Israel launched fresh strikes on Gaza as Israel marked the third anniversary of Hamas’s 7 October attacks, with Palestinian officials reporting three deaths.
Explosions echoed across the border from the site of the Nova music festival as relatives gathered at dawn to remember the more than 300 people killed there three years ago.
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On 7 October 2023, Palestinian fighters broke through the border and attacked communities in southern Israel with gunfire, rockets and grenades.
In total, 1,221 people were killed, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said two people were killed in an Israeli strike overnight.
Gaza’s civil defence service named one of the victims as Mohamed Tamous, describing him as one of its volunteers. The agency operates as an emergency rescue service under Hamas.
In Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, Nasser Hospital said a 60-year-old man, Hisham Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, died in an Israeli strike and that several other people were wounded.
The Israeli military said it had struck and killed “two Hamas terrorists who had exited Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip”. It added that one of them had “planted explosives… in the area of the Yellow Line with the intention of harming IDF troops”.
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The so-called Yellow Line separates areas controlled by Hamas from those under Israeli military control in Gaza.
The military also identified one of those killed as Mr Tamous, saying he served as a sniper in Hamas’s military wing while working for the civil defence service.
Three years after the war in Gaza began, conditions in the coastal Palestinian territory remain catastrophic despite a US-brokered ceasefire that took effect in October 2025.
“After three years of siege, killing and destruction, Israel has turned the Gaza Strip into an uninhabitable place,” said Mahmoud Abu Hasira, a resident of Gaza City.
At the Nova festival site, Katia Zohar, whose 23-year-old daughter Bar Zohar was killed, described 6.29am—the moment the attack began—as “the minute that changed our lives forever”.
“Sadly I remember everything,” Ms Zohar said.
“The moment she called for me to come and pick her up because there were missiles in the air. Then the second time when she called from the road, screaming that they were shooting at her.”
A moment’s silence was held at the site of the Nova festival killings
Anna Davitashvili, 53, honoured her eldest son Shaun, who was 25 when he was killed alongside friends at Nova, by playing the final techno track that festivalgoers had been dancing to when the attack began.
“I feel him here. I’m terribly sorry that I couldn’t save him, I couldn’t help him get out of this massacre,” she said, tears welling in her eyes.
At the Nova site, Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister campaigning to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, described the attack as “a colossal failure of the state of Israel, which was established to defend Jews in our land”.
The centre-left Democrats Party published footage of the attack online without commentary
In Tel Aviv, activists drew the outlines of more than 1,100 bodies on the beach, symbolising those killed on 7 October and demanding accountability for the failure to prevent the assault.
‘Beneath the rubble’
In Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced people continue to live in tent camps and makeshift shelters spread across beaches and beside heaps of rubble left by destroyed homes.
“We once had homes, but now we have lost our loved ones, whose bodies still lie beneath the rubble,” said Bassam Nasser, a resident of Beit Hanoun, a city in northern Gaza that has been largely destroyed. He was displaced during the early days of the war.
Israel says it controls about 60% of Gaza, including the outer perimeter and Beit Hanoun, while most Palestinians live in the remaining areas controlled by Hamas.
Although Israel eased restrictions on aid trucks entering Gaza after the ceasefire, Ahmed Nasser, another Gaza City resident, told AFP that daily life remained extremely difficult.
“The war and the famine have left us hungry, fearful and displaced, living in tents and struggling with soaring prices,” he said.
Residents search through rubble to salvage belongings along Al-Rashid Street in western Gaza City
Israel’s military campaign has displaced almost Gaza’s entire population and killed more than 74,200 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas and whose figures are regarded as reliable by the United Nations.
The anniversary is the first since a US-brokered ceasefire agreement on 10 October 2025 halted major fighting, but the deal has not stopped Israeli attacks in Gaza or secured the disarmament of Hamas and other militant groups.
The agreement initially left Israel controlling about 53% of Gaza, a share that Israeli forces have since expanded to nearly two-thirds.
Hamas controls the remaining third, where most of the territory’s two million people live in tents or damaged buildings.
More than 1,460 people have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the ceasefire was announced last October, according to the ministry.
Election battle
Israel is due to hold elections on 27 October, the first since the attack. Polls indicate a close contest for Mr Netanyahu, who over the past three years has directed the large-scale Gaza offensive and waged wars against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran, whose clerical government supports Hamas.
The attacks profoundly shook Israel’s national psyche and challenged a long-held belief that the country could protect its borders despite the risks.
Israelis were offered a more triumphant story last week when passengers helped thwart an attempted attack by the co-pilot of a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, although questions were quickly raised about why he had been allowed to fly.
An installation representing those who died in the Hamas attack on Israel is seen in Tel Aviv
“A government that for three years has not destroyed Hamas’s rule is a government dangerous to Israel,” Democrats leader Yair Golan said.
