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World leaders pay tribute to victims as Israel marks three years since 7 October attack by Hamas – live
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Original article by Tom Ambrose (now); Taz Ali and Martin Belam (earlier)
'The suffering did not begin nor end that day,' says Mamdani on 7 October attack anniversary
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has issued a statement marking the 7 October attack, saying “the suffering did not begin nor end that day” as he criticised the Israeli government for continuing attacks in Gaza despite a so-called ceasefire.
Mamdani said the anniversary was a “profoundly painful” day for New Yorkers and condemned the “horrific war crimes” committed by Hamas.
A staunch and vocal supporter of Palestinian rights, the bulk of Mamdani’s statement focused on Israel’s conduct in Gaza, where he denounced the war crimes committed “with impunity” by the Israeli government while he also criticising the US’s “complicity” in shipping arms to the country.
His statement on X said:
This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.
The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians-including more than 21,000 children. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them – all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.
Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.
To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.”
Rubio: 'We will never forget this act of barbarism'
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said his country “will never forget this act of barbarism against an ally” in his message to mark the anniversary of the 7 October attack in Israel.
In a post on X, he said:
Three years ago today, Hamas terrorists tortured, mutilated, and murdered 1,200 innocent civilians in Israel.
Among those slain were men, women, and children – including dozens of Americans.
We will never forget this act of barbarism against an ally and recommit ourselves to the defense of civilization.”
British Jewish organisations will gather in central London for a vigil honouring victims of the 7 October attacks in Israel on Wednesday, after a day of tributes from politicians and community leaders.
A 5pm vigil is expected to take place at Richmond Terrace, opposite Downing Street.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “Three years ago, Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, murdering 1,200 men, women and children, injuring thousands and taking 251 people captive. May their memories for ever remain a blessing.”
Meanwhile, the Jewish Leadership Council said 7 October had been “the deadliest day for our people since the Holocaust.”
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Commenting on the pro-Palestine march in London, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it “would not be threatened or intimidated” after the protest reached the organisation’s headquarters in the city.
The group’s president, Phil Rosenberg, said:
On the anniversary of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, masked protesters demonstrated outside our office today, chanting about ‘intifada’ and harassing our neighbours.
We are grateful to the Metropolitan police for their swift response and making arrests on the spot.
We will not be threatened or intimidated by this small and extremist minority of British society.
We will continue undeterred to advocate for the Jewish people, here and around the world, and to stand up for peace and security for Israelis, Palestinians and the wider Middle East.”
Protesters arrested at pro-Palestine march in London
In London, police have arrested five people at a student pro-Palestine demonstration on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks.
Despite calls for a ban or for the protest to be moved to a different date, about 100 people marched and chanted “free free Palestine” and “free the people, free the land” in central London, with a group holding a banner reading: “Holocaust survivor descendants against Gaza genocide”, the PA news agency reported.
Students from the University of London Coalition umbrella group demonstrated against what they said was complicity by the UK government, universities and businesses in Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Counter protesters holding Israeli flags also gathered by Russell Square, shouting “scumbags” at the pro-Palestine protesters and chanting “terrorist supporters off our streets”.
The Metropolitan police said: “Earlier this morning, officers made arrests at a spontaneous protest outside the Board of Deputies in Camden.
“Five people were arrested for inciting racial hatred, involving allegedly shouting or chanting slogans calling for intifada. They remain in police custody. The protest in Camden has now ended.”
The pro-Palestine march has been labelled “shameful” by defence secretary Wes Streeting, while education secretary Lucy Powell urged students “to show compassion and protest on another day”.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews is expected to hold a vigil in Richmond Terrace, just off Whitehall, later today.
AFP is carrying some words from Naftali Bennett, the Israeli former prime minister who will be competing in Israel’s elections later this month. At the Nova music festival site he told reporters “This was a colossal failure of the state of Israel, which was established to defend Jews in our land.”
Germany has been hosting an event in Berlin to commemorate Israelis killed on 7 October, which has been staged outside the Brandenburg Gate.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had warned yesterday that Hamas could carry out an attack on Israel before the general election on 27 October.
