Story summary
On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants breached Israel’s border and attacked southern Israeli communities, killing approximately 1,200 civilians and taking roughly 250 hostages. This event remains a defining moment for both Israelis and Palestinians. In the years since, celebrities like John Cusack, Roger Waters, Susan Sarandon, Cynthia Nixon, Mark Ruffalo, Macklemore, and others have increasingly inserted themselves into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, often criticizing Israel or supporting Palestinian causes despite lacking expertise on the matter.
For Israel, October 7 marks a day of intense mourning; memorials are held to commemorate those killed and taken hostage. Bereaved families like Sigal Manzuri fear their loved ones' memories will fade over time and urge others to remember the human impact behind statistics. Meanwhile, Palestinians continue to grapple with the aftermath of Israel's retaliatory campaign that has caused significant destruction in Gaza, where tens of thousands have died and many more remain displaced.
The event also reshaped Israeli politics; Benjamin Netanyahu, despite overseeing the worst security failure in the country’s history, remains Prime Minister. Security officials involved in the response lost their jobs, but Netanyahu managed to maintain his political power amidst widespread criticism. The attack has drawn international attention, with some celebrities using their platforms to voice opinions on the conflict without necessarily having deep expertise on Middle Eastern affairs.
Written for “October 7 Anniversary Events” on 2026-10-07,
grounded in this article and the 40 other(s) covering the same event.
Israelis gathered Wednesday to commemorate the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that killed 1,200 people, saw 251 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.
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that → gather → 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 in the country’s history.
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militants → mourn → history
It is the first anniversary since all the hostages, living and dead, were returned, marking a new stage of grief.
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hostages → live → grief
For Palestinians, the anniversary brings another day of misery after an Israeli retaliatory campaign in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people.
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that → bring → people
Most Gaza residents live in vast, squalid tent camps, with large parts of the strip’s cities reduced to rubble.
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parts → live → rubble
More than half the territory remains in the hands of the Israeli military.
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territory → remain → military
Despite a ceasefire deal reached nearly a year ago, Israeli strikes continue almost daily.
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strikes → reach → deal
For the region, the day highlights a startling transformation over the past three years.
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day → highlight → 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.
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which → occupy → Hamas
Iran and the United States are locked in a confrontation that has seen 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.
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they → lock → way
Families mourn at the Nova Festival site
Near the town of Reim, where the music festival was underway when militants attacked, families gathered around photos of their killed relatives.
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families → mourn → relatives
Hundreds of people paid their respects to the more than 350 people killed in and around the festival site.
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Hundreds → pay → site
Videos from that day showed militants gunning down fleeing revellers, shooting the wounded at point-blank range and ambushing those seeking refuge in nearby bomb shelters.
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militants → show → shelters
On Wednesday, survivors’ relatives hugged at 6:29 a.m. — the exact time the first rockets were launched three years ago — as explosions boomed in nearby Gaza.
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Anya Davitashili, who lost her 25-year-old son, Sean, said she visits the site every Saturday.
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she → hug → site
It’s where she feels closest to him.
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she → ’ → 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.
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she → have → eyes
“Every morning, you wake up and there is just endless missing.
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you → wake → ?
A released hostage marks his first Oct. 7
Elkana Bohbot, 37, is marking the anniversary in Israel for the first time since his release after 738 days of captivity.
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Bohbot → release → captivity
For most of that time, he said, he was held underground in a dark, damp tunnel.
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he → say → tunnel
Bohbot, who was abducted from the festival, was kept in a small cell with other hostages, given little food and allowed to bathe only every few weeks, he said.
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he → abduct → food
His captors forced him to take part in propaganda videos, including one where he acts out a fake call to his family.
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he → force → family
In the year since his release, Bohbot has undergone physical and emotional rehabilitation.
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Bohbot → undergo → rehabilitation
In August, his wife, Rivka, gave birth to a daughter, fulfilling his promise to himself in the tunnels to give his 5-year-old son, Reem, a sibling.
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wife → give → sibling
The newborn Michele is “not a symbol for my people; she is more of a symbol for the enemy,” Bohbot told The Associated Press.
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Bohbot → tell → Press
Palestinians in Gaza live surrounded by ruins
No events are expected Wednesday in Gaza, but Hamas in a statement praised the Oct. 7 attack as an example of ”heroism, resilience and national solidarity” and said it had returned the Palestinian cause to the world’s attention.
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it → live → attention
“The conflict with the enemy did not begin on that day, as its final chapters are not written yet,” it said.
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it → begin → day
Palestinians in the territory said the extent to which their lives had deteriorated over the past three years was previously unimaginable.
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lives → say → years
“We witnessed death, destruction, and bombardment that we had never known before,” said Walid Akram, a Gaza City resident who, like most in Gaza, has been displaced by the war.
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who → witness → war
Raed Khozeiq’s coastal neighbourhood in Tel al-Hawa was largely flattened.
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neighbourhood → flatten → Hawa
Nothing about his life now is the same, he said.
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he → say → life
“No country in the world has gone through what we have experienced here,” he said.
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he → go → what
“A war of extermination, starvation, the absence of schools and universities — nothing remains.”
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nothing → remain → schools
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 around half were women and children.
uncertain
half → kill → figures
The numbers from the ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
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numbers → run → agencies
While a ceasefire that took effect Oct. 10, 2025, halted the heaviest fighting, Israeli strikes have continued, targeting what Israel says are Hamas militants.
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Israel → take → fighting
Since the ceasefire, 1,460 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the ministry.
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Palestinians → kill → ministry
Seven Israeli soldiers have been killed in that period.
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soldiers → kill → period
Restrictions on the entry of goods and aid have contributed to a hunger crisis, food security experts say.
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experts → contribute → crisis
The anniversary comes to a radically altered Middle East
A contentious election in Israel at the end of the month hangs over this year’s anniversary.
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election → come → anniversary
The government’s official memorial services took place Oct. 5, closer to the Hebrew calendar’s anniversary of the attack.
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services → take → attack
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
