October 7, 2024 Israel marks anniversary of Hamas attacks as Middle East war rages

The US continued to organize flights for American citizens to leave Lebanon over the weekend, bringing the total number of US citizens, legal permanent residents and their family members evacuated to about 900, according to a State Department spokesperson.

“There was another flight that left today from Beirut to Istanbul,” spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a briefing. “That flight had approximately 150 passengers on it, American citizens, legal permanent residents and their family members.”

Miller indicated that none of the flights organized by the US have been full. He said that the US has chartered a total of eight flights with 300 seats available on each for a total of 2,400 available seats, of which about 900 had been filled.

Miller also said that the US has also continue to reserve seats on commercial flights for US citizens to leave Lebanon, bringing the total to 868 seats reserved.

“We don’t know exactly how many of those have been filled, because we don’t get an exact number, but we know that a significant proportion of those 868 seats have been filled,” said Miller.

Miller said that the number of Americans in Lebanon who have reached out to the State Department for information about possibly leaving the country has also increased to around 8,500, but noted that not all of them have chosen to leave.

“We advise them to leave, and we’ve been making these seats available, and we’ll continue to make them available as long as there is demand, and long as the security situation demands it,” said Miller, who noted that many of the US citizens in Lebanon are “making daily assessments about their situation.”

In this screengrab from video, Meirav Gonen, mother of Romi Gonen, speaks with Christiane Amanpour.

It’s been a year since Meirav Gonen’s daughter, Romi, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in Israel on October 7, 2023.

It’s been one year since Gonen heard her daughter’s voice, she told CNN, adding that she doesn’t know how her daughter looks like today, if she’s holding up, if she lost her hand after being shot on the day of the attack, or if she’s smiling like she always smiled.

“I cannot even explain how you feel when you wake up in the morning, and for the first moments you hope this is only a nightmare, a dream, a bad dream. But then you are waking up to a reality,” she said. “This is so agonizing, it’s so difficult.”

Gonen said some Israeli hostages who returned home were with her daughter and they told her stories about her in captivity.

The freed hostages also said that her daughter lost color in her fingers, Gonen said.

“The color in her fingers was changing, that her hand is not functioning,” Gonen said. “That time I thought, wow, she’s she’s going to lose her hand. We have to bring her back. But today I’m saying, it doesn’t matter if she lost her hand. We just have to bring her back alive.”

In August, the Gonen family marked Romi’s 24th birthday.

“At first, we wanted to hide the fact” that it was her birthday, Gonen said. “But at a certain point, we thought that maybe she will see us.”

So they marked the day to bring light and strength for people, she said.

The war, she said, is not about Israel and Palestine, but rather against Hamas. “We will not break because we are the good and the Hamas is evil,” she said.

In this screengrab from video, Eylon Keshet speaks with CNN.

One year after several of his family members were kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attack, Eylon Keshet said he knows life will never be the same again.

“I’m really afraid that the next time I see them will be a very big funeral for all of them. This is what I dread the most,” he told CNN.

His cousin Yarden Bibas, Yarden’s wife Shiri, and their two young children were all kidnapped from Nir Oz, an Israeli kibbutz that was devastated when it came under attack by Hamas militants on October 7.

Keshet said even if his family members are still alive, nothing will be the same. He said every day since that attack has felt like October 7, 2023, repeated over and over.

“Even if they’re coming back, and I so wish they do, they lost so much,” Keshet said. He said Shiri’s parents and their friends were killed and their house has been destroyed.

“I know that even them coming back is only the beginning for them to heal and for them to maybe someday be able to move on from everything that’s happened. Shiri probably doesn’t even know that her parents were murdered,” he said.

“It will never be the same before and after” the October 7 attack, Keshet added.

As for the global response, he said empathy is not enough to bring back his family. Keshet said there needs to be “real action from real people that have the authority to make such action.”