Speaking at a government meeting, he said Israel was prepared to respond to any attack with “overwhelming force”.
“Precisely because Hamas is so weak, it will try to challenge us with the remainder of its forces ahead of the elections to try to influence them,” Netanyahu said, according to Israeli media.
“We are prepared for this.”
He added: “Israel is the strongest country in the Middle East, and our enemies are weaker than ever.”
The cemetery at Nir Oz contains two lines of fresh headstones, marking lives that all ended on 7 October 2023. A shared plot for a family of five – a mother, father and their three young children – has been made into a garden with space left for their still-living grandparents.
Caretaker Shlomo Margalit, who will soon turn 89, points to the graves of three of his oldest friends, founding members of the kibbutz who came to Nir Oz from Haifa with him in the 1950s.
“This is my life project, as well as my home,” Margalit said, explaining why he has come back to a place of such loss. He is waiting for a new house but, for now, staying in the former home of Gadi Moses, 82, who survived 482 days as a hostage.
The graves he tends are a silent testament to the brutality of the attacks and the scale of the state’s failure, which in Nir Oz was staggering, even on a day of terrible failures.
A five-person volunteer defence force held Hamas at bay for at least two hours, Margalit said. When they had all been shot, the kibbutz was taken over and sacked, homes burned, families slaughtered and kidnapped.
Then, before the first Israeli soldier arrived, the Hamas forces, other Palestinian gunmen and civilian looters all left. Nir Oz had been forgotten by the army and ripped apart without the military firing a single shot to defend it.
In total, 47 people were killed and 76 taken to Gaza, including Shiri Bibas, her 10-month-old baby Kfir and four-year-old Ariel, who were killed in Gaza. The dead and hostages represented more than a quarter of the small community.
Revisiting that terrible day, and the trauma that followed, is painful and exhausting for Margalit, but he still accepts interviews for a simple reason. “I want people to know what really happened here,” the 89-year-old said.
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World leaders pay tribute to victims
Here are some of the tributes by world leaders for the third anniversary of the 7 October attack (we reported earlier on Andy Burnham’s message here):
German chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to fight antisemitism in Germany and continue to advocate for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. In his message, Merz said his country was witnessing rising antisemitism “that far too often goes unchallenged” and that his government “will do everything in its power” to combat it. “Germany stands firmly by Israel’s side. Our Israeli friends can count on our commitment to ensuring that such a crime never happens again,” he added.
French president Emmanuel Macron said his country shares the grief of Israel and the bereaved families. “We do not forget the names or the faces: those of Maya, Ohad, Valentin, and so many others,” he said. “Combating antisemitism and terrorism, everywhere and always, working for peace and the security of all: that is France’s commitment.”
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said his country stands with the Jewish community both at home and abroad as he reflected on the Bondi beach attack in December that killed 10 people. “For so many, no day since has been easy, but anniversaries fall with their own terrible weight,” he said in a statement. “And for many others, what compounds the pain is the approach of the first anniversary of the antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach. These few years have been hard beyond measure.”
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU “stands with all those whose lives were forever changed by that day”. She added that the bloc “remains ready to help turn today’s fragile ceasefire into a durable peace, based on a two-state solution”.
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Israeli president reflects on 'stories of loss, survival, longing and pain' since 7 October attack
The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, reflected on the thousands of stories he has heard from “bereaved families, by survivors of captivity, by fighters, by evacuees and volunteers” three years since the 7 October attack.
In a statement on X, he said:
"Stories of loss, of survival, of longing and pain. But also stories of rebirth, of communities rising anew, of people who choose to go on, to plant a tree, to build a new home, to affix a mezuzah to it, and to walk forward with faces turned ahead.
In all of them are woven together a deep fracture and a strength beyond measure. In all of them there is one shared story—the story of us all.
We are one people. This is the home of us all. And on this home, and on our shared story-we must guard together.”
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Palestinians recall life before war that 'destroyed everything we loved'
In Gaza, Palestinians recalled life before Israel launched a devastating war that transformed the Strip beyond recognition and displaced nearly its entire population.
