Pope and UN secretary general call for end to fighting as governments and individuals commemorate attack by Hamas
World leaders, governments and individuals around the globe are marking the first anniversary of the 7 October terror attack launched by Hamas on Israel, with commemorations ranging from official statements to formal ceremonies and small private vigils.
The attack killed nearly 1,200 people, according to Israeli government figures, including hundreds at a music festival taking place in Re’im near the Israel-Gaza border. Militants also took about 250 hostages back to Gaza.
The Israeli offensive into Gaza it triggered has since killed nearly 42,000 people, most of them civilians, and injured almost 97,000, according to health authorities. The conflict has over the last year widened into a regional crisis involving Lebanon, where Israel is conducting heavy airstrikes nearly a year after Hezbollah militants began an exchange of fire, Iran and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
“The 7 October attack scarred souls,” said UN secretary general, António Guterres. “On this day, we remember all those who were brutally killed and suffered unspeakable violence – including sexual violence – as they were simply living their lives.”
Guterres said Monday was “a day for the global community to repeat in the loudest voice our utter condemnation of the abhorrent acts of Hamas, including the taking of hostages”, who must be released “immediately and unconditionally”.
He added that the “wave of shocking violence and bloodshed” that has since erupted “continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Palestinians in Gaza, and now the people of Lebanon” and it was “time to stop the suffering”.
