Mourning, war and elections as Israel marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attacks

Israel yesterday marked the third anniversary of Hamas’ attack with silent tributes, new strikes on Gaza and intense political debate, weeks before elections in which the country’s deadliest day would be front and center.

At the site of the Nova music festival, where Hamas militants in trucks and paragliders opened fire around dawn on Oct. 7, 2023, family members bowed their heads quietly — although at least one instead put on techno music in tribute to the fallen.

At Nova and the Kfar Aza kibbutz, another site of mass killings three years earlier, loud bangs could be heard from across the border in Gaza during the commemorations as Israel carried out new strikes, despite a ceasefire officially in place for the past year.

A man pays his respects at a memorial to the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks at the Nova festival in Reim, Israel, on Tuesday.

Photo: AFP

Gaza officials said three people were killed in strikes in the territory, most of which has been reduced to rubble in relentless bombing in retaliation for the worst attack ever against Israel.

At the Nova site, Katia Zohar, whose daughter Bar Zohar was killed at age 23, called the start of the attack at 6:29am ”the minute that changed our lives forever.”

“Sadly I remember everything,” Zohar said. “The moment she called for me to come and pick her up because there were missiles in the air. Then the second time when she called from the road, screaming that they were shooting at her.”

Anna Davitashvili, 53, paid tribute to her eldest son, Shaun Davitashvili, who was killed at 25 at Nova alongside friends, by playing the last track of techno music that the partygoers were dancing to when the attack began.

“I feel him here. I’m terribly sorry that I couldn’t save him, I couldn’t help him get out of this massacre,” she said, tears filling her eyes.

In Tel Aviv, activists set on the beach the outlines of more than 1,100 bodies to symbolize the Oct. 7 dead and to urge accountability for the failure to prevent the attack.

On Oct. 27, Israel is to hold elections for the first time since the attack, with polls showing a tight race for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in three years has ordered the massive offensive in Gaza and fought wars against Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as Iran, whose cleric-run government backs Hamas.

At the Nova site, Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister seeking to oust Netanyahu, told reporters of the attack: “This was a colossal failure of the state of Israel, which was established to defend Jews in our land.”

The Democrats Party put online footage of the attack, without commentary.

“A government that for three years has not destroyed Hamas’ rule is a government dangerous to Israel,” Democrats leader Yair Golan said.