Israel marks first anniversary of October 7 Hamas attack as Middle East violence escalates

Israel marked on Monday the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack, the worst in its history and one that sparked a devastating war in Gaza that has since expanded into Lebanon.

With troops fighting what Israel says is a war for its very existence, people gathered at vigils at massacre sites and rallies calling for the return of hostages still in Gaza a year on from their abduction.

The trauma of the October 7 attack, which killed 1,205 people according to official Israeli figures, is far from healed, and families of the dead attending a memorial cried as President Isaac Herzog met the crowd.

Herzog began the day with a moment of silence at 6.29am – the exact time the attack began – at Kibbutz Reim, the site of the Nova music festival where at least 370 people were killed by heavily armed Hamas fighters in the deadliest attack that day.

In the city of Tel Aviv, too, families of hostages and supporters rallied before dawn to call for the return of their loved ones, holding banners and placards bearing their pictures.