Unofficial ceremonies were held in southern kibbutzim where residents were killed or abducted in 2023. A large rally in Tel Aviv called for the release of captives still held in Gaza. An official state remembrance is scheduled for Oct. 16 at Mount Herzl after the Simchat Torah holiday.
Survivors of the Nova music festival, a major target of the attack, joined former hostages and victims’ families at a Sunday memorial.
“This angel would have been 27 today. I live the memory as if it were an hour ago,” said Ofir Dor, whose son Idan was killed, speaking beneath a display of victims’ photos, as quoted by the Guardian.
The commemorations came as Israel and Hamas held indirect talks in Sharm el-Sheikh to outline a possible exchange of all remaining hostages for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and an initial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he hopes to announce a release “in the coming days,” while former U.S. President Donald Trump warned Hamas of “total obliteration” if no agreement is reached.
The Guardian reported that some remembrance events were reframed as rallies urging the government to strike a deal and end the war. Families at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square on Saturday urged Netanyahu to accept Trump’s plan.
In Gaza, strikes continued as Palestinians awaited signs of a ceasefire. Gaza’s health ministry said at least 19 people were killed in the past 24 hours, including two people seeking aid.
Tuesday also marked two years since Israel launched its Gaza onslaught following the Oct. 7 assault, in which Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted 251, according to Israeli tallies.
Gaza’s health ministry says more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed and about 170,000 wounded since the war began. It says at least 460 people have died from starvation and describes famine in parts of the enclave, which aid agencies attribute to Israeli restrictions that Israel denies. About 90% of Gaza’s roughly 2 million residents have been displaced.
Rights groups, a U.N. commission of inquiry and a genocide scholars’ association say Israel has committed genocide in Gaza over the past two years. The International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of Netanyahu and his former defense minister for using starvation as a method of war. Israel rejects the allegations, says it is acting in self-defense and blames Hamas for civilian harm because it allegedly operates in populated areas.
Hamas has framed the Oct. 7 attack as a response to decades of Israeli land seizures, settlement building and military occupation.
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Source: The Guardian, PAP, Associated Press