Israel held emotional tributes on Monday to mark the third anniversary of the Hamas-led attack that killed 1,200 people and triggered a war that has reshaped the Middle East. Mourners gathered at the Nova music festival site, where more than 350 people were killed, as well as at bomb shelters, intersections and communities targeted on October 7, 2023.
At the festival field, survivors' relatives embraced at 6.29am - the exact time the first rockets were launched three years ago - as explosions boomed in nearby Gaza. Anya Davitashili, who lost her 25-year-old son Sean, said she visits the site every Saturday because it is where she feels closest to him.
Tributes at the Nova festival site
"I have a video of him dancing here that ends at 6:29 in the morning. It's in front of my eyes all the time," she said. "Every morning, you wake up and there is just endless missing."
Elkana Bohbot, 37, is marking the anniversary in Israel for the first time since his release after 738 days of captivity. Bohbot, who was abducted from the festival, said he was held underground in a dark, damp tunnel, kept in a small cell with other hostages, given little food and allowed to bathe only every few weeks. His captors forced him to take part in propaganda videos, including one where he acted out a fake call to his family.
Hostage release and new beginnings
In the year since his release, Bohbot has undergone physical and emotional rehabilitation. In August, his wife Rivka gave birth to a daughter, fulfilling his promise to himself in the tunnels to give his 5-year-old son Reem a sibling. The newborn Michele is "not a symbol for my people, she is more of a symbol for the enemy," said Bohbot. "This child is the message for you that we were here and we will always be here forever."
This is the first anniversary since all the hostages, living and dead, were returned. Signs calling for their return are mostly gone, but reminders of those killed are ubiquitous in a country still reckoning with the trauma of that day.
Wider regional conflict
For Palestinians, the anniversary brings another day of fear and misery. Most Gaza residents live in squalid tent camps, with large parts of cities bombed to rubble. More than half the territory remains in the hands of the Israeli military. Despite a ceasefire deal reached nearly a year ago, Israeli strikes continue almost daily.
Israeli troops occupy a large chunk of southern Lebanon in their conflict with the Hezbollah militant group, which began firing on Israel in 2023 in support of Hamas. Iran, the United States and their allies are locked in a confrontation that has seen attacks across the region and has shaken the global economy.
