Families and relatives of those killed or abducted during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel gathered late Monday in Tel Aviv, where musicians performed as victims’ images flashed on screens.
The ceremony was broadcast live and interspersed with pre-recorded video clips of relatives recalling their lost loved ones, and telling the tragic stories of their deaths.
“The whole nation is waiting for the next stage, for our rehabilitation,” said Nitza Corngold, whose son Tal Shoham was seized by militants during last year’s attack.
“We know in our minds, our hearts, in every cell in our bodies: there will be no rehabilitation without the return of the hostages. All of them.”
The event in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park served as an alternative to the official government ceremony, with participating families hoping to avoid being embroiled in divisive Israeli politics as they marked the sombre anniversary.
The theme of the event was unity, with relatives of the country’s Jewish, Arab, and Druze communities along with a mix of civilians and soldiers speaking about those who were killed.
Among those remembered were relatives of the Kapshetar family — parents Dina and Evgeny and their two children, Ethan and Aline.
The family had been camping in southern Israel on October 7 and were on their way home when they were killed by Hamas militants as they overran areas near the border with the Gaza Strip.
The Tel Aviv ceremony took place in Israel’s largest concert venue, where event planners had handed out some 40,000 tickets for the commemoration.
But under tightening military guidelines amid a flurry of missile and rocket attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting Israel, the ceremony was restricted to family members and media only.
Around the country, small groups of Israelis gathered to watch the ceremony live on large screens in parks, schools and community centres instead.
The official government event aired shortly after the Tel Aviv ceremony wrapped, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to press on fighting until achieving the “sacred mission” of the war against Hamas.
“As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country, we will continue to fight. As long as our hostages are still in Gaza, we will continue to fight,” said Netanyahu in the televised address.
The ceremonies capped a day of memorials that began at 6:29 am local time with a minute’s silence at the site of the Nova Festival, where the largest number of people — an estimated 370 — were killed.
In nearby communities, which were also attacked when hundreds of Hamas militants broke through the Gaza border fence, smaller commemoration events were held.
Participants remembered those who were killed or taken hostage, including some who are still being held captive in Gaza a year later.
Hamas’s attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, sparked a full-scale war in Gaza that continues today.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,909 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Palestinian territory’s health ministry.
The UN acknowledges the figures to be reliable.
