Israelis gathered across the country on Wednesday to remember the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza. The assault set off a war that has left much of Gaza in ruins, and its third anniversary landed in a region that is still far from settled.

A different kind of anniversary

This was the first Oct. 7 anniversary with no hostages still held in Gaza. The body of the last one, police officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, was located in a military operation and brought back to Israel in January, according to Ynetnews. The AP described the moment as a new stage of grief for families who spent the past two anniversaries campaigning for their relatives' return.

Where people gathered

In the morning, bereaved families and survivors went to the memorial at the site of the Nova music festival, where the BBC reports 378 people were killed and 44 were kidnapped; 25 of those taken came home alive. Crowds also filled the small cemetery at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which lost 64 residents, with 19 more taken hostage. Ynetnews reported memorial and protest events planned at roughly 400 locations nationwide.

The day ended with a national ceremony organized by victims' families at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv. Israel Hayom reported that for the first time it was held as an open park event without grandstands, so tens of thousands of ticket holders could attend. It was co-hosted by actress Shani Cohen and former hostage Eli Sharabi, whose wife and two daughters were killed in Kibbutz Be'eri. "On that Shabbat morning, we lost so much," Sharabi said in his opening remarks, as quoted by The Times of Israel.

The anniversary also carried political tension. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he lit a memorial candle for every victim, while anti-government protesters dyed the fountain in Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square red, the BBC reported.

In Gaza

There were no anniversary events in Gaza, where daily life is still shaped by the war. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect about a year ago, but more than 1,460 people have been killed there since then, according to Gaza's health ministry, and Israel's military says at least seven of its soldiers have died in the strip in the same period, the BBC reported. Nearly all of Gaza's roughly 2.1 million people remain displaced, many in sprawling tent camps, and the AP reports that more than half of the territory is still under Israeli military control.