Third anniversary of October 7th: Israel remembers the victims of the major Hamas attack

On the third anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, people in the country remembered the victims. At the Nova Music Festival memorial site near Kibbutz Re'im in the south of the country, those present held a minute's silence at exactly 6:29 a.m., the start of the massacres three years ago, bowing their heads amid portraits of their slain family members and friends. Several commemorative events are planned across the country on Wednesday - in addition to Re'im, including in the Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which was attacked by the Islamists, near the border with the Gaza Strip.

In the massacres on October 7, 2023, the Islamists and their allies killed 1,221 people and kidnapped 251 victims as hostages in the Gaza Strip. At the Nova festival alone they killed at least 370 people and took 44 hostages. Israel responded with a massive crackdown in the Gaza Strip that killed more than 74,200 people, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. Despite a ceasefire agreed in October last year, the Israeli army continues to attack targets in the Gaza Strip. (afp)

Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) emphasizes Germany's support for Israel on the anniversary of the attack by the terrorist group Hamas on October 7, 2023. "Germany stands firmly on Israel's side. Our Israeli friends can count on our commitment to ensure that such a crime never occurs again," said the Chancellor. “We stand up for the security and existence of Israel – that is a lesson from the Shoah and part of German identity.” It must now be a matter of laying a foundation for a new order in which Israelis, Palestinians and their neighbors can live in peace and security. “We are convinced that this goal can best be achieved through the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel,” said Merz.

The Chancellor also spoke about anti-Semitism in Germany. "In Germany today we are experiencing increasing anti-Semitism, which far too often goes unchallenged. The federal government will do everything in its power to consistently combat anti-Semitism in all its new and old forms." Jews throughout Germany should be able to live without fear. "And we oppose those who relativize or even question Israel's right to exist. Not just on October 7th, but every day," said Merz. (dpa)

Three years after the start of the Middle East war, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a permanent ceasefire. A stable ceasefire between the terrorist group Hamas and Israel must lead to peace and reconstruction, said Guterres on Monday (local time) in New York. Since October 2025 there has been a very fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Guterres condemned Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 as heinous. Nothing could justify the violence that left more than 1,200 people dead.

The UN Secretary General also condemned the kidnapping of around 250 people from Israel by Hamas, many of the hostages were killed. He also lamented the “immeasurable suffering” inflicted on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by Israel’s military offensive. According to UN agencies, Israeli attacks have killed more than 70,000 people, including 20,000 children. More than 100,000 people were injured. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.1 million residents have been displaced, and much of the territory lies in ruins. (epd)

With a joint prayer, clerics from different religions want to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist Hamas and send a message of peace. Rabbi Andreas Nachama, Pastor Marion Gardei and Imam Kadir Sanci of the interreligious project House of One will pray on Wednesday (6 p.m.) together with the Protestant Bishop Christian Stäblein and the Catholic Archbishop Heiner Koch in the Memorial Church in Berlin, as they announced.

“Our religions share the message of peace and charity,” said Imam Sanci on the occasion of the third anniversary of the massacre. “Jewish, Muslim, Christian and other people must join hands so that the suffering comes to an end.” Rabbi Nachama added that they wanted to send a sign of peaceful coexistence. “This spiral of violence must be stopped.” The victims of the Hamas attack in Israel are also a reminder to take a stand against hatred and hostility, emphasized Pastor Gardei. "We want to advocate for a peaceful and friendly relationship between cultures and religions. Also in our city." (dpa)

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Instagram that on that day Hamas committed the “largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.” For many Jews, October 7th divides the time into a “before” and an “after”. “This day was the beginning of an almost endless martyrdom for hundreds of hostages and their families,” said the CDU politician. Wadephul emphasized that he was also painfully aware that there was a “horrific increase in anti-Semitism,” including in Germany. This federal government, he says, is resolutely opposing this. But it is also the task not only of politics, but of the community, to ensure that Jewish life is safe and natural everywhere. “Yes, it is shameful how much still remains to be done here. In Germany and worldwide,” stated Wadephul. (kna)

The Hamas terrorist attack on Israel three years ago is being remembered today with commemorative events and a church service in Berlin, but also in other German cities. Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor and Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) will speak at the central commemoration in the afternoon (3 p.m.). In the afternoon, the Bundestag will debate the protection of Jewish life in Germany. To mark the third anniversary, the Israeli flag will be projected onto the Brandenburg Gate from evening until midnight. (dpa)

The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, criticizes the fact that some anti-Semitic slogans have not yet been prosecuted in Germany. In a guest article for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Wednesday) on the third anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, he calls for a change in criminal law. “We need an amendment to our law that addresses current anti-Semitism for what it is: an ongoing attack on Jewish life,” writes Schuster. Three years after Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel, "hatred of Jews has returned in a new guise" and is expressed in anti-Semitic numerical codes, word games or slogans such as "From the River to the Sea".

