October 7, 2024: Israel and the world mark one year since massacre

One year ago today, Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, massacring thousands of Israelis and foreign nationals and taking hundreds more hostage, launching Israel into an unprecedented year of threats, attacks, assassinations, protests, and war.

Some 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 massacre. Over 250 people were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip, with 101 of them still being detained in captivity.

To honor the memory of the fallen and those taken hostage, the Jerusalem Post has created a timeline of the harrowing events of October 7 in hopes of memorializing and eternalizing the sacrifice of those Israelis murdered by terrorists in their homes, as well as the bravery of hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip, 12 months on.

Thousands of people arrived at the location of the Nova Music Festival early Monday morning to commemorate a year since the October 7 Massacre, KAN News posted on X, formerly Twitter.

International leaders addressed on Monday the October 7 massacre as Israel commemorated the one-year anniversary of the massacre perpetrated by Hamas terrorists. 

French President Emmanuel Macron posted a message in Hebrew on X/Twitter Monday morning.

On October 7, a shawarma restaurant in Saarbrücken, Germany, named Habiba, faced significant backlash after announcing a special promotion—three shawarma plates for €10.

This date coincided with a tragic day in Israeli history, marking the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks, sparking outrage on social media.

Hamas's cross-border massacres in southern Israel on October 7 of last year sent Israel back 70 years, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote in Hebrew in a post on X/Twitter on Monday.

"Operation Al-Aqsa Flood set the Zionist regime 70 years back," Khamenei wrote.

מבצע "מבול אל-אקצא" החזיר את המשטר הציוני 70 שנים לאחור.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) October 7, 2024

The post, referencing the name given by Hamas to the October 7 massacre, was published at 6:29 a.m. on Monday as Israel began commemorating the event on the one-year anniversary. 

Gorgeous. That’s the one English word that Iris Nahary used to describe her fallen son Roi, whose grave she and her daughter Rotem had come to visit last Friday afternoon at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem. His mother has come every Friday during this first year since his passing. 

“He was beautiful on the outside and no less so on the inside,” she said, with an almost yearlong tone of acceptance while gazing at the portrait of Roi next to his headstone, all geared up and in uniform at the Western Wall, smiling excitedly, unaware of the unfortunate fate that would eventually befall him on that Black Sabbath, as she and many others call it. 

“The reason we’re so successful every day, especially on Oct. 7,” says Eli Beer, president and founder of United Hatzalah, “is because we had people everywhere ready to jump. We are the jumpers.”

United Hatzalah is Israel’s largest independent, nonprofit, fully volunteer emergency medical service organization, responding to almost 2,000 emergencies daily.

Beer says its success stems from its goal to reach every medical emergency in Israel within 90 seconds of receiving a call for help. “We are always on our toes to be ready to jump to save someone’s life. That’s the beauty of United Hatzalah.”

I traveled to Kibbutz Hatzerim in the Negev, where the displaced community of Kibbutz Be’eri will be living for the next two to three years.

Rows of temporary houses stretch across the sand, a harsh yet fitting backdrop for a community forever changed. Residents of Kibbutz Be’eri, who were relocated to the North and to the Dead Sea, are finally reunited in one place for the first time since the Oct. 7 Hamas mega-atrocity. They are a broken community, with so many lives lost, trying to find a new sense of home.

Israelis on Monday marked the first anniversary of the devastating Hamas attack that triggered a war that has sparked protest worldwide and risks igniting a far wider conflict in the Middle East.

Ceremonies and protests in Jerusalem and Israel's south were scheduled to begin around 06:29 a.m., the hour when Hamas-led terrorists launched rockets into Israel at the start of the Oct. 7 attack last year.

They are more than numbers, more than headlines – they are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, and friends. Over a year on, these are the names, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, of those still languishing in the hands of Hamas. Each name is a heart still waiting to come home.

