Live: Israel marks three years since Hamas’s deadly October 7 attacks

Israel army destroys memorials to Palestinians

Israel's military destroyed memorials across the West Bank to Palestinians accused of killing Israelis or who died in clashes, on the third anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack, the army and local officials said.

The military took action across the occupied West Bank "to destroy monuments to terrorists", an army spokesperson told AFP, without explicitly connecting the move to the anniversary of Gaza-based Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel.

Troops destroyed a stone monument and tore down commemorative posters in the northern region of Jenin, governorate spokeswoman Hala Abu Baker told AFP.

"A memorial to the martyr Yasser Hamdouni was destroyed in the town of Yaabad, and photos of various martyrs were removed from several locations in the city of Jenin," Abu Baker said.

Hamdouni was accused of killing an Israeli settler in 2003, and died while serving a life sentence in 2016.

Palestinians refer to those killed by Israeli fire or in Israeli prisons as martyrs, with stone memorials or posters commemorating them a frequent sight in West Bank villages and towns.

Macron says France is committed to 'combating anti-Semitism'

French President Emmanuel Macron said on X that "we have not forgotten" the victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks.

He added that France was committed to "combating anti-Semitism and terrorism, everywhere and at all times, and working for peace and security for all".

• Satellite photos show Israeli forces' erasure of Rafah
• Israel strikes Gaza on October 7 anniversary, at least two dead, officials say
• Mourners observe moment of silence to mark October 7 attack on Israel

• Houthis target Aden airport with missiles and drones

Iran has 'lost complete control' of Hormuz Strait, Rubio says

Iran has "lost complete control" of the Strait of Hormuz, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday, adding that Tehran's economy was "in total and complete freefall".

"There's almost as much oil flowing out now as there was before this conflict began. So they've lost complete control of the Straits," Rubio said during a visit to Athens.

British PM Burnham says UK stands with its Jewish community

🎥 Israeli papers commemorate October 7th attacks, three years on

FRANCE 24's PRESS REVIEW team reports on how Israeli newspapers covered the third anniversary of the October 7th Hamas attacks.

📸 Fountain dyed red in Tel Aviv to honour victims of the attacks

@Jack Guez, AFP

@Jack Guez, AFP

📸 Satellite photos show Israeli forces' erasure of Rafah

It’s perhaps the most dramatic wound inflicted on the Gaza Strip by Israel’s military campaign over the past three years: The city of Rafah, once home to a quarter million people, has been erased.

Satellite imagery shows the Israeli military has systematically razed the southern city and other towns and districts to the ground and, in some places, ploughed away the rubble.

Demolition, using bulldozers and explosives, has continued unabated since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal reached a year ago, as the military solidifies its hold over around 60 percent of the territory that it still controls.

A satellite image of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, via @Google Earth

Israel strikes Gaza on October 7 anniversary, at least two dead, officials say

Israel carried out new strikes in Gaza on Wednesday as it marked the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks by Hamas, with Palestinian officials reporting two dead.

Loud bangs across the border in Gaza were audible from the site of the Nova music festival just as family members gathered at dawn to mourn the more than 300 revellers killed three years earlier.

In Gaza City, Al-Shifa hospital reported two people killed in an Israeli strike overnight.

Gaza's civil defence identified one of the dead as Mohamed Tamous and said he was a volunteer for the agency, which serves as an emergency rescue service under Hamas.

🎥 'We were naive' about Hamas, Israeli ex-hostage Shoshan Haran says

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Israeli former hostage Shoshan Haran said "we were naive" about Hamas before the October 7, 2023 attack on her kibbutz.

Held in Gaza for 50 days, she recalled refusing to "show weakness" to her captors. She also called the accusations of genocide against Israel "a lie" and shared her late husband's last words.

📸 Mourners observe moment of silence to mark October 7 attack on Israel

Mourners observed a moment of silence Wednesday at sites in southern Israel attacked by Hamas three years earlier, the country's deadliest attack ever, which triggered a massive Israeli offensive in Gaza.

At the site of the Nova music festival, which Hamas militants infiltrated on October 7, 2023, through cars and paragliders, family members bowed their heads at 6:29am (03:29 GMT), surrounded by portraits of victims with flowers placed underneath.

Raz Zarfati – sister of Ron Zarfati, who was killed in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks– attends a memorial marking the third anniversary of the attack at the Nova music festival site near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel.

(@Ohad Zwigenberg, AP)

Benny and Maggy Solomon – parents of Hila Solomon, who was killed in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks – attend a memorial marking the third anniversary of the attack at the Nova music festival site near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel.

(@Ohad Zwigenberg, AP)

People attend a memorial service marking the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas cross-border attack on Israel, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel, where many community members were killed and abducted.

(@Ariel Schalit, AP)

Houthis target Aden airport with missiles and drones

Iran-backed Houthis targeted the airport in the Yemeni city of Aden with missiles and drones, the country's government news agency Saba reported Wednesday.

"The terrorist Houthi militias targeted Aden International Airport with two ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones," Saba wrote on X.

Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted Houthi missile north of Riyadh

The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Houthis said Wednesday it had shot down a ballistic missile north of Riyadh.

"A ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia north of Riyadh was intercepted and destroyed," the coalition's spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki wrote on X.

Oil prices rise as Hormuz tensions weigh on markets

Oil prices rose Wednesday and stocks fell amid fresh concerns about Middle East supplies following a warning that Iran appeared to be stepping up attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.

The retreat came as investors brushed off another record day on Wall Street where the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were boosted by a rush back into the AI trade that saw chip titan Nvidia push towards a $6 trillion market capitalisation.

Confidence has been given a boost this week as reports said that exports from the Middle East – excluding Iran – were pushing back towards pre-war levels.

That helped push global benchmark Brent below $100 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate below $90, easing inflation concerns and giving central banks some room to hold off hiking interest rates.

However, both contracts rebounded Tuesday and rose in early Asian trade, as figures showed Tehran had increased strikes on tankers in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

Houthis target Aden airport in Yemen with two missiles

Two missiles launched by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis targeted the international airport of Yemen's southern port city of Aden early on Wednesday but no casualties were reported, the media office of Aden's security department said.

The attack comes amid renewed fighting after weeks of Houthi advances along Yemen's Red Sea coast and a Saudi-backed government counteroffensive that has recaptured areas around the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait with coalition air support.

The airport is the main international gateway serving parts of Yemen outside Houthi control.

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