The current law only knows the “old anti-Semitism,” writes Schuster. This is irrelevant in the current everyday attacks on Jews. The 72-year-old is therefore calling on politicians to specify "that it cannot be important to explicitly name the group concerned if the direction of attack of a statement appears to every sensible person in this country as an attack on Jews." Too often, cases are dropped even though it is obvious that they involve anti-Semitic incitement. Schuster also demands that hatred against Jews in Israel or other countries not be treated more leniently in criminal law than hatred against Jews in Germany. Both are aimed at “the same people and have the same effect,” he writes. (epd)

On the occasion of the third anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, the General Secretary of the CSU, Martin Huber, warned of renewed anti-Semitism in Germany. “October 7th is a shocking reminder of what anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel can culminate in,” Huber told the news portal t-online. “There cannot be the slightest doubt that we stand firmly with the Israeli people.” Israel's right to exist is non-negotiable. Huber further emphasized that it was all the more frightening that hatred of Jews was being “openly taken onto the streets again” in Germany. “On a day like today it becomes particularly clear how repulsive the dangerous anti-Semitism of the Berlin Left is,” continued Huber. “We do not tolerate hatred against Jews in our country.” It is clear to his party that Germany is the guarantor of protection for Jewish life. (kna)

The terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas on Israel three years ago will also be commemorated in Berlin on Wednesday with several commemorative events and a church service. Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor and Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) will speak at the central commemoration on the afternoon of the anniversary (3 p.m.) on Bebelplatz at Humboldt University.

In the evening, an interfaith service is planned in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Breitscheidplatz near the Ku'damm. It is designed by the Protestant Bishop Christian Stäblein, the Catholic Archbishop Heiner Koch and the Jewish Rabbi Andreas Nachama. To mark the third anniversary, the Israeli flag will be projected onto the Brandenburg Gate from evening until midnight. There are also numerous other smaller commemorative events throughout the day: a prayer in the central synagogue of the Jewish community, an installation by the Jewish Student Union at Pariser Platz, a commemoration by the German-Israeli Society in Steglitz-Zehlendorf and a silent remembrance by the Lichtenberg district office.

However, two anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian events have also been announced, which are directed against Israel's war in Gaza, which has left thousands dead. In the afternoon (4 p.m.) a demonstration with the title "Three years of genocide. Stop the Gaza genocide. Stop the war" will take place in Mitte near Checkpoint Charlie. In the evening from 6 p.m., demonstrators also want to march from Kreuzberg to Hermannplatz in Neukölln under the title “Down with Colonialism”. 150 participants are registered. The starting point of the protest march was originally supposed to be at the Schlesisches Tor. However, the police ordered a transfer to Oranienplatz in order to create a local distance from possible participants, as a police spokesman said.

The background is calls on the Internet glorifying violence. The police are investigating that. The terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas is described there as a “beacon of steadfastness”. The picture shows a bulldozer breaking through a fence and barbed wire. On October 7, 2023, the terrorists drove such bulldozers from Gaza through the border fence into Israeli territory to carry out the massacres of residents and other people there. (dpa)

On the third anniversary of the major Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Federal Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) warned of an increase in anti-Semitism in Germany. “On this day, I am also painfully aware that since then we have been experiencing a horrific increase in anti-Semitism, including in our country,” said Wadephul in a video published on the online service Instagram on Tuesday.

The federal government and he personally opposed this anti-Semitism “with determination,” Wadephul continued. Anti-Semitism is an attack on “our community,” he continued. “Everyone remains called upon to work for the cohesion of our country as a whole.” Therefore, it remains “our common task to ensure that Jewish life in our country is safe and natural everywhere,” added the Federal Foreign Minister. (afp)

Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner laid a wreath in Tel Aviv in memory of the hostages who were kidnapped and murdered in the Hamas terrorist attack. The CDU politician traveled to Berlin's Israeli sister city to mark the third anniversary of the terrorist attack on Israel. According to the Senate Chancellery, Wegner met with Mayor Ron Huldai there for a discussion. Huldai also accompanied Wegner to Hostage Square, Tel Aviv's central site for commemorating the terrorist attack. Huldai had invited Wegner. Both signed the city twinning agreement in the Red City Hall in May last year - Tel Aviv is Berlin's 19th twin city.

Wegner wants to travel on to Jerusalem on Wednesday. We then plan to visit Kibbutz Re'im and the site of the Nova music festival on the border with the Gaza Strip. The kibbutz and the festival were attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. It is the third anniversary of the Hamas attack. Wegner said: “It is therefore important to me, as the governing mayor of the twin city of Berlin, to be here in Tel Aviv and to think of the people who experienced the suffering.” Berlin stands firmly on the side of Tel Aviv and firmly on the side of Israel. (dpa)