Vigils and somber services on Monday marked a year since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. The surprise cross-border assault caught Israel unprepared. It shattered Israelis’ sense of security and shook their faith in their leaders and military. It also sparked the ongoing Gaza war.
On October 7, 2023, the terrorist group Hamas killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Attackers dragged some 250 Israelis into Gaza as hostages. The next day, another terrorist group called Hezbollah launched strikes into Israel.
The attack continues to overshadow daily life in the region. For dozens of still-captive hostages, there is no end in sight. Areas along the Israel-Gaza border are demolished, and tens of thousands of people have fled their homes.
The war has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians and sparked widespread hunger, say Palestinian health officials. Israel faces ongoing international criticism over its wartime conduct, with two world courts examining its actions.
U.S.-led cease-fire efforts have repeatedly sputtered, and the war against Hamas rages on in Gaza. There is also an escalating conflict with Iran—which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah. Experts warn the conflict could drag the entire region into deadly fighting.
On Monday’s anniversary of the attack, Israelis flocked to ceremonies, cemeteries, and memorial sites around the country. They remembered the hundreds of victims, the dozens still in captivity, and the soldiers wounded or killed trying to save them.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog joined families of those killed. At 6:29 a.m.—the exact minute Hamas launched its attack—hundreds of family members and friends of the victims stood for a moment of silence. Then a woman’s piercing wail broke the quiet. Booms echoed from the fighting in Gaza, just a few miles away.
Minutes later, at 6:31 a.m., four projectiles came from Gaza. The missiles headed toward the very Israeli communities assaulted last year, the Israeli military says. But the ceremony was not disrupted.
The Israeli military targeted Hamas launch posts and other terrorist bases on Monday. It was hoping to thwart what it said was a looming attack.
Anger at the government’s failure to prevent the attack or retrieve the remaining hostages prompted some families to hold a separate event in the capital of Tel Aviv. The event was supposed to draw tens of thousands of people. But organizers scaled it back due to bans on large gatherings because of possible missile attacks from Iran and Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, families of hostages still held in Gaza gathered near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence. They stood silent during a familiar two-minute siren. The alarm replicates a custom of the country’s important Holocaust Remembrance and Memorial Day.
“We are here to remind [the hostages] that we haven’t forgotten them,” said Shiri Albag. Her daughter Liri is among the captives. As Albag spoke, the crowd hoisted posters bearing the faces of the hostages. Her message to Netanyahu? “We won’t let you rest until all of them are back, every last one of them.”
The Israel-Gaza-Iran situation is extremely complex and utterly tragic. Many people are frustrated and saddened at the deaths of so many of God’s image bearers. Yet El-Roi—the God who sees—controls all things. He loves His creation. (John 3:16) We can ask Him to restore our broken world.
To Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, . . . to Him be glory . . . forever and ever. Amen. — Ephesians 3:20-21
