Israel marks Memorial Day, a somber annual commemoration that has taken on added significance this year following the Oct. 7 attack and the war it started.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to attend a ceremony Monday honoring Israel’s war dead at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, home of the national military cemetery, and will later appear at a commemoration of Israeli victims of terrorism, according to a government press release.
The national day of mourning officially began at sundown on Sunday. Around 8 p.m., a one-minute siren sounded across the country, paralyzing pedestrians on the streets and stopping traffic.
Memorial ceremonies will be held through Monday afternoon at schools, hospitals and local communities. Grieving families traditionally take the day to visit the graves of their loved ones.
Even in a normal year, the Day of Remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorist attacks is sacrosanct in Israel, a small country where many know someone was killed or injured as a result of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But this year’s commemorations come as the country struggles to recover from the trauma of the Hamas-led attack on October 7, the deadliest day in Israel’s history, and faces growing international isolation brought on by the war it launched. in response.
According to Israeli authorities, approximately 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage on October 7. According to the Israeli military, 272 soldiers have been killed and 1,660 wounded since Israel launched the ground invasion against Hamas in Gaza.
At a ceremony at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the army’s chief of staff, said he was responsible for the army’s failures that day. He also thanked the families of soldiers who have died in the seven months of fighting since then.
“I humbly stand before your courage to endure pain, to gather strength each day despite great losses and fill the void with meaning,” he said.
The attention of the international community is now focused on the conduct of the Israeli army in Gaza, where more than 34,000 people have died, according to local health authorities. But the gaze of many Israelis is still focused primarily inward, with the attack victims and hostages at the center of the national conversation.
Eyal Brandeis, a native of Kibbutz Sufa near the Gaza border, said he planned to visit the graves Monday of two friends killed in the Oct. 7 attack. His community was evacuated to Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, after the attack, and seven months later he still has not returned home.
“This year is much closer for everyone. We lost close friends,” Brandeis, 60, said. “Memorial Day is always special in Israel, but this year it will be even more intense.”
For Israelis whose loved ones are still in Gaza, the day is particularly painful. Hamas and other armed groups continue to hold more than 130 live and dead hostages, according to Israeli authorities, and negotiations to secure their release have stalled.
Bar Goren’s father, Avner, 56, was killed during the Hamas-led attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz. His mother, Maya, is presumed dead and her body is still among those detained in Gaza.
“We don’t have our mother’s grave to visit and mourn her. And I, emotionally, cannot bear to go to my father’s grave in Nir Oz while there is an empty plot of land next to it, where she should be,” said Goren, 23.
On Monday night, Memorial Day celebrations will end and Israel will move on to celebrating the country’s 76th Independence Day.
But Renana Gome, who is also from Nir Oz, said she would not attend the festivities this year. Her two sons, Yagil and Or, were taken hostage on October 7 and held in Gaza for weeks. They were freed during a week-long truce in late November, but the body of Gome’s ex-husband Yair is still being held by Palestinian militants in the enclave, according to Israeli authorities.
“We cannot celebrate our independence while there are more than 132 live and dead hostages in captivity,” Gome said. “Leave the flag at half-mast.”
Johnatan Reiss contributed with reports.