World remembers attack victims – 11 October 2024
Memorials were held around the world to mark one year since the terrorist attack on Israel that triggered the fighting in the Middle East.
Israel
Credit: Getty
At sunrise on 7 October 2023, fighters from Hamas – the group that runs Gaza – launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people at a music festival and in villages nearby. In the attack, Hamas also kidnapped 251 people. Of those, 97 are still being held as hostages (prisoners) in Gaza.
Later that day, Israel’s army began its response, firing rockets at areas of Gaza where Hamas fighters were believed to be hiding. Over the past 12 months, Gaza’s health ministry says that nearly 42,000 people there have died in the attacks.
On the one-year anniversary, Israelis gathered at the site of the Hamas attack and held a minute’s silence to honour those who were killed and kidnapped.
In a park in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, musicians gave emotional performances while pictures of the victims were shown on big screens.
Further memorials and marches were held worldwide, including in the USA, Australia, Germany and the UK. In New York, people held signs that called for peace, saying things like: “Not one more drop of blood,” and “Not another bomb.”
However, at the same time, Hamas and Hezbollah – a terrorist group from Lebanon that supports Hamas – fired hundreds of rockets at Israel. Most were shot down.
Israel also fired rockets at Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, targeting Hezbollah fighters. In recent weeks, over one million people in Lebanon have left their homes to flee the rockets, and 1,400 people have died.
