Mourners returned to the Nova music festival in Reim to mourn the thousands of people killed and taken hostage by Hamas fighters on October 7.
It has been at least three months since the Palestinian militant organization carried out a bloodbath at the festival in southern Israel, killing 364 civilians, most of them young people.
The killing spree was part of events that sparked the ongoing conflict in the Gaza strip.
Hamas also took 40 hostages in the festival raid, which took place during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret.
Since then, the Israeli assault on Gaza has killed more than 22,600 people, more than two-thirds of them women and children, according to the territory’s Ministry of Public Health. The ministry’s tally differentiates between civilians and combatants.
The Nova festival site has now become a memorial for victims, with placards of their faces visited by mourners on Friday.
Israel’s Nadav Hanan took part in the music festival and told The Guardian on Thursday that concertgoers knew what was going on when they saw the missile defense formula in action.
“After seeing the rockets, my friend and mother, who had heard the alarms, called me and told me to come home,” she said.
“There were two guys scared. They told us they had arrived at a gas station where they were shot. It was hard to believe.
“I served as a combat soldier in this area. If terrorists had come through, I was thinking, it would be half an hour then it would be over.
“You could hear the bullets whistling and hitting the sand,” he added. “I had a physical sensation that I had this giant target on my back that was getting bigger. I could hear screams but I thought, if I look back I’m dead.”
As the standoff continues this week, Israel has pledged before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to oppose South Africa’s accusations that it is committing “genocidal acts” in Gaza.
In addition, Boris Johnson has criticised a Metropolitan Police investigation into alleged war crimes committed through Israel in Gaza.
Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, an exhibition was held to recreate in detail Nova’s bloodbath in an effort to bring healing.
“It brings me back there and the terrible pain of that moment, but we have to go back there to commemorate what happened and not forget our friends who were killed there,” a guest told the Jerusalem Post.
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