Twenty-two people were killed and 111 others were wounded in Israeli strikes on towns in southern Lebanon on Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry said.

Since September 16, at least 1,448 people have been killed and 7,677 people have been wounded by Israeli offensive operations in Lebanon, according to a CNN tally based on the ministry’s figures.

A Palestinian woman holds pita bread in a makeshift tent next to rubble of a house destroyed, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Monday.

One humanitarian worker in Gaza said they “don’t have the luxury of grief” as she reflects on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.

Lena, a worker for the non-profit organization Mercy Corps, said she has been displaced more than a dozen times since last year. She is currently living in a shelter in central Gaza. CNN is not using her real name due to concerns for her safety.

“We haven’t put our clothes in wardrobes, bathed comfortably, had a meal with any sense of peace, slept on a proper bed, or had clean drinking water in over a year,” she added.

Lena described the humanitarian situation in the enclave as “unbelievable.” She said that as a humanitarian worker, she has “seen firsthand the overwhelming needs in terms of shelter, food, and basic supplies.”

“Every day brings new challenges, but we do our best to support vulnerable populations through emergency response programs, even when resources are stretched thin,” she said.

Israel’s military has told people in Lebanon to avoid the coastline south of the Awali River and refrain from using boats — warning that it will soon take action against Hezbollah in the area.

“For your safety, avoid being at sea or on the beach from now until further notice. Being on the beach or operating boats in the area south of the Awali River line poses a danger to your life,” Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X.

Hundreds of families of those who were killed or kidnapped during the October 7 terror attack by Hamas have gathered for a memorial service in Tel Aviv, on Monday.

Hundreds of people have gathered in Tel Aviv for the main memorial ceremony commemorating the victims of the October 7 terror attacks.

The gathering in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park is taking place under strict security measures, with entry restricted only to the families and friends of those who were killed or kidnapped by Hamas and other militant groups during the attack last year.

The original plans to open the gathering to the public were scrapped after Israeli security authorities restricted attendance at events to 2,000 people following the Iranian missile attack last week.

The families began the gathering by holding a minute’s silence which will be followed by speeches from some of the family members and survivors of the attack.

The family of Yair Yaakov is among those attending the ceremony, and his son Yigal is among the speakers.

Yaakov, 59, a resident of kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel was murdered on October 7, when terrorists stormed his home. His family, however, didn’t know about his death, believing he was taken hostage into Gaza, his brother Yaniv told CNN at the event in Tel Aviv.

It wasn’t until February that they found out that he was killed and his body kidnapped into Gaza. Yaniv told CNN that bringing his brother’s body back home for burial is now “the most important thing” for the family, especially for his mother.

“She is alive, but she’s not living. This is all she can think about,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday and discuss the situation in the Middle East, according to the Russian state-run media outlet TASS.

The pair will meet in Turkmenistan, TASS reported Monday, adding that the meeting was announced at a briefing by Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov.

“This meeting is of great importance, both for discussing bilateral issues and, of course, for discussing the sharply aggravated situation in the Middle East,” Ushakov said, according to TASS.

At least 10 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on northern Gaza’s Jabalya refugee camp on Monday, hospital officials said. A further 20 people have been injured, according to the Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Footage from the scene showed multiple dead bodies lying in the street covered in blood.

The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson had issued an evacuation order for the area on X around three hours before the strike.

“For your safety, you must evacuate these areas immediately to the newly created humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi,” Avichay Adraee said in the post, adding that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was “operating with great force” in several areas of northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security urged civilians “not to respond to the occupation’s threats to evacuate their homes.”

“The occupation is working to deceive citizens by claiming the existence of safe corridors and displacement areas,” the ministry said, suggesting that the IDF is “executing citizens on their way to the southern Gaza Strip.”

On Sunday, the IDF said that it had “encircled” the densely populated Jabalya refugee camp after it said it had detected the presence of Hamas members there.

