The anniversary of Israel’s darkest day began with the sounds of the war that has haunted this region ever since.
Artillery pounded Gaza and Apache helicopters fired into the strip from overhead.
Close by, thousands gathered at first light at the site of the Nova music festival, the scene of the biggest massacre that morning – 364 people were murdered here, and 40 were taken hostage.
Middle East latest: Dad recalls day his son was killed by Hamas
Some had tried to hide in the trees, others jumped in their cars to escape, and a few even played dead and prayed for help to arrive. But it was Hamas that came – from three sides.
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The blood of their victims is now seeped into the very sand on which they had danced all night.
Some cried silent tears, others couldn’t control the agony of their loss.
Not a single Israeli is untouched by the violent events of that day and time has healed nothing for so many.
The president of Israel came to console the relatives of the dead and spoke of the barbarism of that day.
“A year has passed since life came to a halt, the skies darkened, and all of us witnessed the monstrous cruelty of the enemy,” Isaac Herzog said to those mourning in Re’im.
“We are all still in pain, and we seek to make space for national mourning, for the tears over the terrible disaster that struck us.”
In the war that followed, the IDF has destroyed Hamas’s ability to attack Israel in the same way again, but they have also destroyed much of Gaza.
The pain of loss, and the trauma of war, aren’t felt by Israel alone.
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Israel is a country united in grief, but it is also one divided over the course of the war.
Thousands started their day outside Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem – angry that 97 hostages remain in Gaza and no ceasefire has been agreed to free them.
The 7 October massacre will forever be part of Israel’s history, but how it will change the country’s future is still a question unresolved.
