Three years ago today, on 7 October 2023, Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza.
It became the deadliest single day in Israel’s history.
The October 7 Hamas attack struck Israeli communities, military positions and an outdoor music festival near the Gaza border. Among those taken hostage were civilians and soldiers, men and women, children and elderly people, as well as Israeli and foreign nationals.
For Israelis, the date became synonymous with lives lost, families torn apart and a profound sense that the security on which communities near the Gaza border had relied had suddenly collapsed.
Three years later, communities attacked that morning are again gathering to remember those who were killed and taken.
A morning of music turned into terror
Thousands of people had gathered near Re’im for the Supernova music festival when the attack began.
As militants crossed into southern Israel, festival-goers fled the site, with some attempting to escape by car and others hiding in fields and roadside shelters.
The festival was one of several locations attacked that morning. Militants also entered communities including Be’eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz and Nahal Oz, killing residents and taking others hostage. These sites would later form part of the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s investigation into crimes committed during the attack.
Reuters has described how militants attacked villages, the music festival and military bases during the assault.
Communities overrun
The scale of the attack became clearer as Israeli forces reached communities close to the Gaza border.
In Kibbutz Be’eri, around one in 10 residents were killed. Homes were burned and damaged, families were separated and residents were taken hostage.
Kfar Aza was also overrun. Dozens of Israelis were killed there and 19 people were taken hostage, according to Reuters. Three years later, most residents have still not returned to the kibbutz.
Some survivors spent hours hiding while fighting continued around them, waiting for Israeli forces to reach their communities.
The violence also exposed a catastrophic failure of Israeli security and prompted continuing demands from survivors and bereaved families for accountability over how the country was left vulnerable to the assault.
251 people taken hostage
The taking of 251 hostages became one of the defining elements of the October 7 Hamas attack.
They included civilians and soldiers of different ages and nationalities. Some were taken from their homes, others from the festival and other locations attacked that morning.
Children were among them.
Avigail Idan, an Israeli-American girl who was three years old at the time, was abducted from Kfar Aza after both of her parents were killed. She was released almost two months later during a temporary truce.
Other hostages remained in Gaza for months or years. Most were eventually freed in exchanges during ceasefires, while dozens did not survive captivity.
For survivors, release did not mean that the experience simply ended. Former hostages have described the lasting effects of captivity and the difficulty of rebuilding ordinary lives after returning home.
Emily Damari, who was abducted while wounded from her home in Kfar Aza and released in January 2025, told Reuters ahead of this year’s anniversary that captivity had changed the way she viewed everyday life.
Three years later
On Wednesday, residents returned to Kfar Aza to commemorate the third anniversary.
They stood in silence as a trumpet sounded and the names of those killed were read aloud.
“This is the first time we are doing all the things here in the kibbutz,” community leader Zion Regev said.
“It’s a very emotional day, it’s a very difficult day for our community, three years after October 7th.”
The attack triggered the Gaza war and a wider period of conflict across the Middle East. Its consequences have extended far beyond the communities attacked that morning.
But on 7 October, the anniversary remains a day of remembrance for those whose lives changed within hours: the people who were killed, the 251 taken hostage, those who survived, and the families and communities left behind.
Three years later, the names, photographs and stories of those caught in the attack remain at the centre of Israel’s remembrance of its deadliest day.
Also read: MED9 reaffirms support for Cyprus settlement and Schengen bid
For more videos and updates, check out our YouTube channel
