Israel Mourns October 7 - State Ceremony Live Now | WATCH

Israel is observing a national day of solemn remembrance today, with official state ceremonies commencing to honor the thousands of victims, civilian and military, of the Hamas October 7, 2023, massacre and the ensuing war. The commemoration, held after the Hebrew date of the attack (the 22th of Tishrei), is marked across the country by tributes that merge collective grief with national resolve.

The day’s ceremonies were inaugurated in Jerusalem with a deeply symbolic act at the nation’s parliament. Members of the Knesset Guard lowered the flags outside the parliament building to half-staff, a powerful visual acknowledgment of the unprecedented loss the country sustained.

Honors at the Knesset and Mount Herzl

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana led the early tributes, lighting a memorial lamp at the entrance reserved for lawmakers. He followed this with the laying of a wreath outside the building, honoring both the civilians massacred in the border communities and at the Nova music festival, and the soldiers who fell defending the country and in the ongoing “Swords of Iron” war.

The Knesset event serves as a prelude to two primary state ceremonies scheduled to take place at the national cemetery on Mount Herzl. Speaker Ohana is slated to participate in the first, an official memorial for the fallen troops, which started at 11 a.m. This will be followed by a state ceremony dedicated to the civilians killed on October 7 at 2 p.m.

The government’s decision to designate this Hebrew date as the official annual October 7 Remembrance Day, as opposed to the Gregorian date, aims to separate the solemnity of the memorial from the joy of the holiday of Simchat Torah, on which the attack occurred. This structuring establishes the 24th of Tishrei as a permanent date for national reflection, a new addition to Israel’s calendar of remembrance.

A Nation United in Grief

Across the country, the day is expected to be marked by local ceremonies, educational events, and moments of silence, as Israelis grapple with the collective trauma and the ongoing need for national recovery.

The memorial events underscore not only the immense tragedy of the attack, which claimed over 1,200 lives and resulted in more than 250 hostages being taken, but also the national commitment to the deceased hostages still held in Gaza and the thousands of soldiers fighting on multiple fronts.

As flags remain lowered across government institutions, the nation pauses to remember the victims and reflect on the security challenges that have fundamentally reshaped Israel’s social and political landscape over the past year.