The Independent
· collected 2026-10-06 · by James C. Reynolds
Sigal Manzuri, whose two daughters were among those killed in the October 7 Hamas attacks three years ago, reflects on preserving their memories and fighting with love instead of weapons. On that day, over 1,200 people died as Hamas attacked Israel, taking hostages and prompting a military response from Israel that is estimated to have resulted in more than 70,000 deaths in Gaza. Manzuri founded 'NoRo - Lighting the Way', an initiative aimed at supporting young adults emotionally and spreading her daughters' legacies beyond Israel. She emphasizes the importance of remembering the human impact behind statistics and advocates for peace through love rather than military conflict.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-06,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out an armed incursion into Israel, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 Israelis and taking around 251 people hostage. This event marked a significant shift in regional dynamics; previously, focus was on internal Israeli politics rather than external threats from Gaza. In response to these attacks, Israel launched an extensive military campaign estimated to have killed over 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza. The incident reshaped global perceptions and political landscapes, with the Australian Council of Executive Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin stating that it was a "cosmic moment" changing the world forever.
Journalists covering the conflict faced severe risks; since October 7, 250 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel, surpassing the total journalist deaths in all wars over the past 150 years combined. Despite this, Palestinian reporters continued to defy censorship and document the events, challenging Israel's propaganda efforts.
On the anniversary of these attacks, bereaved families such as Sigal Manzuri emphasize remembering those affected and preserving their memories. Manzuri lost her two daughters in the music festival attack and advocates for peace through love rather than weapons.
Written for “Israel Gaza Conflict October 7” on 2026-10-06,
grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
“After three years, my worst fear is that my kids’ memory will fade away,” Sigal Manzuri says, on the eve of the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks that claimed her two daughters’ lives.
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that → fade → lives
“I just ask from others to really please remember that behind every picture they see, every story they hear, there is a soul, there are so many dreams cut short.
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they → ask → story
Sigal, a US-Israeli mother and activist from Hod HaSharon in central Israel, today dedicates her time to preserving the memory of her daughters, Norelle, 25, and Roya, 22, who were both killed at the Supernova music festival in 2023.
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who → dedicate → 2023
Some 1,200 people were killed that day as the Palestinian terror group led an armed incursion across the border, rampaging through towns and taking 251 hostages back into Gaza.
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group → kill → Gaza
Israel’s response was to lay ruin to the Palestinian enclave with a campaign that is estimated to have killed more than 70,000 people.
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that → lay → people
Sigal, still in Israel, believes it her mission to continue spreading the “light” of her daughters, and to resist what she recognises to be a very bleak alternative.
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she → believe → daughters
It was in this spirit that she founded ‘NoRo - Lighting the Way’, a community support group and workshop built around the passions and interests of her daughters and future son-in-law, Amit Cohen, who was also killed in the attacks.
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who → found → attacks
“It’s a huge project and it takes so much from me - and I’m happy that it does,” she tells The Independent, pointing to the travel and exhibitions, and her hopes of bringing the idea to Los Angeles, where the girls were born.
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girls → ’ → Angeles
Sigal last saw her daughters on October 6, 2023 as the family gathered for a festive meal to mark the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah.
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family → see → Torah
Norelle was engaged to marry Amit the following year.
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Norelle → engage → Amit
Roya dreamed of helping people with PTSD.
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Roya → dream → PTSD
“On the one hand it feels like a decade, and on the other it feels like one very long day,” she says of the time elapsed.
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she → feel → time
She says that when they did not come home from the festival, the only way to survive was to find a life with meaning: allowing herself to be “guided” by her daughters to go on offering emotional support for other at-risk young adults.
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herself → say → adults
But for us, as bereaved families, we don’t fight with weapons.
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we → bereave → weapons
We fight with what we believe in.
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we → fight → what
And we believe in love,” she said.
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she → believe → love
“This is our way of winning this really, really dark war that we have to deal with ...
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we → win → that
I’m not saying that it’s easy, but this is our way.
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this → say → ?
This is what we chose.
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we → choose → what
This is how we chose to continue.”
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we → choose → ?
With the October 27 elections fast approaching, there are Israelis who believe it is a chance to put the country on a different path.
“
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it → approach → path
I know it’s not going to be smooth, but I feel that this is our chance,” Sigal said of the upcoming election.
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Sigal → know → election
“We’re going to get a real opportunity to start to heal and to fix what really happened here for so many years, even before October 7.
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what → go → October
“We need a new leadership really caring about their people and to try to start a healing process here.”
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We → need → process
“This is the biggest challenge of all for us as a nation, in Israel,” she added.
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she → add → Israel
“We need to get together to bring our hearts closer again and only after that can we try to move on.”
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we → need → that
But despite a US-mediated peace agreement to end the 2023 war, a Pew Research Center survey taken in April found just 17 per cent of Israelis believe peaceful coexistence is possible, with 64 per cent of Jews and 26 per cent of Arabs doubtful.
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cent → mediate → Arabs
In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, just 21 per cent of Palestinian adults said they believed peace was possible, while 68 per cent were unconvinced.
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cent → say → adults
Yonatan Zeigen, the son of the late peace activist Vivian Silver, who was killed in the massacre at kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, told The Independent that peace is “always on the horizon”, but will remain as realistic as war without the political will to seize it.
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peace → kill → it
Since then, he has dedicated his life to reconciliation and this year helped found a forward-looking political party on the Left, ‘A Place for Us All’, focused on “ending the occupation, resolving the conflict in general, and civil equality”.
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he → dedicate → conflict
“We see that there is an official ceasefire, but every day people are killed in Gaza and the humanitarian situation on the ground isn’t getting any better,” he added.
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he → see → ground
I can’t say because I’m not the one experiencing it firsthand, right?”
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I → say → it
Yonatan said his party would not be running in the elections due to Israel's electoral threshold requiring 3.25 per cent of the national vote to win seats.
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threshold → say → seats
But he believes there is a new space for a hopeful kind of politics.
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he → believe → politics
“There is polarisation in society and there is this dialectical clash between political movements in Israel,” he conceded.
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he → be → Israel
“But the point is leadership, is that the people are not being offered any alternative vision to just what exists, to accepting the occupation as a given.”
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what → offer → given
The Aporia
