Israel-Hamas war: Israel marks a year since 7 October attacks – but memorials disrupted by rocket fire
Barrages of rockets have been fired into Israel throughout the day as Israelis mark the anniversary of the 7 October attack.
Hundreds of relatives of hostages and people killed in the attack gathered for a memorial service in a central Tel Aviv park, although the event had to be scaled back because of threats of missile fire.
Shortly before it began, sirens warned of an incoming missile from Yemen and those gathered were forced to lie face down on the ground until it was intercepted.
A second major memorial was held by the government in Israel today, although the ceremony was pre-recorded without an audience – apparently out of concern it could be disrupted.
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Ceremonies and protests were also held elsewhere in Israel, one year on from when Hamas militants crossed the Gaza border and rampaged through Israeli towns and kibbutz villages.
Some 1,200 people were killed and about 250 others were taken into Gaza as hostages, making it the single deadliest day for Jews since the Nazi Holocaust.
Bereaved families organised an anniversary memorial in Tel Aviv. Pic: Reuters
Israel has responded by unleashing a large-scale offensive on Gaza that has killed almost 42,000 people, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run territory.
It is now fighting on several fronts against Hamas’s allies in the Middle East, including the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and Yemen’s Houthis.
One of the barrages of rockets into Israel on Monday came from Hamas, which targeted Tel Aviv and set off sirens in central areas of the country.
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Rocket lands in Tel Aviv
The five rockets lightly wounded two women and caused minor damage.
Israel’s military said the rockets came from the area of Khan Younis in Gaza.
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Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel’s third largest city Haifa. The group said it had targeted a military base south of the city with “Fadi 1” missiles and launched another strike on Tiberias, 40 miles away.
Ten people were reported injured in the Haifa area and two others further south in central Israel.
The rocket fire came as Israeli forces appear poised to expand ground raids into south Lebanon, following three weeks of intense Israeli strikes and attacks in the country.
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Moment rocket lands in Haifa
Israel’s military said the air force was carrying out extensive bombings of Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon, and that two Israeli soldiers were killed in border-area combat, taking the military death toll inside Lebanon so far to 11.
It has also warned people not to sail along an area up to 22 miles north of the Israeli border as it plans operations on Lebanon’s southern coast.
The military said people should not be on the beaches along the Mediterranean coast from the Israeli border all the way north of the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon.
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In an Israeli cabinet meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was fighting a “war of resurrection” and would continue until achieving its goals and returning the hostages “living and dead”.
“This is the war of our existence – the ‘war of resurrection’. This is what I would like to officially call the war,” he said.
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Silence, screams and the sounds of war
A sombre memorial ceremony was also hosted at the White House by US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden.
The Bidens watched as Rabbi Aaron Alexander of Washington’s Adas Israel Congregation recited the Jewish remembrance prayer for those killed on 7 October, before Mr Biden lit a lone memorial candle and a moment of silence was observed.
In a statement, the US president said: “On this solemn anniversary, let us bear witness to the unspeakable brutality of the October 7 attacks but also to the beauty of the lives that were stolen that day.”
He said he thinks every day of the more than 100 hostages still in captivity and their families, vowing his administration will “never give up” until they are returned.
Joe Biden with first lady Jill Biden and Rabbi Aaron Alexander
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Elsewhere, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan marked the anniversary of the Hamas attack – but used it to condemn Israel’s military actions in Gaza and Lebanon.
“Today, I remember with sorrow the tens of thousands of people that the murderous Israeli government has massacred since Oct 7,” Mr Erdogan said in a message posted on X.
“I convey my most heartfelt condolences to my brothers from Gaza, Palestine, and Lebanon.”
The Turkish president is an outspoken critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza and more recently the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and has previously praised Hamas as a “liberation group”.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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