November 10, 2025
REIM, Israel (AP) — Thousands of people converged on southern Israel on Tuesday to mourn the dead as the nation marked two years since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack plunged the region into a devastating war, while Israel and Hamas pressed on with indirect peace talks in Egypt.
The main memorial in Tel Aviv, planned for later in the evening and organized by the bereaved families, is separate from a ceremony that the government will hold on the anniversary next week, according to the Hebrew calendar.
In the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed tens of thousands of people and razed entire towns and cities, those who can are fleeing another Israeli invasion of Gaza City, while others are sheltering in place.
It’s been two years since thousands of Hamas-led terrorists poured into southern Israel after a surprise barrage of rockets. They stormed army bases, farming communities, and an outdoor music festival, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, including women, children, and older adults.
They abducted 251 others, most of whom have since been released in ceasefires or other deals. Forty-eight hostages remain inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to still be alive. Hamas has said it will release them only in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until all of the captives are returned and Hamas has been disarmed.
The attack set in motion a cascade of events that led Israel into combat with Iran and its allies across the region, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which suffered major losses. The United States joined Israel in attacking Iran’s military and nuclear program in June.
Israel has killed several top militants as well as Iranian generals and nuclear scientists, and it has vastly depleted the military capabilities of its enemies while seizing control over most of Gaza as well as parts of Lebanon and Syria.
Nearly 400 Israelis were killed and dozens abducted from the Nova music festival in the border community of Reim. Over the last two years, it has emerged as a memorial site, with portraits of the kidnapped and the fallen.
Though there was no official ceremony at the Nova site, due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot that coincides with the anniversary, scores of people gathered to share memories of relatives and friends who were killed. They weaved through hundreds of photos encircling the spot where the DJ booth stood. At 6:29 am, the exact time the attack began, the music — the same track that revelers were listening to at the time — stopped for a moment of silence.
People embraced and spoke of their loss. Alon Muskinov, 28, who was at the festival and lost three of his closest friends, said the survivors live with the horrors of that day.
"We are reliving this every day anew, every day we remember them,” he said.
Yehuda Rahmani, whose daughter Sharon — a police officer at the festival — was also among those killed, said he visits the Nova site daily, to be at the last place where she was alive.
To this day, Rahmani keeps hoping he will run into a survivor who could tell him about his daughter's last moments. He is angry at the government for not launching an inquiry into the security failures of that day.
"When you don’t know what happened, it makes it so much harder,” he said.
Meanwhile, explosions echoed from Gaza and smoke billowed over the strip. The army said a rocket was launched from northern Gaza in the morning, but no damage or injuries were reported.
The Tel Aviv ceremony is organized by Yonatan Shamriz, whose brother Alon was among three hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli forces after they escaped captivity early in the war.
Shay Dickmann, who lost her aunt outside her house in Kibbutz Be'eri on the day of the attack while her cousin, Carmel Gat, was taken hostage by Hamas and killed 11 months later, said that all everyone wants is for the war to end.
“There is a deal on the table, there is an opportunity to end this war and bring everybody back home,” she said. "We all deserve it, we deserve it, our neighbors deserve it, we want this war to end and all to come back to their homes.”
The war has already killed over 67,000 Palestinians, according to claims by Gaza's Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants.
Israel's offensive has displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of some 2 million, often multiple times, and restrictions on humanitarian aid have contributed to a hunger crisis.
Israel vehemently denies allegations of genocide, saying it is waging a lawful war of self-defense and taking extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for the death and destruction in Gaza because the terrorists are deeply embedded in populated areas.
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