Mr Netanyahu marked the anniversary with official ceremonies in Jerusalem on Monday, a date that fell closer to the anniversary according to the Jewish calendar.
He said there would be “no forgiveness for the murderers” and promised that Hamas would never govern Gaza. The group has suffered heavy losses but continues to control part of the territory.
Hamas remained defiant on the third anniversary, issuing a statement that described 7 October as “a glorious day of our people’s history”.
The group said it had “smashed the myth of the invincible army” and called the assault “a natural response to, and culmination of, decades of bitter suffering”, including Israel’s blockade of Gaza, imposed after the Islamist movement seized control of the territory in 2007.
People take pictures of the Dizengoff Fountain, filled with red dye in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv
In Kfar Aza, where Hamas fighters killed dozens of Israelis before taking 19 hostages into Gaza, residents held a memorial vigil. They stood in silence as a trumpet played a solemn bugle call, followed by a reading of the names of those who died.
Zion Regev, a community leader in the kibbutz, said most residents remain displaced and have not returned, with the trauma of 7 October continuing to influence their lives.
“This is the first time we are doing all the things here in the kibbutz,” Mr Regev said of the vigil.
“It’s a very emotional day, it’s a very difficult day for our community, three years after October 7th.”
Elsewhere in Israel, demonstrators protesting what they regard as a failure to ensure accountability for the security breakdown gathered outside parliament in Jerusalem. They blamed Mr Netanyahu for opposing an independent investigation into the attack.
Some protesters carried signs saying: “The people will remember October 7 on October 27”.
“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.
Mr Netanyahu has rejected responsibility for the security lapse and resisted demands for an independent inquiry. His position has angered many Israelis, including relatives of those killed, some of whom have entered the election campaign.
In a statement issued by his office, Mr Netanyahu said: “The nation unites on this day in the longing for our dear ones.”
Addressing Israel’s continuing attacks in Gaza, he added: “We will complete the mission: we have settled the score and will continue settling the score with all the murderers.”
Polling suggests that neither Mr Netanyahu nor his main rivals would win enough parliamentary seats to build a coalition if an election were held today.
A woman bows her head as she stands amid the portraits of those killed at the Nova festival
US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” has put forward several proposals for rebuilding Gaza. But the plans have failed to secure backing from either Israel or Hamas, in part because they do not address the property rights of Palestinians whose homes have been destroyed, while the two sides remain deadlocked in ceasefire negotiations.
They have still not agreed on the terms of a deal under which Hamas would surrender its weapons in exchange for an Israeli troop withdrawal.
In Tel Aviv, women work on a banner for the third anniversary of Hamas’s 7 October attack
Israel says it will not withdraw until Hamas has fully disarmed. Hamas says it has accepted a phased process but will not give up its weapons while Israeli attacks continue.
Israel has continued its bombing campaign in Gaza, killing Hamas militants in recent months but also many civilians, according to Gaza health authorities. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid a wreath during a state memorial ceremony, at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on Monday
More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire, health authorities say.
Over the same period, five Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants or in combat, according to the military.
We ‘recall the memory’ of those killed – McEntee
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said Ireland remembered “the horror and brutality” of the 7 October attacks by Hamas and other groups, along with “the unimaginable terror and panic” they inflicted.
“Over a thousand people were massacred. The largest loss of life and the deadliest single day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Ms McEntee said in a statement.
“I reiterate Ireland’s unequivocal condemnation of Hamas and the despicable attacks it carried out, as well as the unconscionable taking of hostages.
Helen McEntee reiterated Ireland’s unequivocal condemnation of the attacks
She said her thoughts, particularly on the anniversary, were with Emily Hand and her family, as well as the friends and relatives of Kim Damti.
Emily, who is Irish-Israeli, was eight years old when Hamas abducted her during the 7 October attacks. She spent 50 days as a hostage in Gaza before being released during a brief truce.
Ms Damti, who was also Irish-Israeli, was 22 when she was killed at the Nova music festival.
“We recall the memory of all those killed on that day or in captivity, and the unimaginable suffering of those who were taken hostage and their loved ones,” Ms McEntee said.
“I recognise that the anguish and trauma of that day endure for Israelis, and for Jewish communities in Ireland and elsewhere,” she added.
Ms McEntee said the “terrible cycle of violence” was continuing and that Israelis and Palestinians “deserve to live in peace and security”.
“Over 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 7 October. The majority of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced and continue to shelter in overcrowded tents or unsafe structures,” she said.
“They face a fourth winter exposed to the elements. We reiterate our call on Israel to allow immediate, unimpeded access of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
“Ireland reiterates our call for all parties to fully implement their commitments under the Comprehensive Peace Plan. We must redouble our efforts and do everything we can to secure a sustainable and enduring peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” she added.
