Israelis mourn 7 October attack victims three years after deadly Hamas raid

7 October 2026, 21: 10 BST. Updated 34 minutes ago.

Key points

• Crowds additionally filed into the small cemetery at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where 64 residents were killed and 19 were taken hostage on 7 October.
• Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump remarked he had spoken to Netanyahu and wished the residents of Israel well.
• Families paid tribute to their loved ones at some of the sites where regarding 1, 200 residents were killed in the assault and 251 were taken hostage.
• Ahuva Yavin Mayze, whose 21-year-old daughter Adi was shot and killed at Nova, informed the BBC what happened at the site was "dystopic, unimaginable".
• Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, remarked: "The unspeakable savagery and terror of 7 October must never happen again."

Memorial events have taken place in Israel on the third anniversary of the devastating Hamas-led attack there that sparked the war in Gaza.

"The nation unites on this day in the longing for our dear ones, " remarked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This person faced calls from protesters for an independent state inquiry into security failures that day.

In response to the attack, Israel introduced a military offensive in Gaza which has killed more than 74, 200 residents, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen as reliable by the UN.

Residents of kibbutz destroyed in 7 October Hamas-led attacks grapple with how to rebuild.

Violence has continued in Gaza despite a ceasefire agreed almost a year ago and living conditions for the 2.1 million individuals living there remain dire.

On Wednesday morning, bereaved families and survivors gathered at a memorial for the 378 individuals who were killed at the Nova dance festival in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

In practice, the festival site was near Kibbutz Re'im and not far from the border with Gaza, from where Hamas-led gunmen introduced their dawn attack.

Witnesses have described how festival-goers were shot, sexually abused and tortured by gunmen during the raid.

Forty-four individuals were kidnapped, of whom 25 were brought back from Gaza alive.

"Today is a difficult day, not only for me but for a large part of the nation, " remarked Shlomo Sharf, a former Israeli footballer, in comments noted by Channel 12.

He paid tribute to his granddaughter, May Naim, 24. This person was additionally killed at the festival.

Former hostage Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two young sons were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and afterwards killed in captivity in Gaza, was quoted by the Times of Israel as saying: "Shiri, Ariel and Kfir. Sorry. Sorry that you are up there and I am here."

Zion Regev, a community leader, remarked most surviving residents had yet to return to their homes as of the trauma of what happened.

"This is the first time we are doing all the things here in the kibbutz, " he informed Reuters news agency. "It's a very emotional day, it's a very difficult day for our community, three years after 7 October."

For context, a man who reportedly supported to fend off Hamas attackers at Kibbutz Magen praised IDF troops who "fought so bravely" during the raid.

Speaking to crowds at the national memorial event at Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park on Wednesday evening, Ido Yakir remarked Israel would remember everyone "who knew that they had to give their lives in order to save others".

In an official note published by his office on Wednesday afternoon, Netanyahu stated he had lit a memorial candle commemorating every victim of 7 October.

"We will complete the mission: we have settled the score and will continue settling the score with all the murderers, " he continued.

At a ceremony on Monday marking the Jewish calendar's anniversary of the attack, the prime minister remarked Israel had killed 4, 000 out of the 6, 000 Palestinians who infiltrated Israel from Gaza that day.

In Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square, Israeli anti-government protesters dyed the fountain red to mark the anniversary of the attack.

For context, the fountain has been applied as a memorial site for those killed, with pictures, flowers and messages laid around the basin wall.

Protesters additionally briefly blocked one of the main highways in the city to hold a moment of silence on Wednesday morning.

They held banners that read, "the people will remember their sons and daughters", along with others that remarked "a complete failure" and "guilty" next to an image of Netanyahu.

Plenty of senior Israeli defence and security office-holders have resigned or been fired since the attack took place. But there has not been an independent commission of inquiry into Israel's worst security failure.

Notably, the prime minister has rejected any personal responsibility and has refused to establish a state inquiry led by Israel's Supreme Court, arguing lately that the country's judiciary would be biased against him.

Einav Zangauker became an outspoken critic of the Netanyahu administration while her son, Matan, was in captivity in Gaza. He was published last October as part of the ceasefire agreement.

"They're trying to make us forget what happened on 7 October, " she informed Army Radio. "We won't forget, we will demand the truth."

Memorial events were organised in other countries worldwide, including in Germany, where the Jewish students' union held a vigil at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz remarked the Hamas-led attack marked a "profound rupture".

"We commemorate the victims, we share their pain, " he remarked, adding that antisemitism must be confronted with "even greater resolve".

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham informed Britain's Jewish community: "We stand with you."

"The impact of the attacks has been felt not just in Israel, but in Jewish communities across the world who still bear the burden of the tragic events that day, " he remarked.

Outside Downing Street, a vigil was additionally held to commemorate British-Israelis killed in the initial attack, afterwards as hostages, or in fighting with Hamas.

According to She additionally, the European Union "remains ready to help turn today's fragile ceasefire into a durable peace, based on a two-state solution."

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump remarked he had spoken to Netanyahu and wished the residents of Israel well. "That was a horrible day, a horrible tragedy, " he remarked.

For now, israelis mourn 7 October attack victims three years after deadly Hamas raid remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.