Hamas’s 7 October attack on southern Israel ignited a war that would kill more than 74,000 Palestinians in Gaza and reduce the territory to rubble. A ceasefire declared last October has brought little relief for Palestinians, who continue to face humanitarian and economic challenges as they struggle to rebuild their lives.
The ceasefire deal has left the Israeli military in control of about two-thirds of Gaza, where it has carried out sporadic strikes and razed large areas to the ground. In its latest assault, the Israeli military carried out airstrikes in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza and in Khan Younis in the south, killing at least two Palestinians and wounding others, the Gaza health ministry said. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed it had struck a militant target in Beit Lahia, without providing details. It did not immediately comment on the strike in Khan Younis.
Umm Mohammad, a mother of five displaced from Gaza City in the north, lives with her husband and children in a makeshift camp in the central city of Deir Al-Balah. She said they were “one happy family” before the war had ripped them apart.
“The war displaced us. My son left Gaza, the other went to a separate tent, my daughters left with their husbands to other parts of the Strip and we rarely meet,” she told Reuters.
On this day, she said, “we recall how happy, despite all problems, we were before the war broke out, destroying everything we loved”.
Israel held state events on Monday, the national memorial day for the attacks. The date for official remembrance is set according to the lunisolar Hebrew calendar, one of two official calendars of the State of Israel, rather than the Gregorian calendar.
The attack was launched on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Memorial day was set for two days later, because memorial events can’t be held on the holiday.
Flags were lowered at government buildings, military bases, police stations and the communities attacked by Hamas, and Israel’s leaders gathered at Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem for two events. One remembered security forces killed on 7 October, and the other the civilian victims.
A bereaved father interrupted the speech by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the second event to accuse him of negligence. “You did not protect my son on 7 October, you did not protect 1,200 people murdered in one day, Shame!” Yaakov Godo shouted, before being ushered away.
Many survivors and bereaved families accuse Netanyahu of putting his political survival ahead of the lives of Israeli citizens. Top US and Israeli officials have said the prime minister rejected ceasefire deals that could have halted the war in Gaza and brought hostages home sooner.
Burnham tells British Jews 'we stand with you' as he pays tribute to 7 October victims
The UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, has paid tribute to the victims of the 7 October attack on its third anniversary.
In a statement posted on X, he said:
Three years on from the October 7 attacks on Israel, we remember those who were senselessly killed by Hamas terrorists.
The impact of the attacks has been felt not just in Israel, but in Jewish communities across the world who still bear the burden of the tragic events that day.
In the years since, we have seen a disturbing rise in antisemitic behaviour in the UK.
A year ago we witnessed a horrifying terrorist attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester, with further attacks against Jewish people and institutions since.
I want Britain’s Jewish community to hear this from me directly. We stand with you. Abuse and violence against you, in any form, will not be tolerated. Not on our streets, not online, not in our schools or universities.
That’s why we are funding protection for synagogues, schools and community buildings, and why we will come down hard on antisemitism wherever it is found – in classrooms, on campuses and in neighbourhoods.
At home, we are committed to protecting our citizens from vile hatred. Abroad, we continue to work towards a two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace and security.
An attack on Jewish people in Britain is an attack on all of us. Antisemitism has no place in this country, and we will do everything we can to stamp it out.”
The Israeli military said it launched several security operations across the West Bank overnight, arresting dozens of people suspected of being involved in terrorism, including expressing support for the 7 October attack, the Israeli military said.
A young man was shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers during one of the campaigns in Jenin, according to Wafa, the Palestinian news agency.
The security campaign coincided with the anniversary of the 7 October attack, as officials held vigils across the country. It also came as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to project strength ahead of elections at the end of the month – his role in keeping Israel safe being a major part of his campaign strategy.
Netanyahu had previously warned of an unspecified threat to Israel’s security during the country’s election, prior to the attempted hijacking of the Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv last week. He repeated warnings yesterday, saying that Hamas could be planning an operation to attack Israeli border outposts in Gaza. The Israeli military said it was on high alert.
