Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas attack

(Reim) Still traumatized, fighting on several fronts, Israel on Monday commemorated in pain the unprecedented attack carried out on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, now extended to Lebanon.

As the country gathered around bereaved families and relatives of hostages held in Gaza, Israeli strikes targeted Palestinian territory and Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, where the Islamist movement allied to Hamas said Israel should be “eliminated” eventually.

An emotional crowd kicked off ceremonies in Reim, southern Israel, at the scene of the Nova music festival where at least 370 people were killed, with a minute of silence at precisely 6:29 a.m. ( 11:29 p.m. Eastern Time), the time Hamas launched its offensive a year ago.

“The pain does not fade, on the contrary, it only intensifies,” Doron Journo, a man whose 23-year-old daughter, Karin, was killed on the spot, told AFP.

The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, including hostages who died in captivity.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who met the families in Reim, called on the world to “support Israel in its fight against its enemies.”

US President Joe Biden said he was “totally committed to the security of Israel”, adding however that “far too many” Palestinian civilians had “suffered during this year”.

The war in Gaza and Lebanon is accompanied by an escalation between Israel and Iran, ally of Hamas and Hezbollah, while Israel threatened to retaliate after the firing of 200 missiles on 1^er October against its territory, raising fears of contagion throughout the Middle East.

Shooting in Tel Aviv

On Monday, shortly after the start of the ceremonies, at least four projectiles were fired towards Israel from the nearby Gaza Strip, the army said.

The armed wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they targeted a kibbutz, a military base and a gathering of Israeli soldiers, as well as rocket fire on Tel Aviv, in central Israel, where warning sirens sounded.

Other tributes are planned in Tel Aviv or in Nir Oz, a kibbutz where around thirty inhabitants were killed and more than 70 taken hostage and taken to Gaza, while numerous gatherings or ceremonies are to mark this anniversary. across the world.

Of the 251 people kidnapped, 97 are still hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the Israeli army. The death of a 28-year-old hostage, Idan Shtivi, kidnapped at the Nova festival, was announced on Monday.

During a ceremony in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was “obligated to bring back” the hostages. He later claimed that Israel was changing “the reality” on the ground so that there would be no more attacks like that of October 7.

Mr. Netanyahu had promised on Sunday to defeat the “enemies” of Israel, as his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, repeated on Monday.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza entered southern Israel, using explosives and bulldozers to cross the barrier surrounding the Palestinian territory, killing indiscriminately in kibbutzim, military bases and on the Nova festival website.

In the following hours, the Israeli army launched a powerful offensive against the territory with the aim of destroying Hamas, in power since 2007.

Since then, entire sectors of the Gaza Strip have been reduced to rubble, almost all of its 2.4 million residents have been displaced and at least 41,909 Palestinians have been killed there, the majority civilians, according to data. of the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.

Hezbollah on Monday described Israel as a “cancerous” entity that must ultimately be “eliminated,” promising to continue to fight Israeli “aggression,” just like Hamas, which described the October 7 attack as “glorious.” .

“The world has stopped”

After weakening Hamas, the Israeli army shifted most of its operations in mid-September to the northern front, where Lebanese Hezbollah has been increasing rocket fire towards Israel for a year.

After a massive bombing campaign on Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs of Beirut as well as the south and east of Lebanon, the army launched land operations on September 30 against positions of the movement in the south, supported by aviation.

Israel said on Monday it was carrying out “significant” airstrikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The army, which announced the death of two soldiers in the border area, indicated that it had sent reinforcements to support the two divisions already deployed there.

In the morning, residents of the Kafaat district, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, were inspecting the rubble after a strike which left a crater in the ground, according to AFP images.

In the south of the country, an Israeli airstrike killed ten firefighters, the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

Hezbollah said it fired “a salvo of rockets” at Israeli troops in the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras. He had previously announced that he had bombed several towns and military positions in northern Israel.

Since October 2023, more than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, including more than a thousand since the intensification of Israeli bombings on September 23, according to authorities. Around 1.2 million people have been displaced.

Israel has promised to fight the powerful Lebanese armed movement until “victory”, in order to allow the return to the border regions of the 60,000 inhabitants displaced by incessant rocket fire.

After the failure of all attempts at mediation, the Israeli offensive also continues in Gaza where the army said it had struck on Monday the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the center of the territory, which it said sheltered Hamas command centers.

“We have the feeling that the world stopped on October 7,” said 26-year-old displaced person Israa Abou Matar in Deir al-Balah. “I am growing old seeing my children hungry, scared, having nightmares and screaming day and night because of the noise of the bombings.”