Of the 251 people kidnapped during the attack, 34 were declared dead by the army, 97 are still hostages in Gaza.
AFP
Israel on Monday commemorated the first anniversary of the deadliest attack in its history, with its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising that the wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon would prevent Israel from reliving the violence of October 7, 2023.
The armed wing of the Palestinian movement Hamas said it wanted to wage a “long, painful and costly battle of attrition” for Israel, a year after its attack on October 7 against Israeli territory which triggered the war in Gaza, before being extended in Lebanon.
While Israel gathered around the bereaved families and relatives of hostages held in Gaza, rockets were fired by Hamas and 135 projectiles by Hezbollah according to the army against Israeli territory.
The Israeli army carried out dozens of strikes against the Gaza Strip, on its southern border, and Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, on its northern border.
An emotional crowd kicked off ceremonies in Reim, southern Israel, at the scene of the Nova music festival where at least 370 people were killed, with a minute of silence.
“The pain is not going away, on the contrary, it is only intensifying,” said Doron Journo, a man whose 23-year-old daughter, Karin, was killed on the spot.
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures, including hostages who died in captivity.
“Unspeakable suffering”
Of the 251 people kidnapped during the attack, 34 were declared dead by the army, including as of Monday, 97 are still hostages in Gaza in a situation described as “very difficult” by Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida .
The war in Gaza and Lebanon is accompanied by an escalation between Israel and Iran, ally of Hamas and Hezbollah, while Israel threatened to retaliate after the firing of 200 missiles on October 1 against its territory, causing fear a conflagration in the Middle East.
Shortly after the ceremonies began, projectiles were fired toward Israel, including Tel Aviv, from the nearby Gaza Strip, the army said. The armed wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for the shooting.
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed that Israel was “obligated to bring back” the hostages and was changing “the reality” on the ground so that there would be no more attacks similar to that of October 7.
The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, spoke of the “unspeakable suffering” of the hostages in Gaza.
“Graveyard”
At the same time, Mr. Lazzarini affirmed that the Palestinian territory had been transformed into a “cemetery”, a year after the start of a devastating Israeli retaliatory offensive with the aim of destroying Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007.
Entire sectors of the Gaza Strip have been reduced to ruins, almost all of its 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced and at least 41,909 Palestinians have been killed there, the majority civilians, according to ministry data. of Health of the Hamas government, deemed reliable by the UN.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza entered southern Israel, using explosives and bulldozers to breach the barrier surrounding Gaza, killing indiscriminately on kibbutzim, military bases and at the festival site. Nova.
Western leaders have repeatedly emphasized Israel’s right to defend itself, while affirming the Palestinian right to statehood and the need to end Israel’s decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Hezbollah on Monday described Israel as a “cancerous” entity that must ultimately be “eliminated,” promising to continue to fight Israeli “aggression,” just like Hamas, which described the October 7 attack as “glorious.” .
Israeli reinforcements
After weakening Hamas, the Israeli army moved most of its operations to Lebanon in mid-September, against Hezbollah, which opened a front on October 8 against Israel in support of Hamas.
Israel launched ground operations against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon supported by aircraft on September 30, after pounding Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut and elsewhere in the country.
The Israeli army said Monday it was carrying out “significant” airstrikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and said it had sent reinforcements to support two divisions already deployed.
In this area, an Israeli strike killed ten firefighters, according to the Lebanese authorities.
Hezbollah claimed to be targeting Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon and to have fired rockets at towns and military positions in northern Israel.
Since October 2023, more than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, including more than a thousand since the intensification of Israeli bombings on September 23, according to the authorities. Around 1.2 million people have been displaced.
Israel has promised to fight Hezbollah until “victory”, in order to allow the return to the northern border regions of the 60,000 inhabitants displaced by the incessant rocket fire of the Lebanese movement.
After the failure of all attempts at mediation, the Israeli offensive continues in Gaza where the army said it struck on Monday the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah (center), which it said housed command centers of Hamas.
“We have the feeling that the world stopped on October 7,” said 26-year-old displaced person Israa Abou Matar in Deir al-Balah. “I am growing old seeing my children hungry, scared, having nightmares and screaming because of the noise of the bombings.”
(afp)