Netanyahu’s image as Mr Security in Israel has taken a hit as voters have blamed him for failing to stop the 7 October attack. New revelations by Israeli magazine Haaretz, which alleged Netanyahu and his security agencies were warned prior to the attack, have hurt his election chances, despite Netanyahu’s denial of the claims.
At 6.29am, the time Hamas launched its attacks, protesters blocked the main Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, and gathered at road junctions around Israel, to remember the dead and call for a change of government.
They carried banners reading “the people shall remember their sons and daughters”, a reference to the Yizkor memorial prayer for loved ones who have died. The date 7/10 was worked into the Hebrew script.
Many demonstrations included signs calling for a state commission of inquiry into the attacks, something prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted fiercely, and calling on voters to remember the attacks when they cast their ballots on.
There were also protests outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Near the private home of Netanyahu in the beachfront town of Caesaria, bereaved families and other protesters played audio of calls for help from the Nova music festival, where more than 370 people were killed.
'6.29am, the minute that changed our lives forever': Mourners gather at site of mass killing at Nova music festival
Israelis gathered at the site of the Nova music festival, where Hamas-led militants killed 378 people and took 44 others hostage.
Katia Zohar, whose 23-year-old daughter Bar Zohar was killed, called the start of the attack at 6.29am “the minute that changed our lives forever”.
“Sadly I remember everything,” Zohar said, according to AFP news agency.
“The moment she called for me to come and pick her up because there were missiles in the air. Then the second time when she called from the road, screaming that they were shooting at her.”
Anna Davitashvili, 53, paid tribute to her eldest son Shaun, 25, who was killed at the festival alongside friends, by playing the last track of techno music that the partygoers were dancing to when the attack began.
“I feel him here, I’m terribly sorry that I couldn’t save him, I couldn’t help him get out of this massacre,” she said.
The Nova festival near Re’im took place about 3 miles from the Gaza border, from where Hamas militants used motorised paragliders and trucks to launch the dawn attack.
As mourners paid their respects at the Nova site, AFP reported loud bangs across the border in Gaza as the Israeli military carried out new strikes, despite a ceasefire being declared in the Palestinian territory last October.
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Extraordinary images here from Tel Aviv, showing rows of human figures at Trumpeldor beach representing the more than 1,200 people killed in the 7 October attack, with a message in Hebrew that translates to “total failure”.
The display was part of a protest to demand answers from the government on the failures that led to the deadliest day in Israel’s 78-year history.
Speaking at the beach protest, Maayan Sherman, whose son, Ron Sherman, was killed by an Israeli airstrike while in Hamas captivity in Gaza, urged people to “vote for a country that takes responsibility and protects its children” at the general election on 27 October.
“Without an investigation, we cannot be sure this won’t happen again,” she said, according to the Israeli newspaper Ynet.
“Yinon Magal is demanding that I apologise to Netanyahu,” she added, referring to the right wing Israeli commentator who earlier this week labelled people who blamed prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the death of hostages in Gaza as “despicable”.
“I will not apologise for the fact that my son was kidnapped, for the fact that I demand to understand how the greatest disaster in the country’s history happened,” Sherman said, adding that Netanyahu and his government “are the ones who need to apologise”.
Families of victims and hostages demand answers into the failures that preceded attack
Anti-government protesters in Israel have filled the Dizengoff fountain in Tel Aviv with red dye as part of events across the country calling for an independent state inquiry into the failures that led to the 7 October attack and demanding accountability.
Families of victims and hostages also gathered outside the Knesset to observe a minute of silence and hold signs accusing the government of abandoning those affected by the Hamas onslaught three years ago.
Gal Goren, whose parents Avner and Maya were killed on 7 October 2023, addressed protesters outside Israel’s parliament.
“How do you write three years of longing? How do you talk about 1,097 days that are actually one day that never ended? What do you say about three years of guilt, shame and regret?” he said, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
“What have we not cried out about in front of this cursed place and everywhere else? What did we not warn about? What did we not demand? What did we not lose?”