Tamir Adar, 38, taken from Nir Oz; Muhammad Al-Atarash, 39, taken from a Gaza border community; Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, taken from the south of Gaza; Hamzah Al-Zayadni, 23, taken from Holit; Yosel Al-Zayadni, 53, taken from Holit; Liri Albag, 19, taken from Nahal Oz; Edan Alexander, 20, taken from a Gaza border community; Matan Angrest, 21, taken from Nahal Oz; Karina Ariev, 20, taken from Nahal Oz; Aviv Atzili, 49, taken from Nir Oz; Sahar Baruch, 24, taken from Be’eri; Uriel Baruch, 35, taken from the Nova music festival; Ohad Ben Ami, 55, taken from Be’eri; Agam Berger, 20, taken from Nahal Oz; Gali Berman, 27, taken from Kfar Aza; Ziv Berman, 27, taken from Kfar Aza; Ariel Bibas, 5, taken from Nir Oz; Kfir Bibas, 1, taken from Nir Oz; Shiri Bibas, 33, taken from Nir Oz; Yarden Bibas, 34, taken from Nir Oz; Elkana Bohbot, 34, taken from the Nova music festival; Rom Braslavski, 20, taken from the Nova music festival; Itay Chen, 19, taken from Nahal Oz; Sagui Dekel Chen, 36, taken from Nir Oz; Eliya Cohen, 27, taken from the Nova music festival; Nimrod Cohen, 20, taken from a Gaza border community; Amiram Cooper, 85, taken from Nir Oz; Ariel Cunio, 27, taken from Nir Oz; David Cunio, 34, taken from Nir Oz; Evyatar David, 23, taken from the Nova music festival; Itzhak Elgarat, 69, taken from Nir Oz; Ronen Engel, 54, taken from Nir Oz; Daniella Gilboa, 20, taken from Nahal Oz; Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 23, taken from the Nova music festival; Meny Godard, 73, taken from Be’eri; Hadar Goldin, 23, taken from the south of Gaza; Romi Gonen, 24, taken from the Nova music festival; Ran Gvili, 24, taken from an unknown location; Gad Haggai, 73, taken from Nir Oz; Judi Weinstein Haggai, 70, taken from Nir Oz; Tal Haimi, 41, taken from Nir Yitzhak; Inbar Hayman, 27, taken from the Nova music festival; Maxim Herkin, 36, taken from the Nova music festival; Eitan Horn, 38, taken from Nir Oz; Iair Horn, 46, taken from Nir Oz; Tsachi Idan, 50, taken from Nahal Oz; Guy Illouz, 26, taken from the Nova music festival; Bipin Joshi, 23, taken from Alumim; Ofer Kalderon, 53, taken from Nir Oz; Segev Kalfon, 26, taken from the Nova music festival; Ofra Keidar, 70, taken from Be’eri; Bar Abraham Kupershtein, 23, taken from the Nova music festival; Eitan Levi, 53, taken from route 232; Shay Levinson, 19, taken from a Gaza border community; Naama Levy, 20, taken from Nahal Oz; Or Levy, 34, taken from the Nova music festival; Oded Lifshitz, 84, taken from Nir Oz; Shlomo Mantzur, 86, taken from Kisufim; Eliyahu Margalit, 75, taken from Nir Oz; Avera Mengisto, 38, taken from the north of Gaza; Omri Miran, 47, taken from Nahal Oz; Joshua Loitu Mollel, 21, taken from Nahal Oz; Eitan Abraham Mor, 24, taken from the Nova music festival; Gadi Moshe Mozes, 80, taken from Nir Oz; Omer Neutra, 22, taken from a Gaza border community; Tamir Nimrodi, 19, taken from the Erez crossing; Yosef-Chaim Ohana, 24, taken from Nova Festival; Alon Ohel, 23, taken from Nova Festival; Avinatan Or, 31, taken from the Nova music festival; Dror Or, 48, taken from Be’eri; Daniel Oz, 19, taken from Kisufim; Daniel Peretz, 22, taken from a Gaza border community; Lior Rudaeff, 61, taken from Nir Yitzhak; Yonatan Samerano, 22, taken from the Nova music festival; Eli Sharabi, 52, taken from Be’eri; Yossi Sharabi, 53, taken from Be’eri; Oron Shaul, 20, taken from the south of Gaza; Omer Shem Tov, 21, taken from the Nova music festival; Tal Shoham, 39, taken from Be’eri; Idan Shtivi, 29, taken from the Nova music festival; Keith Samuel Siegel, 65, taken from Kfar Aza; Doron Steinbrecher, 31, taken from Kfar Aza; Itay Svirsky, 38, taken from Be’eri; Alexandre Sasha Troufanov, 28, taken from Nir Oz; Ilan Weiss, 56, taken from Be’eri; Omer Wenkert, 23, taken from the Nova music festival; Yair Yaakov, 59, taken from Nir Oz; Ohad Yahalomi, 50, taken from Nir Oz; Arbel Yehoud, 29, taken from Nir Oz; Arie Zalmanowicz, 85, taken from Nir Oz; Matan Zangauker, 24, taken from Nir Oz.

Let them go home, now!