Tuesday marked the second somber anniversary of the devastating Hamas-led attack that plunged Israel into its longest war. While new glimmers of hope for peace talks emerge, the nation remains profoundly affected, with hostages still held captive, its military exhausted, and a tragic increase in Palestinian casualties and widespread destruction in Gaza.
The observance of Sukkot, a significant national and religious holiday, brought most Israeli businesses to a standstill. Official commemorations for the war’s traumatic opening day were postponed until October 16, following the High Holiday season.
Despite the delay, the significance of Tuesday’s milestone was palpable across the country.
Hushed gatherings took place in several kibbutzim near Gaza, communities that bore the brunt of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacres. Informal memorial events also brought people together nationwide.
In Rehovot, a city south of Tel Aviv, approximately 20 runners, wearing t-shirts emblazoned with pleas for the hostages’ return, ran a popular route at dawn. This town is home to Nimrod Cohen, a soldier still held captive, and passing cars offered supportive honks.
Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square saw hundreds of Israelis gathering in quiet reflection. They contemplated art installations and memorials honoring those still held captive and citizens who perished either during the Oct. 7 attacks or in subsequent captivity. Current intelligence suggests approximately 20 living hostages remain in Gaza, alongside the remains of 28 others.
Ilana Yahav, a 69-year-old therapist, reflected on the profound and widespread trauma of Oct. 7, stating that the sheer number of wounds opened makes it impossible to address everyone’s suffering.
She emphasized the long-lasting impact, noting that direct experience, familial connection, or even just witnessing videos of the events would necessitate many years of healing.
Tzlil Sasson, 38, and her husband traveled from Lehavim, east of Gaza, bringing their three young children to the memorials.
“As parents, it was crucial for us to bring them here, to remember, and to pray,” she shared, expressing a hopeful wish that “maybe, in a couple of days, the hostages will be free.”
In Kfar Aza, a small kibbutz located under two miles from Gaza, which tragically lost at least 62 residents and had 19 taken hostage, dozens gathered for a memorial. It began with a moment of silence at 6:29 a.m. – the precise time on that fateful Saturday morning when Hamas launched thousands of rockets, overwhelming Israel’s sophisticated air-defense system.
Hidden by the barrage of rockets, the primary Hamas offensive unfolded: thousands of assailants stormed across the border fence, invading towns and numerous small agricultural communities. They executed residents in their homes, massacred young attendees at a music festival, and overran Israeli military installations.
In total, Hamas claimed the lives of approximately 1,200 people, predominantly civilians, and abducted around 250 individuals back into Gaza. This became the deadliest day in Israel’s history and the most catastrophic for Jews globally since the Holocaust.
In the wake of these attacks, a shocked Israel initiated a devastating military response. According to the Gaza health ministry, this campaign has resulted in the deaths of over 67,000 Palestinians, encompassing both civilians and combatants, over the past two years.
The conflict has also wounded tens of thousands, leveled countless buildings, and transformed much of Gaza’s infrastructure and landscape into rubble and sand.
Palestinians in Gaza have been trapped in a relentless cycle of displacement, repeatedly forced to flee Israeli assaults from one supposed safe zone to another. Compounding this tragedy, severe food shortages and significant barriers to humanitarian aid distribution led an international panel of hunger experts to declare parts of the enclave were experiencing famine conditions in August.
Within Israel, the protracted war and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s perceived inability to conclude it in exchange for the remaining hostages have deepened societal divisions, reopening pre-existing rifts that predate the Oct. 7 attack.
Critics argue that Netanyahu has prolonged the conflict, even bypassing potential cease-fire opportunities after dismantling Hamas’s leadership, allegedly to maintain his right-wing coalition and secure his political position.
This extended conflict has compelled reservists into repeated, long tours of duty, straining the national economy and disrupting personal lives. It has also intensified long-standing grievances against ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are typically exempt from military service.
