Hamas called Oct. 7 “a glorious day in the history of our people.” That was the group’s description of the day 1,221 people were killed in Israel, according to an AFP tally, while another 251 were abducted and taken to Gaza, including 44 bodies. On Wednesday, the third anniversary of the attack, Israelis marked the date with ceremonies, a minute of silence at the Nova festival site, and new military operations across the West Bank and Gaza.
The Day That Hasn’t Ended
At 6:29 a.m., relatives of victims stood silently at Re’im, marking the time the assault began. More than 360 people died at the festival alone.
“That was the minute that changed our lives forever,” Katia Zohar told AFP. Her 23-year-old daughter Bar was killed at Nova. Bar first called to ask her mother to come get her because missiles were in the air, Zohar recalled. She called again from the road, screaming that someone was shooting at her. “I remember everything,” Zohar said.
Anna Davitashvili, 53, honored her eldest son Shaun, killed at 25 alongside his friends, by playing the last techno track the partygoers danced to. “I miss him,” she said. Bezalel Slavin, 74, whose daughter was killed, now helps his son-in-law, a survivor, raise their three children. “Life must go on, what else can we do?” he said.
Bruno Retailleau, a candidate in the French presidential election, attended the site and said Hamas had “disfigured” the Palestinian cause with the attack. Hamas remains weakened by the war, but still controls parts of the Gaza Strip.
The Security Picture
The Israeli military marked the anniversary by publishing a tally of the campaign that followed. The IDF says it has attacked nearly 100,000 targets since Oct. 7, 2023: around 65,000 in Gaza, 28,000 in Lebanon and Syria, 4,500 in Iran and 80 in Yemen.
The report also counted the fire Israel has absorbed. It attributed 20,000 ballistic missile launches to Lebanon, 10,200 to Gaza, 1,200 to Iran, 90 to Yemen and 50 to Syria. Those figures point to a threat that reaches far beyond the Gaza Strip, across multiple fronts, with Iran’s network at its center.
The IDF listed senior figures it says it killed, including Hezbollah’s former Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, former Hezbollah Executive Council head Hashem Safieddine, Hamas political bureau chairman Yahya Sinwar, Qassam Brigades commander Mohammed Deif, IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Ali Hajizadeh and IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami.
Israel has also reorganized its forces. Southern Command set up about 40 new outposts, the report said, while Central Command created the 96th “Gilead” Division on the eastern border and the Dead Sea Air Command. Home Front Command worked to extend warning times and adapt defenses to specific threats. The military established nine new divisions over three years, including the Hashomer Brigade, the David Brigades and Division 38. It said 970 soldiers have been killed since the war began, more than 70% of wounded soldiers returned to service, and reserves grew by about 36%.
Overnight, the IDF and Border Police launched several operations across the West Bank to arrest and question dozens of suspects accused of involvement in terrorism and incitement. Haaretz’s fetched text said the raids also targeted suspects accused of supporting the Oct. 7 massacre. Officials hadn’t released further details on the arrests.
Gaza’s Toll and Israel’s Political Reckoning
Gaza’s Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas and considered reliable by the United Nations, says more than 74,200 people have been killed in the war. AFP journalists near the Gaza border heard loud explosions Wednesday, and Gaza hospitals said Israeli airstrikes killed three people. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain in tents or temporary shelters.
In Israel, the anniversary fell during an election campaign, with parliamentary elections set for Oct. 27. Calls continue for an independent commission of inquiry into the security failures behind the attack. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to prevent it, attended the Nova commemoration. “It was a colossal failure of the State of Israel,” Bennett said. The opposition Democrats party, led by Yair Golan, launched a website replaying Israeli news coverage from the morning of Oct. 7, 2023. Golan wrote on X: “We must not allow any entity to reshape our memory.”
Why This Matters: Three years on, Israel faces a movement that still celebrates the day it murdered more than 1,200 people and still holds territory in Gaza. The IDF’s figures, 20,000 missiles from Lebanon and 1,200 from Iran, show this was never a single-front contest with one militia. It’s a regional campaign driven by Iran’s network. For Israeli voters heading to the polls on Oct. 27, the debate over accountability sits beside a harder question: what arrangements can stop a group that calls Oct. 7 “glorious” from rebuilding? Any withdrawal or political deal that ignores that question invites a repeat, and that’s the calculation shaping Israeli caution.