Israel marks Memorial Day, a somber annual commemoration that took on added significance this year following the Oct. 7 attack and the war it sparked.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a ceremony Monday honoring Israel’s war dead. Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, home to the national military cemetery, and gave a speech at a commemoration of Israeli victims of terrorism.
The national day of mourning officially began at sunset on Sunday. Around 8 p.m., a minute-long siren sounded across the country, bringing pedestrians and traffic to a standstill.
Memorial ceremonies will take place until Monday afternoon in schools, hospitals and local communities. Bereaved families traditionally take the day to visit the graves of their loved ones.
Even in a normal year, Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorist attacks is sacrosanct in Israel, a small country where many know people killed or injured as a result of Israel’s wars. and its neighbors. But this year’s commemorations come as the country struggles to recover from the trauma of the Hamas attack on October 7, the deadliest day in Israel’s history, and faces growing tensions. . the international isolation caused by the war he unleashed in response.
Around 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage on October 7, according to Israeli authorities. According to the Israeli army, 272 soldiers have been killed and 1,660 injured since Israel launched the ground invasion against Hamas in Gaza.
At a ceremony at Jerusalem’s Western Wall Square, army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said he bore responsibility for the army’s failures that day . He also thanked the families of soldiers who died during the seven months of fighting that followed.
“I stand humbly before your courage to endure pain, to gather strength every day despite heavy losses, and to make sense of emptiness,” he said.
The international community’s attention is now focused on the behavior of the Israeli army in Gaza, where more than 34,000 people have been killed, according to local health authorities. But the focus of many Israelis remains largely inward, with the victims of the attack and those taken hostage at the center of the national conversation.
Eyal Brandeis, from Kibbutz Sufa near the Gaza border, said he planned to visit the graves of two friends killed in the Oct. 7 attack on Monday. Her community was evacuated to Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, after the attack, and has still not returned home seven months later.
“This year it’s so much closer for everyone. We lost close friends,” Mr. Brandeis, 60, said. “Memorial Day is always special in Israel, but this year will be even more intense. »
For Israelis whose loved ones are still in Gaza, this day is particularly painful. Hamas and other armed groups still hold more than 130 living and dead hostages, according to Israeli authorities – and negotiations to secure their release have stalled.
Bar Goren’s father, Avner, 56, was killed in the Hamas-led attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz. His mother, Maya, is presumed dead, her body still being held in Gaza.
“We don’t have our mother’s grave to visit and cry about. And for me, I emotionally cannot bear to go to my father’s grave in Nir Oz as long as there is an empty plot next to him, where it should be,” said Mr. Goren, 23 years.
On Monday evening, Memorial Day celebrations will end and Israel will begin celebrating the country’s 76th Independence Day.
But Renana Gome, who is also from Nir Oz, said she would not take part in the festivities this year. Her two children, Yagil and Or, were taken hostage on October 7 and detained in Gaza for weeks. They were released during a week-long truce in late November, but the body of Ms. Gome’s ex-husband, Yair, is still being held by Palestinian militants in the enclave, according to Israeli authorities.
“We cannot celebrate our independence as long as there are more than 132 hostages alive and dead in captivity,” Ms. Gome said. “Leave the flag at half-mast.”
John Reiss reports contributed.
