Israel marks anniversary of Hamas attack as conflict escalates

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Israelis on Monday marked the first anniversary of Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack, which ignited a devastating war in Gaza that has spiralled into a multi-front conflict and threatens to destabilise the entire region.

In the year since, the fighting has spread across the Middle East, with Israeli forces exchanging fire with militants in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, launching a ferocious bombing campaign and ground offensive in Lebanon and on the verge of a broader conflict with Iran.

Minutes after the commemorations began at 06.29am — the same time as Hamas’s surprise attack a year ago — militants fired four rockets at Israel, sending participants at a vigil in Kfar Aza, one of the kibbutzim attacked last year, into shelters. Hamas later launched another round of rockets that set off sirens in Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, Israeli jets bombed targets across Gaza to thwart what the military said was an “immediate” threat of rocket fire, and launched further strikes against the Hizbollah militant group in southern Lebanon.

At the site of the Nova music festival, one of the centres of Hamas’s onslaught, Israeli President Isaac Herzog laid a wreath at a ceremony that began with the final song played at the party last year.

“This is a scar on humanity,” he said. “This is a scar on the face of the earth.”

Other vigils and events are due to be held throughout the country on Monday, including in the southern communities devastated by Hamas’s attack, and Tel Aviv, where a memorial ceremony will be held for the families of victims.

Hamas’s October 7 attack was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, with its militants killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and taking a further 250 people hostage.

More than 100 people are still being held in Gaza, although Israeli officials have said that not all are believed to be alive. Relatives of hostages holding pictures of their loved ones gathered on Monday outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem, where they held a minute’s silence.

In response to Hamas’s attack, Israel launched a massive assault on Gaza, which has killed almost 42,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, displaced most of its 2.3mn inhabitants and fuelled a humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.

On Sunday, Israeli forces launched a fresh offensive in Jabalia, bombarding and then encircling the neighbourhood in northern Gaza, with officials saying Hamas was regrouping in the area, where Israel has carried out several large operations throughout the war.

Despite the uptick in fighting in Gaza, in recent weeks, Israel has increasingly focused its forces on its border with Lebanon, where it has been trading fire with Hizbollah since the militant group began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas last October.

Last week, Israel began a ground offensive against Hizbollah, following a devastating bombing campaign that has decimated the group’s chain of command — including killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah — left more than 1,000 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Overnight, Israeli forces bombed more targets in Beirut, following a round of strikes on Sunday that data from Acled, which has been mapping the attacks, suggested was the most intense night in Israel’s two-week air campaign.

In an indication that Israel was also stepping up its ground offensive in Lebanon, the Israeli military said on Monday that soldiers from a third division — the 91st — had joined the fighting.

Meanwhile, Israeli paramedics said they had treated 10 people for injuries and anxiety after rockets launched from Lebanon landed in Haifa and Tiberias on Sunday night.

The spiralling hostilities have also drawn in Iran, which last week launched 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in a barrage that it said was a response to Nasrallah’s assassination and the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

Netanyahu has vowed retaliation for the missile attack, and the country’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Sunday that the response would come “in the manner of our choosing, at the time and place of our choosing”.