As the Israeli military continued its massive airstrikes on Beirut and its incursion in southern Lebanon with the aim of destroying the Iran-allied Hezbollah militant group, Israel marked the somber anniversary of the Hamas attack on the Jewish state on October 7.
The attack claimed over 1,200 lives and took about 250 hostages.
Israeli President, Isaac Herzog led a national moment of silence at 6:29 a.m., the time the attack started, at Kibbutz Reim, the site of the Nova music festival where hundreds of mostly young revelers were killed by gunmen from Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union.
According to the Israeli military, four rockets were launched from Gaza during the Herzog-led event targeting the same Israeli neighborhoods targeted at the outset of last year’s attack. The military claimed the event was not disrupted.
In Jerusalem, relatives of the approximately 100 hostages still held captive by Hamas, many of whom are believed dead, gathered outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence and stood in silence as a siren wailed in protest of the government’s failure to secure the release of their loved ones.
Following the October 7 attack, Israel began a military assault on Gaza, killing over 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said on October 7 that over the past year, it has bombed more than 40,000 targets in Gaza, found 4,700 tunnel shafts and destroyed 1,000 rocket launcher sites.
The conflict in Gaza is still raging while Israel is now fighting on a second front in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.
Early on October 7, Hezbollah, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, fired rockets into the north Israeli cities of Haifa and Tiberias, causing damage and some minor injuries, Israeli police said.
The European Union has blacklisted Hezbollah’s armed wing but not its political unit, which holds seats in the Lebanese parliament.
Israel in recent weeks has been bombing Beirut’s southern suburbs and has staged a ground incursion into south Lebanon in its drive to wipe out Hezbollah’s capabilities and leadership.
The Israeli campaign against Hezbollah spurred the group’s benefactor, Iran, to respond by hitting the Jewish state with a big wave of rockets, which were mostly shot down by Israeli air defenses without causing significant damage, but the attack reignited worries of a larger regional battle.
On October 6, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant cautioned Iran that if Tehran attempted to hurt Israel more, it would end up looking like Beirut or Gaza, both of which had been hammered in the past year.
