Citizens of Israel Gather to Commemorate Two Years Since 7 October Assault by Hamas

This Tuesday, people across Israel will gather across the country to commemorate the second anniversary of the 7 October attack, where fighters affiliated with Hamas caused the deaths of around 1,200 persons and seized 251 captives in an attack on Israel's southern areas.

Unofficial Commemorations and Rallies

Community memorials are set to take place in the small agricultural communities of the southern part of the country where residents were lost or abducted, and a sizeable public gathering will be held in the city of Tel Aviv to demand the liberation of the hostages still held from Hamas captivity in the Palestinian territory.

The official national ceremony of remembrance is scheduled on October 16 in the country's main burial ground on Mount Herzl after the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.

Shared Anguish and Lasting Consequences

The recollection of the collective trauma of the incident from two years back – the most lethal one-day assault in Israel’s history – continues to cast a shadow across the country. The images of captives still held in the coastal enclave are affixed to public transport stations across the land, and homes that were torched by armed individuals as they rampaged through kibbutzim are left scorched and vacant.

Numerous individuals who endured the assault at the Nova music festival joined a commemoration on Sunday with previously detained individuals and the families of victims.

“This angel could have turned their 27th birthday today. I live the memory as if it were just moments past,” the bereaved father, whose son Idan Dor was killed at the musical gathering, remarked beneath a monument displaying victims’ faces.

Negotiation Prospects

The milestone has been overshadowed expectations that the war in Gaza could be coming to a close. Negotiators from both sides met in the Arab Republic on recent Monday where they began indirect talks to finalize the details of the release of each abducted individual held in Gaza and the release of around 2,000 incarcerated Palestinians, along with the first phase of pullback of Israel's military forces from Gaza.

This set of talks, although distant from a resolution, has produced increased hope than previous negotiation attempts following the last ceasefire broke down in mid-March.

Benjamin Netanyahu has declared he hopes to announce the return of those abducted “in the coming days”, while the ex-leader has threatened Hamas with “utter annihilation” if the deal does not happen.

Public Pressure

Some commemoration events have been converted for demonstrations to urge the leadership to conclude negotiations to bring the hostages home and stop the fighting. At a rally in Hostage Square in the metropolitan area on Saturday night, families insisted the leader agree to Trump’s plan to end the war in the territory.

Conditions in the Strip

In Gaza, the local population are waiting with bated breath to see whether a truce materialises. Regardless of the former leader's calls that the military cease attacks on Gaza prior to a hostage release, bombardments of the territory persist. Gaza’s ministry of health reported at least 19 people were killed by Israel over the last 24 hours, incorporating two people attempting to obtain help.

This Tuesday will furthermore represent the second anniversary of the commencement of Israel’s military campaign on the Gaza Strip, which has caused infrastructural and civilian damage to the residents.

In excess of 67,000 Palestinians have been killed and about 170,000 have been harmed by Israeli forces in the territory, per the health authority in Gaza. At least 460 people have died from starvation in Gaza, and the world’s leading authority on hunger emergencies has said a famine is developing in parts of the strip – a result of what the majority of humanitarian groups assert is an blockade by Israel on the strip. The Israeli government has disputed the assertion.

A UN commission of inquiry, various civil liberties associations and the international top group of genocide scholars have stated the nation has committed genocide in the territory over the past two years. Israel has disputed the claim and asserted its measures are self-protection.