Israel marks year since Hamas attack as fighting rages on multiple fronts

Israel has held ceremonies to remember the victims of the mass killings and abductions carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023, against a backdrop of continuing fighting in Gaza and Lebanon.

A year on from the attack - that saw some 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage - Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to stop such an assault happening again, saying Israel's armed forces were “changing the security reality” of the region.

The conflict which followed Hamas's attack has seen almost 42,000 deaths in the Gaza Strip according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

As the day of commemorations unfolded, Israel said it intercepted more than 100 rockets fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as projectiles launched by Yemen's Houthis and from Hamas in Gaza.

Last October, gunmen from Hamas broke through the border fence and rampaged through nearby Israeli villages, Kibbutzim, military posts and the Nova music festival.

On Monday, families of the hundreds killed and dozens of people taken hostage at the festival gathered at the site early for the first memorial event of the day.

Holding pictures of loved ones they listened to the last track played at the festival before Israeli President Isaac Herzog led a minute's silence at 06:29, the moment that the attack began.

In nearby communities which were also attacked by Hamas gunmen, smaller events were held.

Outside of Israel, President Biden joined other world leaders in condemning what he called the "unspeakable brutality" of the Hamas attacks a year ago.

He also expressed horror at the subsequent war, saying "far too many civilians had suffered, far too much".

Mourners also gathered at vigils around the world including in Australia, South Africa, Germany and the United States.

However as the memorial services took place, the wider conflict in the region continued to rage.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired more than 130 rockets across the border from Lebanon. Most were shot down, but some hit the cities of Haifa and Tiberius.

Earlier Hamas also launched rockets at Tel Aviv from Gaza. The army said ballistic missiles had been fired at Israel from Yemen, but were successfully intercepted.

Through the day, Israel carried out multiple air strikes and several ground incursions in Lebanon.

Three weeks of intense Israeli strikes and other attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 1,400 people, and displaced another 1.2 million, according to Lebanese authorities.

The hostilities have escalated steadily since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on 8 October 2023, the day after its ally Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel. (Source: BBC News)