President Joe Biden, center, with first lady Jill Biden and Rabbi Aaron Alexander, lights a memorial candle in the Blue Room of the White House on Monday.

US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden commemorated the anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attack at the White House Monday, lighting a yahrzeit candle and holding a moment of silence.

The Bidens were joined by Rabbi Aaron Alexander of the Adas Israel Congregation. Rabbi Alexander, who is a friend of the Goldberg-Polin family, recited the “El Malei Rachamim” prayer as part of the commemoration.

The Goldberg-Polin’s son, Hersh, was abducted by Hamas last year before ultimately being murdered by the terrorist group in August.

Biden did not make any remarks and left the room following the moment of silence.

Biden also gave his “deepest condolences” to the people of Israel and the families whose loved ones were killed during the October 7th terrorist attack in a call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog this morning.

Both leaders, according to a White House readout of the call, also “reaffirmed” their commitment to achieving a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.

This post has been updated with additional details.

Palestinian women mourn near the bodies of relatives killed in an Israeli airstrike, outside the morgue in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza, in June.

A mood of desperation consumes many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who are living in dire humanitarian conditions, having endured 12 months of Israel’s bombardment of the enclave.

“We have spent a year in war,” Abdallah Hmeida, a cancer patient displaced from Beit Lahia, told CNN in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah. Hmeida has lost his parents, his brother and his sisters in the conflict, he said.

“It is torment. We do not know where to go, and we live in tents.”

Nabila Shunnar, a displaced woman from Sheikh Radwan, said she has spent the last year “in fear, terror, hunger and tragedy.”

Residents of Gaza told CNN they did not expect the fighting to drag on for a year and some now worry it may be endless, as they see no concrete efforts to cement a ceasefire.

Some residents say they have been waiting months for the war to end only so they can bury their dead or retrieve their remains.

Um Fadi, a displaced woman from northern Gaza who now shelters in Deir al-Balah, said she lost hope in the world’s ability to act in the face of the bloodshed. Living in tents with her husband and five children, Fadi fears for the coming winter, saying her family have no clothes that can shelter them from the cold.

For Gazans, it has been 365 days “of suffering, poverty, hunger, disease, instability, and lack of security,” she told CNN.

“We are bodies without souls,” she added.

People take cover as sirens sound to warn of incoming rockets in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on October 7.

The Israeli military has said it intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired from Yemen toward central Israel on Monday.

The purported missile triggered sirens in the area, including in Tel Aviv.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have not yet commented on the purported missile launch from that country.

Smoke rises over Dahiyeh in Beirut's southern suburbs after Israeli air strikes, in Lebanon, on October 7.

An Israeli strike caused a large blast near Beirut’s airport in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital on Monday.

Big plumes of smoke were seen rising from the southern Dahiyeh neighborhood following the strike, though planes continued to depart and land at Beirut’s international airport.

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a precision attack in Beirut adding that more details will follow. It’s unclear if the incident Adraee was referring to is the same strike in southern Beirut.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has submitted a proprosal to rename the war launched following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks to “Resurrection War.”

The conflict is currently named “Swords of Iron.”

“This is the ‘resurrection war’ to ensure that October 7 never happens again,” Netanyahu said Monday at a government meeting marking the one-year anniversary of the attacks, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.

“This is a war for our existence,” the prime minister said, adding the war will not end until all of its goals are completed, which include destroying Hamas, retrieving the hostages, “thwarting any future threat from Gaza” and returning evacuated citizens of the north back to their homes.

Hamas’ attack a year ago was the worst atrocity on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Netanyahu said that “unlike during the Holocaust — we rose up against our enemies to fight a fierce war.”

Opposition head Yair Lapid shot back at the prime minister’s suggested name. “You can change as many names as you’d like, (but) you won’t change the fact that under your watch, the worst catastrophe in Israel’s history has occurred,” Lapid wrote on Telegram. This government isn’t the government of resurrection, it is the government of blame.”

