Gaza Genocideupdated 56m ago2 min read
Hundreds Gather in Reim To Honor Nova Festival Victims Three Years After Hamas Attack
Hundreds of relatives and friends gathered at the Nova festival site to honor victims. About 1,221 people were killed in Hamas's Oct 7 attack.
19 outlets told this the same way.
Outlets did split on Israel Marks Third Anniversary Of Oct. 7 Attacks With Gaza Strikes, Gaza Officials Say Three Killed →
The Jerusalem Post was read line by line by the Watchdog: 2.8. See the score →
Nova memorial, 6:29
Hundreds of relatives and friends gathered on the esplanade where the Nova Festival was held in Reim to honor victims of the October 7, 2023 massacre, as families said they were still seeking answers about what happened to their loved ones.
Betsalel Ganon, father of Shiran (38), told EFE, “I am disappointed with the Government. I know nothing about my daughter, not even the place where she was killed or where her body lies.”
The memorial began at 6:29 in the morning, the hour when the Hamas attack began, and the open field where the festival took place is now a memorial with posts erected in honor of the dead.
Israel marked the third anniversary with silent tributes at the Nova music festival site, where family members lowered their heads in a moment of silence at 06:29 (03:29 GMT) surrounded by portraits of victims and flowers.
The memorial day was the first year without hostages in nearby Gaza, and the Israeli army carried out actions to eliminate minimal structures still standing in the zone it controls.
Elections and competing claims
Israel marked the anniversary with intense political debate weeks before elections, and France 24 said the deadliest day in the country’s history would be front and centre in the campaign.
Naftali Bennett told reporters at the Nova site, “This was a colossal failure of the state of Israel, which was established to defend Jews in our land.”
Hamas issued a statement on the third anniversary calling the October 7, 2023 massacre a “historic chapter,” and it described resistance against Israel as a “legitimate right.”
Hamas rejected attempts to present the conflict as if it began that day, calling it a “flagrant distortion of reality,” and it asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to try Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government and army.
EJ Press said the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem marked the day by remembering “the innocent lives murdered by Hamas terrorists,” and it said European leaders condemned Hamas terrorism while remembering the victims.
War continues, hostages and toll
France 24 said Israel carried out new strikes on Gaza during the commemorations despite a ceasefire officially in place for the past year, and it reported that Gaza officials said five people were killed in strikes in the territory. DW said Israel’s retaliation campaign for Hamas’s attacks had reduced Gaza to rubble, and it reported that Hamas members took 251 hostages to Gaza, of whom 44 were dead. The anniversary was the first year without hostages in nearby Gaza, and it described the Israeli army as carrying them out to eliminate minimal structures still standing in the zone it controls.
The Israeli investigation concluded that the attack left 378 dead, including 344 civilians and 34 security personnel, as well as 44 people abducted and taken to Gaza. The Israeli response left 74,000 dead (more than 1,400 of them in the year of the ceasefire), and it said the case was before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.