Three years on from the deadliest day in Israel's modern history, the country paused this morning - flags at half-mast, sirens silent, but grief still raw.

Israel is marking its National Memorial Day for the October 7 attacks today, and you can feel the weight of it everywhere.

In his address, Netanyahu struck a defiant tone: “In Gaza, there will be no rule by Hamas. Anyone who was involved in the attack against us, anyone who held our hostages, is living on borrowed time. We will reach him, just as we reached the others.”

This wasn’t just an isolated attack. October 7, 2023, was the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust and a massive intelligence and security failure for Israel. It triggered a war that has now lasted almost three years, reshaping the Middle East.

On the other side of the border, the human cost has been catastrophic. The Palestinian death toll in Gaza from the Israel-Hamas war has now surpassed 74,000, according to health authorities in the Strip, with much of the enclave in ruins and most of its 2.3 million people displaced. It’s a figure that has put Israel under intense international pressure and scrutiny at the ICJ and ICC.

Historically, Israel has marked the Hebrew anniversary of the attack, but last year the Knesset voted to create a fixed Gregorian date — October 7 — as a National Memorial Day, putting it alongside Yom HaShoah and Yom Hazikaron in the national calendar. That’s why you’re seeing full state protocol today — lowered flags, schools holding memorial assemblies, and names being read aloud.

Beyond the politics and the podiums, today is about people. It’s about the survivors of Kibbutz Be’eri and Kfar Aza, the families of the Nova festival, the soldiers who fought for hours waiting for reinforcements, and the hostage families who have been camping outside the Knesset for months. For them, “three years” doesn’t mean closure. It means 1,095 days of trauma, advocacy, and unanswered questions.

Why It Matters:

Why should we still be paying attention three years on? Because October 7 didn’t just start a war — it shattered a status quo. It ended any illusion of containment around Gaza, shattered Israel’s sense of security, fuelled a regional escalation involving Lebanon, Iran, Yemen and beyond, and has become the defining moment for a generation of Israelis and Palestinians. How Israel chooses to remember is also how it chooses to define what comes next.

What is National Memorial Day for October 7?

Think of it as Israel’s newest day of collective mourning. Unlike the fluid Hebrew calendar date, this is fixed on October 7 each year. Government offices hold ceremonies, flags fly at half-mast until sunset, and the official ceremonies in Jerusalem — one at the President’s Residence and one at Mount Herzl — honour both the victims of the attack and the soldiers who have fallen since. There is no nationwide siren like on Yom HaShoah, but there is a minute’s silence at the state ceremonies.

What’s Next?

This evening’s ceremonies in Jerusalem will close the formal commemorations. Politically, all eyes will be on what Netanyahu signals about the future of Gaza — his “no Hamas rule” comment will be pored over in Washington, Cairo and Doha, where ceasefire and post-war governance talks have stalled.

For many Israelis, the next step is more personal: returning to border communities that are still rebuilding, pushing for a full state commission of inquiry into the failures of October 7, and demanding answers on the remaining hostages.

We’ll continue to follow developments as they happen on cbinews.tv.

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