Israelis have gathered across the country to mark three years since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack that killed about 1,200 people and resulted in 251 others being taken hostage, an assault that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Memorial events were held at locations connected to the attack, including southern Israeli communities, bomb shelters and the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds were killed. The anniversary began with a nationwide minute of silence at 6:29 a.m., the time the assault began.
The commemoration is the first since all 251 hostages have either returned alive or had their remains recovered. Israeli forces recovered the body of the final hostage, Master Sgt Ran Gvili, in January 2026, bringing an end to the long-running hostage crisis for Israeli families.
For families who lost relatives in the attack, the anniversary has provided an opportunity to remember those killed while reflecting on the events that transformed Israel and the wider Middle East.
At the Nova music festival site, families and survivors gathered to commemorate those killed when Hamas-led militants attacked the event. More than 300 people were killed at the festival, making it one of the deadliest locations of the October 7 assault.
The anniversary is also being observed against a complicated political scene in Israel. A national election is scheduled later this month, with the October 7 attack and the government’s handling of the war expected to remain major issues in the political debate.
The government held its official memorial ceremonies on October 5, closer to the Hebrew-calendar date of the attack. Separate commemorations have highlighted divisions within Israel over how the government responded to the assault and whether there should be an independent investigation into the security failures that allowed the attack to occur. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for an independent inquiry and has not accepted personal responsibility for the security breach.
In Australia, hundreds of people gathered at Bondi in Sydney to commemorate the anniversary. The ceremony included a minute of silence at 6:29 a.m. local time to coincide with the time the attack began in Israel.
Several people attending the event draped themselves in Israeli flags as they gathered at Bondi Pavilion to remember those killed. Israel’s Ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, told the gathering that behind every person killed on October 7 was “a face and a family.”
Newman also drew a connection between the Nova festival attack and the later shooting at Bondi, saying, “there is a direct line between the shooting at Nova and the shooting at Bondi.”
Gaza Bears Cost Of Three Years Of War
The October 7 attack prompted Israel to launch a military offensive in Gaza, which has resulted in more than 74,000 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its overall figures.
The war has also caused extensive destruction and displacement across the territory. The United Nations says humanitarian needs remain overwhelming, with Palestinians continuing to face difficulties accessing food, water and medicine. Around 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced, often multiple times, while large areas of the territory have been reduced to rubble.
The United Nations has called for the suffering of civilians in Gaza to end while also remembering those killed and taken hostage during the October 7 attack. UN Secretary-General, António Guterres said that the horrors of the attack must never be repeated and called for the ceasefire to become permanent, humanitarian assistance to be delivered at scale and international law to be respected.
The conflict has continued to shape the region well beyond Israel and Gaza, contributing to confrontations involving Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran and other regional actors. The war has also altered Israel’s security priorities and deepened debate over its future relationship with the Palestinians.
The commemorations come as survivors and bereaved families continue to deal with the psychological consequences of the attack. For some former hostages, the return home has not ended the trauma of captivity, while families who spent years campaigning for their relatives’ release are confronting a different form of grief now that all the hostages are accounted for.
Three years after October 7, the anniversary therefore carries different meanings for Israelis and Palestinians. In Israel, families are remembering those killed and the hostages who were taken, while political debates continue over the failures surrounding the attack and the conduct of the war. In Gaza, millions of Palestinians continue to live with the consequences of the military campaign that followed.
The anniversary has thus become both a day of remembrance for Israelis and a reminder of the conflict’s enormous human cost across the region.
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