World leaders mark first anniversary of 7 October attack on Israel
The US president, Joe Biden, has condemned the “unspeakable brutality” of the 7 October attacks launched by Hamas on Israel as world leaders, governments and individuals around the globe marked their first anniversary in 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 near the Israel-Gaza border, and saw about 250 hostages taken to Gaza.
The Israeli offensive into Gaza it triggered has since killed nearly 42,000 people, most of them civilians, according to health authorities.
Biden paid tribute to the people – including American citizens – killed and kidnapped and said he remained committed to Israel’s right to defend itself a year on.
“I believe that history will also remember 7 October as a dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas unleashed that day,” Biden said, adding: “Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict.”
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 with Israeli forces – Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iran, which last week fired 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of its allies and an Iranian general.
The UN secretary general, António 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.
“The 7 October attack scarred souls,” he said. “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.”
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”.
Pope Francis said “the fuse of hatred” had been lit a year ago and “exploded in a spiral of violence – in the shameful inability of the international community and the most powerful countries to silence the weapons and put an end to the tragedy of war”.
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