Netanyahu vows no let-up in war despite pressure over hostages as Israel marks October 7 attacks

Many Israelis shunned the official commemoration, saying the government sought to absolve itself of blame

The families of hostages held in Gaza hold a silent protest to mark one year since the October 7 attack by Hamas. Reuters

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to have the last word on the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks, refusing to accept blame and pledging to continue the war in Gaza – even in the face of growing domestic pressure.

“As we have often experienced in our history, it is in dark moments such as [October 7] that we exude our great inner power,” he said in a pre-recorded address.

“When put to the test we proved, once again, that we are the Eternal People. A people that fights to bring light to this world, that aspires to spread good and eradicate evil. A people that rises like a lion, leaps up like a lion.”

Mr Netanyahu’s speech was part of the official memorial ceremony, held in the southern town of Ofakim, which was one of the many southern communities affected by the attacks. About 1,200 people were killed on October 7 and 251 were taken hostage.

“We are changing the security reality in our region; for the sake of our children, for the sake of our future, to ensure that what happened on the seventh of October will not happen again. Never again,” Mr Netanyahu said in a cabinet address.

In a year of war on several fronts, 728 soldiers and other security personnel have been killed and almost 4,600 injured, while more than 26,000 projectiles have been fired at Israel, the army said on Monday.

Israel is fighting in Gaza, where around 42,000 people have been killed in Israeli fire, and in Lebanon, where its army killed over 2,000 people, and is on the brink of a direct war with Iran while also striking targets in Yemen and Syria.

Israeli citizen Gilad Korngold, whose son Tal Shoham is being held hostage in Gaza, dismissed much of what Mr Netanyahu said and viewed the official ceremony with contempt.

“Go to North Korea and you’ll see exactly the same thing,” he told The National. “Who will they blame for October 7 in that event? Which of them will admit they are responsible? Someone needs to be blamed. It wasn’t aliens from the moon that did the attacks. What happens in North Korea? They make it all about the Dear Leader – in Israel, Netanyahu – and nothing else.”

He spent the day attending events across the country calling on the government to do more to bring the hostages home. The gatherings blurred memorial with protest. People chanted, sang and held aloft photos of the hostages and the dead. One took place in the Re’im forest, the site of the Nova Festival where hundreds were killed. Another gathering happened outside Mr Netanyahu’s Jerusalem home. Others took place in Tel Aviv and further north.

Mr Korngold spoke to The National from an alternative memorial event for bereaved families, in Tel Aviv. It was an evening of emotional songs and speeches, set up as an apolitical alternative to the Ofakim ceremony, which was dogged by public criticism months before it took place. Many of the bereaved had said they would boycott the Ofakim event, which they viewed as an attempt by the government to deflect blame.

“We don’t know what to do with Benjamin Netanyahu,” Mr Korngold said. “He does everything he cannot to make a hostage deal. I don’t trust this government.”

The father is waiting for another hostage release deal for his son. Other family members were released during one in November, but Tal was not among them.

He spoke to The National as other families sat at the front of the large open-air ground. Some were wearing group T-shirts with pictures of their dead. Others clutched sunflowers, a symbol of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Mr Korngold said his main struggle during the anniversary was keeping his grandsons and daughter-in-law “afloat”. They were also taken hostage on October 7 but were released during the November deal. Tal is their father and husband.

“They are in bad shape,” Mr Korngold said. “Rather than getting better, it’s getting worse and worse because their father isn’t coming back. It’s been chaos in the house. They know the horror of where he is. They know the conditions.”

About 2,000 people attended the Tel Aviv memorial, despite rocket sirens sounding across the city and central Israel an hour before the event began. All of those attending, except a few journalists, were direct relatives or close friends of victims.

“It still feels surreal, like a nightmare that we are still supposed to wake up from eventually,” resident Ariel Tamir said.

In Jerusalem, Shir Siegel said the wait for her father's return from captivity has been agonising. “A year has passed but actually one long day has passed that feels like an eternity,” she told AFP.

“Our loved ones are still in captivity,” demonstrator Yuli Ben Ami told AFP. “It's a really hard punch in the gut. It's a year that just disappeared.”

Empty spaces

About 40,000 members of the general public had initially been given tickets, but military authorities ordered that numbers be reduced amid the heightened risk of rocket fire and attacks. The directive came so late that organisers had not dismantled the infrastructure in place to deal with the large crowds that were no longer coming.

Empty spaces in the park were sectioned off with metal fences and dotted with tall scaffolding for speakers, barren of any visitors except the odd policeman or soldier. Security was extremely tight, even though numbers were greatly reduced.

Outside the event, people sat outside the fence in solidarity with the 2,000 that would soon be making their way out.

“I’m active not just in the movement to get the hostages home, I’m also militant against my government,” Mr Korngold said. “I hate them. They’re a bunch of zeros. Netanyahu’s just looking for the next person to fight.”

“People say this is an anniversary, a year, but that label doesn’t make any sense to me. This is the same suffering as any other day. Tal is suffering like every other day since October 7. The family is suffering like every other day.”