Israel marked the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Tuesday with a national memorial ceremony at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv and a separate event at the Nova Festival site near Re'im, where hundreds of festivalgoers were murdered and abducted three years ago. Tens of thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv as families, survivors and hostages came together to remember the day that killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
The Tel Aviv ceremony was organized by the families of October 7 and co-hosted by Shani Cohen and Eli Sharabi, the former hostage who lost his wife and two daughters in the attacks. Cohen said 1,096 days of loss had passed and evoked people who called for help from safe rooms engulfed in flames, from dumpsters, from bullet-riddled restroom stalls and from shelters packed with people. Her words gave the day its bluntest shape: this was not only a ceremony, but a gathering of hundreds of bereaved families, hostages and survivors who are still living inside the aftermath.
At the Nova site, Isaac Herzog told mourners that the country would remember those killed and abducted and that it would “dance again” and “live again.” He said the area attacked on Oct. 7 was rebuilding, would double its population in the next few years and had already drawn people who had chosen to come there and stay. Herzog also called on the international community to support efforts to disarm Hamas and combat Iran, while saying Israel has the right to defend itself and fight terror but also yearns for peace with its neighbors.
That message landed alongside a stark contradiction on the same day. WAFA reported that at least one Palestinian was killed and 14 were injured when Jewish settlers attacked olive farmers near Nablus in the West Bank. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its teams treated two people for gunshot wounds and three who had been beaten, a reminder that the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks is being marked in a region where violence has not stopped at commemoration.
Donald Trump's Board of Peace said it was trying to create conditions for a lasting peace through the demilitarization and deradicalization of Gaza, arguing that durable security for Israel is the foundation for any peace and the surest way to prevent another Oct. 7. But with the memorials still fresh and the West Bank toll continuing, the harder question is not what was said on the anniversary. It is whether any of the talk about peace, security and rebuilding will turn into steps that make another one impossible.
