Israel holding second national day of mourning for Oct. 7 victims on Sunday
Separate official ceremonies for slain civilians and soldiers to take place at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl; Kibbutz Nir Oz members won’t attend after PM ignores invite to visit
Israel will mark a national day of mourning on Sunday for the victims of the Hamas-led October 7 massacres last year, after earlier ceremonies were held on the anniversary of the terror onslaught.
The second national day of mourning for the Hamas assault was approved earlier this month, to be held on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei — three days after the annual Simhat Torah holiday, which is when the Hamas attack took place last year.
The official day of mourning is set to begin at 6:29 a.m., when Hamas began its attack on southern Israel last October, slaughtering some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into the Gaza Strip.
The country’s flags will be lowered to half-mast, where they will remain until being raised to full-mast again at sunset.
At 11:00 a.m., the first of two state memorial ceremonies will held in memory of fallen soldiers and members of the Israeli security forces.
At 2:00 p.m., the second ceremony will be held in memory of the civilian victims of the Hamas attack.
Both ceremonies will take place at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem.
A government press release said the two ceremonies “will be attended by bereaved families, the four symbols of government — the president, the prime minister, the speaker of the Knesset and the acting president of the Supreme Court, ministers, MKs, the heads of the security system and the heads of the rescue organizations.”
Last week, residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the Gaza border communities hit hardest by the October 7 attack, said they would not participate in the second state ceremony, as most bereaved relatives declined to sign up for the ceremony.
The kibbutz, 117 of whose 400 members were either murdered or kidnapped during the onslaught, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not responded to its invitation to visit the community.
The decision came amid news that the ceremony would not feature speeches from families bereaved on that day, and after Netanyahu ignored the community’s invitation to visit the kibbutz, where he has not been since the attack for reasons widely regarded as political. Many Nir Oz members have been highly critical of the premier throughout the war.
The ceremony has since been adjusted to include representation from bereaved families.
Kibbutz Be’eri, another community devastated by the attack, also said recently that its members would not mark the second day of mourning, as they are “still moving their dead to be buried in Be’eri, and working tirelessly to bring back our hostages. We see no reason to mark this terrible day again.”
