Israelis Commemorate the October 7th Hamas Massacre

Monday marked the first anniversary of the October 7th, 2023 Hamas massacre of Israelis in Gaza border communities, with commemorative events being held all over the country, as well as in other countries. Even as Israelis mourned, they were under attack by rockets and missiles fired at Israel from Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in the north, Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in the south and even further south, a ballistic missile was fired at Israel from the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Although most of the incoming weapons were intercepted, two women in Tel Aviv suffered shrapnel wounds and there was some damage to houses in a village in the Galilee.

Despite the warnings of possible rocket attacks, many Israelis were up early on Monday to stand in silence at 6:29 AM, the time when Hamas began firing rockets into the country to give cover for their cross-border rampage on October 7th, 2023. Over 3,000 terrorists came into Israeli territory that morning, most on foot through holes in the security fence and also a few by sea and by air, flying over the fence in crude but effective airborne gliders.

This began the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, with just over 1,200 Israelis murdered, many of them in cruel ways such as being burned alive. Many women were also raped that day, and even children were not spared. By the end of the day, 251 Israelis had been kidnapped into Gaza to be held as hostages by Hamas.

Many thousands of Israelis came to the Gaza border Monday morning to attend memorial services there amidst the remains of the communities that were hardest hit by the attacks. Most of the kibbutzeem have not seen the return of their surviving resident's and many of the buildings have still not begun to be cleaned up and repaired. The surviving residents report being deeply conflicted about what to do next.

However, Israel's enemies do not appear to be conflicted, but rather determined to continue harassing and terrorizing Israelis with rocket attacks and in any other way they can.