On Monday, Israelis marked the first anniversary of the devastating Hamas attack that triggered a war which has sparked protest worldwide and risks igniting a far wider conflict in the Middle East.
Ceremonies and protests in Jerusalem and Israel’s south were to begin about 6.29am, the time when Hamas-led militants launched rockets into Israel at the start of the October 7 attack last year.
People protest on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel and call for the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.Credit: AP
They killed 1200 people and took about 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
The attack provoked an Israeli offensive in Gaza that has laid waste the densely populated coastal enclave and killed almost 42,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say.
Security forces were on high alert across Israel on Monday, the military and police said, anticipating possible Palestinian attacks on the anniversary.
For Israel, the surprise assault on October 7, 2023, by Hamas, also an ally of Iran, was one of the worst security failures for a country that prides itself on a strong, sophisticated military.
People look at destroyed buildings hit by Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon. Credit: AP
The Hamas attack on Israeli communities around Gaza and Israel’s relentless campaign in response have destabilised the Middle East while the scale of the killing and destruction have horrified people worldwide.
Israel has dealt major blows to Hamas and Hezbollah with a series of assassinations of its leaders and commanders. The militant groups are part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance”, that also includes Yemen’s Houthis and armed groups in Iraq, to fight Israel and US interests in the Middle East.
Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, who travelled to Lebanon after last month’s killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike, had not been heard from since strikes on Beirut late last week, two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters.
One of the officials said Qaani had been in Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, during a strike reported to have targeted senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, but the official said he was not meeting Safieddine.
The Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, supervises dealings with militias allied with Tehran across the Middle East.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed with Nasrallah in his bunker when it was hit on September 27 by Israeli bombs.
The focus of the war has increasingly shifted north to Lebanon where Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Hezbollah since the Iranian-backed group launched a barrage of missiles in support of Hamas on October 8.
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What began as limited daily exchanges has escalated into bombardments of Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut and a ground offensive into border villages meant to stamp out its fighters there and allow tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from their homes in the country’s north to return.
Israel’s assault, which has killed well over 1000 people in the past two weeks, has triggered a mass flight from southern Lebanon, where more than 1 million people have been displaced.
The escalation has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked into a wider war in the oil-producing Middle East.
Iran launched a missile attack on Israel last week in response to its operations in Lebanon and Gaza.
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Israel vowed retaliation, and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would decide independently how to respond to Iran even though it was closely co-ordinating with longtime ally the US.
“Everything is on the table,” Gallant, who is due to meet US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday, said in an interview with CNN. “Israel has capabilities to hit targets near and far — we have proved it.”
Reuters