Israelis mourn on anniversary of October 7 attack as Palestinians live in devastated Gaza

Israelis have gathered to commemorate the 2023 October 7 Hamas-led attack that killed 1,200 people, resulted in 251 being taken hostage, and sparked a devastating war in Gaza that has left much of the territory in ruins and its 2 million people living in dire conditions.

In southern Israel, families mourned at intersections, bomb shelters, and the site of a music festival that the militants overran three years ago in the deadliest attack against Israel. 

It is the first anniversary since all the hostages were home, marking a new stage of grief.

For Palestinians, the anniversary brings another day of life of misery and difficulties after an Israeli retaliatory campaign in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Most of the population of about 2 million people live in vast, squalid tent camps, with large parts of the strip's cities reduced to rubble. More than half the territory remains in the hands of the Israeli military. Despite a ceasefire deal reached nearly a year ago, Israeli strikes continue almost daily.

For the region, the day highlights a startling transformation over the past three years.

Israeli troops occupy a large chunk of southern Lebanon in their conflict with the Hezbollah militant group, which began firing on Israel in 2023 in support of Hamas. Iran and the United States are locked in a confrontation that has resulted in attacks across Gulf Arab countries and has shaken the global economy — a conflict that Israel helped launch and that the Gaza war paved the way for, even if they weren't directly connected.

Families mourn at the Nova Festival site

In Reim, the town where the music festival was underway on the day of the attack, families gathered around photos of their killed relatives. They hugged at 6:29am, the exact time the first rockets were launched three years ago, as booms from explosions in nearby Gaza were heard.

Anya Davitashili, who lost her 25-year-old son, Sean, said she came to the site every Saturday because it was where she felt closest to him.

"I have a video of him dancing here that ends at 6:29 in the morning, it's in front of my eyes all the time," she said. 

Hundreds of people came to pay their respects to the more than 350 people killed in and around the festival site.

Released hostage marks his first October 7

Elkana Bohbot, 37, is marking the anniversary in Israel for the first time after being released from 738 days of captivity last year. For most of that time, he said, he was held 50 meters underground in a dark, damp tunnel.

Mr Bohbot, who was abducted from the festival, was kept in a small cell with other hostages, given very little food, and allowed to bathe only every few weeks, he said. His captors forced him to take part in several propaganda videos, including one where he acts out a fake call to his family.

In the 11 months since his release, Mr Bohbot has undergone physical and emotional rehabilitation. In August, his wife, Rivka, gave birth to a daughter, fulfilling a promise that Mr Bohbot made to himself in the tunnels to give his 5-year-old son, Reem, a sibling.

The newborn Michele was "not a symbol for my people; she is more of a symbol for the enemy", Bohbot told The Associated Press. 

"So this child is the message for you that we were here, and we will always be here forever."

Palestinians struggle to recover

No events are expected on Wednesday in Gaza, where Israel's offensive has devastated the territory and displaced about 90 per cent of its population, often multiple times. Restrictions on the entry of goods and aid have contributed to a severe hunger crisis.

More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its figures but says about half were women and children. The numbers from the ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

While a ceasefire that took effect on October 10, 2025, has halted the heaviest fighting, Israeli strikes have continued, targeting what Israel says are Hamas militants. Since the ceasefire, 1,460 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the ministry. Seven Israeli soldiers have been killed in that period.

Hamas portrayed the October 7 attack as a response to decades of Israeli military occupation, land seizures and settlement construction. But the Palestinians' dream of an independent state appears even more distant.

A radically altered Middle East

A contentious election in Israel at the end of the month hangs over this year's anniversary. The government's official memorial services took place on October 5, closer to the Hebrew calendar's anniversary of the attack.

The separate commemorations reflected deep divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his handling of the war and his reluctance to launch an official inquiry into failings of the day.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is hoping to unseat Netanyahu in Israel's upcoming elections, looked at the photos of the dead in Reim and spoke with sobbing family members.

Gadi Eisenkot, the head of the opposition Yashar party, met with families at a bomb shelter in southern Israel where many were killed as they tried to flee.

The attack set in motion a cascade of events that led to wars across the Middle East as Israel confronted Hamas, Hezbollah and their backer Iran. Israel has seized swaths of territory in Syria and Lebanon, where more than 300,000 Lebanese remain displaced. 

The United States joined Israel in attacking Iran's military and nuclear program in two rounds, battering Iran and up-ending global markets far from the battlefield.

Violence has also risen across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israel's far-right government has emboldened extremist settlers who have attacked Palestinians and destroyed their property.

AP