A woman visits the site of the Nova music festival, where partygoers were killed and kidnapped during the deadly Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack, on the third anniversary of the attack, near Reim, southern Israel, Oct. 7, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Israelis gathered in silence on Wednesday in a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was overrun by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 three years ago, mourning victims of attacks that set off Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to defeat the Palestinian terror group.

The attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, were the deadliest day in Israel’s history. Thousands of Palestinians led by Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, a cross-border incursion that traumatized Israelis who have demanded government accountability.

Israel’s campaign in response aimed to free the hostages and dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities and political rule in neighboring Gaza. A US-brokered ceasefire last fall halted major fighting, leaving the Israeli military in control of about 60 percent of the territory and Hamas in power in the other 40 percent, where the vast majority of the Gazan population is located.

Hamas’s refusal to disarm in accordance with the peace plan has stalled efforts to create a permanent ceasefire.

‘A VERY DIFFICULT DAY’

In Kfar Aza, where Hamas fighters killed dozens of Israelis before taking 19 hostages back into Gaza, residents held a vigil for those killed, standing in silence as a trumpet played a solemn bugle call. A resident read out a roll call of the dead.

Zion Regev, a community leader in the kibbutz, said most residents remain displaced and have yet to return, the trauma of Oct. 7 continuing to shape their lives.

“This is the first time we are doing all the things here in the kibbutz,” Regev said of the vigil. “It’s a very emotional day, it’s a very difficult day for our community, three years after Oct. 7.”

Elsewhere in Israel, protesters against what they view as a lack of accountability for the security failure gathered outside parliament in Jerusalem, blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for refusing an independent inquiry into the attack.

Some protesters held signs reading: “The people will remember October 7 on October 27,” a reference to an Israeli general election 20 days away that is being viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu’s long tenure in power.

“We need the change and we need hope and we need to know that we have a government that cares about the public and doesn’t work also only for themselves,” said protester Shaked Arrad.

Netanyahu has rejected blame for the security breach and resisted calls for an independent investigation. That has frustrated many in Israel, including families of those killed in the attacks, some of whom have joined the election race.

In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu said: “The nation unites on this day in the longing for our dear ones.”

Referring to his country’s ongoing operations in Gaza, he added: “We will complete the mission: we have settled the score and will continue settling the score with all the murderers.”

Election polls show neither Netanyahu nor his main competitors would muster enough seats in parliament to form a coalition if a vote were held today.