Photo essay

October 7 commemoration ceremonies held around the world

Somber Jewish communities mark Hamas-led attack that killed 1,200; anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian groups gather to denounce ongoing war

By AP and ToI Staff 7 October 2024, 10:36 pm

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US President Joe Biden, center, standing with first lady Jill Biden, left, and Rabbi Aaron Alexander of the Adas Israel Congregation, participates in a memorial candle-lighting in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, October 7, 2024, to mark the one-year anniversary of the Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people. (Susan Walsh/AP)
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier left, talks to Hamas attack survivor Alon Gat, right, during an official commemoration ceremony in the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church in Berlin, Germany, October 7, 2024, marking the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks on Israel. (Markus Schreiber/AP)
A large Israeli flag is unfurled during a commemoration marking the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 7, 2024. (Peter Dejong/AP)
Rabbi Andreas Nachama speaks during an official commemoration ceremony in the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church in Berlin, Germany, October 7, 2024, marking the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks on Israel. (Markus Schreiber/AP)
Pakistani Shiite Muslims carry mock coffins during a rally against Israeli and to show solidarity with people in Gaza and Lebanon, October 7, 2024. (Fareed Khan/AP)
Rotem gets a hug from her husband Yoav after a commemoration marking one year since the Hamas terror attacks on Israel, held at the Coral Temple Synagogue, in Bucharest, Romania, October 7, 2024. (Vadim Ghirda/AP)
An attendee lays a flower at a memorial for victims during the one-year anniversary of the Hamas terror attack on Israel at the Israeli embassy in Beijing, October 7, 2024. (Ng Han Guan/AP)
Yuval Danzig, right, the son of a Polish-Israeli man kidnapped and killed by Hamas, helps to unveil a plaque honoring his father, Alex Dancyg, in the Jewish cemetery on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas terror attack on Israel, in Warsaw, Poland, October 7, 2024. (Czarek Sokolowski/AP)
School children take part in a rally organized by Pakistan Markazi Muslim League party, to protest against Israel and to show solidarity with Palestinian people living in Gaza and Lebanon, held in Karachi, Pakistan, October 7, 2024. (Fareed Khan/AP)
Survivor Michal Ohana speaks as members of the Jewish community wave electronic candles as they gather at a park in Sydney, Australia, as mourners marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel, October 7, 2024,. (Rick Rycroft/AP)
People carry flags as members of the Jewish community gather at a park in Sydney, Australia to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel, October 7, 2024. (Rick Rycroft/AP)
Two women console each other after making a makeshift memorial as members of the Jewish community gather at a park to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Sydney, Australia, October 7, 2024. (Rick Rycroft/AP)
People look at a memorial for victims of the October 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel on the one-year anniversary of the attack, in Tel Aviv, on October 7, 2024. (Oded Balilty/AP)
Supporters of the Pakistani religious group Jamaat-e-Islami take part in a rally against Israel and to show solidarity with Palestinian people living in Gaza and Lebanon, in Peshawar, Pakistan, October 7, 2024. (Mohammad Sajjad/AP)
People embrace after lightning candles at a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the Hamas terror attacks on Israel, at the synagogue of the Chabad community in Berlin, Germany, October 7, 2024. (Markus Schreiber/AP)
Survivor Alon Gat, Rabi Yehuda Teichtal and Berlin mayor Kai Wegner, centre from left, hold a candle-lighting ceremony marking the first anniversary of the Hamas terror attacks on Israel, at the synagogue of the Chabad community in Berlin, Germany, October 7, 2024. (Markus Schreiber/AP)
Candles and flowers are laid at the entrance of the synagogue to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas terror attack on Israel, Frankfurt, Germany, October 7, 2024. (Michael Probst/AP)
Members of the Los Angeles Jewish community and interfaith leaders hold a candle-lighting ceremony marking the exact moment of the first anniversary since the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, at The Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles on October 6, 2024. (Damian Dovarganes/AP)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (L) flanked by Rome's Rabbi Riccardo Shemuel Di Segni commemorating the first anniversary of the victims of the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel, at the Synagogue in Rome, October 7, 2024. (Palazzo Chigi press office / AFP)

Vigils, commemorations and acts of remembrance were held across the world on Monday to mark one year since the massive October 7 Hamas onslaught against Israel.

Last year’s devastating cross-border attack, led by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

The 3,000 terrorists who burst into the south of the country from the Gaza Strip also abducted 251 people as hostages to the coastal enclave.

The attack caught Israel unprepared on the major Jewish holiday of Simhat Torah, shattering Israelis’ sense of security and leaving many countries, already on edge over Russia’s war in Ukraine, facing the prospect of another major conflict in the Middle East.

The nations of Europe, home to many Jewish and Muslim communities, have sought to tamp down both antisemitic and anti-Muslim sentiment, in the wake of the Hamas massacre and Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.