The manner in which Israel has conducted the war – marked by a staggering casualty count, horrific images of killed and maimed children in Gaza, and explicit statements from Netanyahu’s far-right allies advocating for the depopulation and annexation of the territory – has fueled widespread accusations of genocide, including from a United Nations commission and Amnesty International.
Israel vehemently refutes these allegations, asserting its military’s efforts to protect Palestinian civilians through warnings before attacks. It further accuses Hamas fighters of deliberately endangering civilians by operating from within densely populated areas and using facilities like hospitals and schools as cover.
Globally, the outrage stemming from the war has tragically ignited a surge in antisemitism and violence targeting Jewish communities. Notable incidents include the killing of an elderly woman at a Boulder, Colorado, march supporting hostages; the murder of two Israeli Embassy workers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C.; and the deaths of two worshipers at a Manchester, England, synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism.
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged decisive action against antisemitism, criticizing students for organizing protests scheduled for the grim anniversary of the Oct. 7 atrocities.
He wrote in The Times of London, “This is not who we are as a country. It’s un-British to have so little respect for others.”
The protracted nature of the war has also intensified Israel’s isolation on the international stage. This became starkly evident in late September when ten nations, including long-standing allies such as Britain, Canada, France, and Australia, took the unprecedented step of recognizing Palestinian statehood.
Paradoxically, despite this diplomatic shift, the realization of Palestinian political aspirations seems more distant than ever.
The Oct. 7 attacks fundamentally altered Israeli politics, pushing many liberals who once championed peace towards a more right-wing stance, now feeling betrayed and opposing a Palestinian state bordering Israel.
On Tuesday, the war’s conclusion felt distant on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border.
Despite Hamas’s weakened state and depleted arsenal, rocket sirens blared in Netiv HaAsara, an Israeli community on Gaza’s northern border, after 7 a.m., with the Israeli military confirming a projectile impact in the vicinity.
Meanwhile, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Israeli warplanes roared overhead at 1 a.m. and again after 5:30 a.m. Sunrise brought with it the sound of gunfire from the eastern part of town, punctuated by intermittent artillery blasts.
Ahmed al-Haddad, 51, a Gaza resident displaced five times with his wife and four children, expressed that their current suffering eclipses even the accounts his grandparents shared of the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” during Israel’s war for independence.
He described the ongoing conflict as “the harshest, the most merciless,” lamenting, “It feels like history repeating itself, only harder.”
Back in Israel, the intended moment of silence at 6:29 a.m. in Kfar Aza was shattered by the constant whine of drones, overhead helicopters, and frequent explosions echoing through the air.
Zion Regev, a local leader, delivered an adapted version of the traditional Jewish mourning prayer. His voice faltered as he mentioned “our Gali and Ziv” — two brothers from Kfar Aza still held hostage in Gaza, whose return remains desperately awaited.
Nitzan Kaner, 37, who endured being trapped for about 30 hours during the militant attack, stated, “Some say what happened is receding into the distance, but for me, it’s stronger than ever.”
On Tuesday morning, she recounted a sleepless night, confessing, “I couldn’t stop thinking about what we went through.”
Nearby, hundreds of Israelis converged on the Nova music festival site, where over 300 lives were lost. Here, signs displaying the faces of the victims are thoughtfully arranged in rows, reminiscent of dancers at a rave.
Anat Magnezi held a poster bearing the image of her 22-year-old son, Amit, who was tragically killed, covering her own face with it.
“I wish that all the world would see this and know what happened to us and that it is real,” she expressed, adding with sorrow, “But all the world is against us now.”
Roman Fourmann, alongside his family, stood at a small memorial honoring his 23-year-old stepdaughter, Dana Petrenko, who was killed with her boyfriend.
“It feels no different today than when it happened two years ago,” he remarked. “We go to work, we keep on living. But we can’t shake the feeling that it’s still Oct. 7.”
A correction has been issued on October 7, 2025: An earlier version of this report mistakenly identified a victim of an antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado, as a man. Due to a reporting error, the victim killed at a march supporting Israeli hostages was, in fact, a woman.