of names, pausing to take a moment when their emotions became too raw.
“We cannot move on when people from the kibbutz are still there, Amat Moshe, whose grandparents were residents of the kibbutz, told CNN before the event started.
Meanwhile, several Palestinian fathers in Gaza told CNN their families cannot face another wave of displacement, as Israeli forces launched renewed aerial and ground attacks in northern Gaza on Sunday.
CNN footage from Jabalya showed boys riding bicycles and vendors manning thinly stocked market stalls yesterday. Echoes of young children filled the area as women walked wearily along the dusty pathway. The Israeli military told people to evacuate Gaza’s north to the Israeli-designated “humanitarian area” of Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis.
But residents say they are wary of attempting to flee the besieged neighborhood in search of refuge, citing numerous Israeli attacks targeting Hamas militants in Israeli-designated “safe zones.”
Meanwhile, one year since the October 7 attacks, people in Gaza remain desperate for relief from Israel’s unrelenting offensive, a United Nations official in the enclave told CNN.
“People here remain desperate. Hostages remain in Gaza, their families wait for them,” Georgios Petropoulos, head of the UN humanitarian affairs (UNOCHA) suboffice in Gaza, told CNN’s Rosemary Church.
“Even at 4.00 am this morning, we were woken up by renewed bombing here in Rafah, Gaza … From jets buzzing, shelling and tank fire. The only thing that’s left in Gaza, would say is hope. Our supplies are almost zero.”
The war in Gaza – which Israel says is aimed at destroying Hamas – has killed more than 41,000 people and triggered a dire humanitarian crisis.
Petropoulos said almost 100,000 are wounded in the ongoing war and an unknown number of people – possibly in the thousands – remain under rubble across Gaza. (CNN)
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