Israel puts military on high alert for 7 October attack anniversary
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said he had put the military on high alert yesterday, a day before the third anniversary of the 7 October attack.
Without providing evidence, his office said the instruction came “in light of intelligence regarding Hamas’s intentions to attempt to carry out attacks and terror operations against our forces in Gaza on that day”.
“If, heaven forbid, our forces are harmed, the ones who will pay the heavy price will be Hamas and the population of Gaza – beyond all proportion,” the statement added.
Benjamin Netanyahu has contended that Israeli security chiefs collectively failed to foresee the surprise Hamas attack three years ago, while his critics argue that the Israeli prime minister, who has resisted an independent public inquiry into what happened, should personally answer for the security failures.
Israeli citizens will have their first chance since the deadly attack to pass judgment on Netanyahu, who is seeking an unprecedented seventh term, in the crucial general election on 27 October.
A new book by Haaretz reporters suggests Netanyahu was personally alerted by the UAE president that Hamas was planning a large-scale offensive against Israel a week before the attack, but failed to act on the warning.
The Guardian’s senior international correspondent, Peter Beaumont, has more details in this story:
The claim, which comes amid a crucial election campaign, prompted Israeli opposition leaders to describe the prime minister as “unfit” for office, even as Netanyahu denounced the report as an “absolute lie” and denied he spoke to the Emirati leader at that time.
Haaretz said the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, later killed by Israel, had warned a former Palestinian official that the militants were preparing “a terrifying operation” which he described as an “earthquake”.
According to the report, the UAE president, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, spoke to Netanyahu a week and a half before the attack, and told him Hamas was planning a major operation.
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Here are some of the latest images from Israel, as the country marks three years since the 7 October attack:
‘All I want to do is cry’: trauma of 7 October survivors three years after the attacks
Keith Siegel spent many of his long hours in Hamas captivity in Gaza etching everything that happened after 7 October 2023 into his memory. For 484 days, he recited to himself every place he was held, the dates he was moved and every attack or humiliation he endured or witnessed.
He aimed to store intelligence that could help Israeli forces free other hostages if he was released, to keep track of time as the days slid by and be able to tell his family what happened to him. Now his body is free, but he cannot loosen those memories.
“I’m living a kind of dual life,” he said in an interview in Tel Aviv. “I’m here for some of the time, and I’m in Gaza some of time. It’s very challenging to convey in words what it was like.”
Siegel and his wife, Aviva, were among 251 people taken captive to Gaza on the deadliest day in Israel’s history, when Hamas militants broke across the border to launch a wave of attacks on kibbutzim, border towns, military bases and music festivals.
“What happened to me in Gaza, what happened with Keith in Gaza, it’s there all the time,” said Aviva.
“I understand that it’s going to be a process of healing. There’s always things that remind me, and if I don’t remember, then he reminds me. If I’m cooking lunch or making a cup of tea and I turn around and see Keith with tears in his eyes, because he just read something or let himself feel.”
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Israel marks three years since 7 October attack by Hamas
We are starting our live coverage on the third anniversary of the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken captive to Gaza.
Israeli communities shattered by the massacres, torn between rebuilding their lives and remembering lost friends and relatives, have spoken to my colleague Emma Graham-Harrison about their experiences.
Israel responded to the attack by launching a devastating war on Gaza, during which at least 74,243 people have been killed, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
In 2025, a UN commission found that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, citing tens of thousands of civilian deaths and massive destruction. Israel denies accusations of genocide, but the war, which is continuing despite a nominal ceasefire, has left it isolated on the world stage.
Israel held a national memorial day on Monday for the victims of the Hamas attack and also remembered the soldiers who lost their lives fighting in Gaza.
Flags were lowered to half-staff at the Israeli parliament – the Knesset – and the president’s residence in the morning, while two state ceremonies were held at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.
Many Israelis are still grappling with the trauma of the 7 October attack, the deadliest in the country’s history, with the memory of the assault and its aftereffects continuing to loom large and feature heavily in political debate.
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