One year ago today, Israel suffered the deadliest attack in its history. What followed was a new war in the Gaza Strip, a conflagration in the occupied West Bank and an unprecedented escalation of the conflict in the region. RFI looks back on this unprecedented day of October 7, 2023 with reports, testimonies, analyzes and guests.
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Israel launched this Monday, October 7, the ceremonies marking the first anniversary of the Hamas attack, on October 7, 2023, the deadliest day in the country’s history, having sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
with Denis Charbit, professor of political science at the Open University of Israel, specialist in Israeli society, author of “Israel, the Impossible Normal State” (Calmann Levy)
Special Israel Edition – October 7, 1 year later – Part 1: the consequences for Israel
In Réïm, at the scene of the Nova music festival massacre, where more than 370 people were killed, a collected crowd kicked off these ceremonies with a minute of silence at precisely 6:29 a.m. local time (3:29 a.m. UT) , the moment of the start of the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on southern Israel.
Barely minutes after the start of the ceremonies, at least four projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory, said the army, which said it intercepted three of them while the fourth fell in an uninhabited place. The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, saying they had targeted a kibbutz, a military base and a gathering of Israeli soldiers.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, present at the commemorations, met families of victims and is expected to deliver a speech. The Reim ceremony is the first in a series of memorial events to take place throughout the day as the country remains at war in Gaza, and now also in Lebanon, where the Israeli army launched war a ground offensive against the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah.
The Israeli president called on the world to “ support Israel in its fight against its enemies “.
Also readIsrael-Gaza: October 7, 2023, the day a new war began
In a press release, the French president Emmanuel Macron estimated this Monday that “ the pain remains as bad as it was a year ago “, “ that of the Israeli people, ours, that of wounded humanity “.
Testimonials
On October 7, 2023, in Israel, a majority of civilians also lost their lives or were kidnapped. Listen to the tragic testimony of Sabine Taasa. This Franco-Israeli woman and her family experienced absolute horror. Her eldest son and her husband were killed by Hamas.
The Taasa lived in Netiv Haasara on the outskirts of Gaza. On October 7, Or camped near his home, on Zikim beach. Hamas commandos arrive by sea. “Or was assassinated at 6:49 a.m. Six bullets in the head. Everything was filmed [et diffusé] live by the terrorists.
Sabine Taasa, survivor of October 7, says: “I lost my husband Gil Taasa. And my son Or Taasa. He was 17 years old.