The Hostage Families Forum in a statement said: “There is no and there won’t be a resurrection without returning all the hostages.”

Israeli soldiers raid the Qalandiya refugee camp, north of East Jerusalem on October 7.

Israeli forces killed a 12-year-old boy during an incursion into a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Monday morning, Palestinian officials said.

Hatem Sami Hisham Ghaith died after being shot by Israeli forces at the Qalandiya refugee camp, roughly five miles from Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The camp lies near the main checkpoint linking Ramallah with Jerusalem.

The boy arrived at a local hospital, the Ramallah Palestine Medical Complex, with a bullet wound to his abdomen that later caused his intestines to rupture, the health ministry added.

The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) said its crews have been attending to eight people who had been injured by live bullets, and one person who was shot in the head with a rubber bullet.

CNN has reached out to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the incident.

More on the raid: At least 22 Palestinian men from the camp were arrested by the Israeli soldiers, a representative for the camp told CNN. Video shared widely on social media showed Israeli troops escorting blindfolded handcuffed men on the streets on Monday.

Videos show groups of teenagers burning tires and throwing stones in the direction of Israeli military vehicles.

In one video filmed by Reuters news agency, teenagers can be seen running from the fires as several ambulances from the PRC arrived on the scene.

In another video shared on social media, verified by CNN, Israeli soldiers can be seen shooting towards the area from which the stones are being thrown.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, second right, awards Fath Medal of honour to IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, in Tehran, Iran, on October 6.

The commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force Esmail Qaani has been absent from public events over the past week, prompting speculation that the top general may have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.

Iranian officials and state media rushed to dispel rumors of his death this weekend. “Many ask us what happened to General Qaani. He is healthy and active,” the deputy commander for the Quds Force, Iraj Masjedi, was cited as saying by Iran’s Tasnim news agency Monday. The Quds Force, or Jerusalem Force, is part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Iran’s state news agency said Qaani is not attending a conference for Palestinian children Monday to “attend an important meeting” without elaborating further.

Qaani, who replaced Qassem Soleimani after the latter was killed by the United States in 2020, was notably absent from a ceremony held by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Sunday.

Qaani was also absent from Khamenei’s rare Friday prayer sermon commemorating the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel last month.

Reuters cited two-Iranian security sources saying Qaani traveled to Lebanon after Israel assassinated Nasrallah but has not been heard from since Thursday. Reuters cites one of the Iranian officials saying Qaani was in Beirut’s southern suburbs during a strike targeting Nasrallah’s possible successor Hashem Safieddine. CNN is not able to confirm the Reuters reporting and has reached out to the Iranian foreign ministry for comment.

Hezbollah lost contact with Safieddine since an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs targeted him, a Lebanese security source told CNN earlier.

After succeeding Soleimani, Qaani took charge of Iran’s vast paramilitary network across the Middle East. He is sanctioned by the US, the UK and other Western nations.

At least 10 firefighters were killed after an Israeli strike hit a fire station in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said on Monday.

The firefighters were in the building in the town of Baraachit “preparing to set out on rescue missions” before the strike destroyed the building, the ministry said.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment. The Lebanese health ministry said debris is still being removed from the destroyed fire station.

Palestinians walk past the rubble of houses destroyed in Israel's military offensive in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 7.

The Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders to residents in northern and in southern Gaza on Monday, as it ramps up its military operation in both parts of the enclave.

The areas under evacuation in the north include Beit Hanoun, the Jabaliya refugee camp and Beit Lahia. In the south, Gazans were warned to evacuate Bani Suhaila, Al-Mahta, Sheikh Nasser and Maan, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is responding with “extreme force” to “Hamas terrorist actions” in those areas.

The southern Gaza order came just one hour after the IDF renewed an evacuation order asking residents to evacuate multiple areas in the north and move southwards toward Al-Mawasi – a coastal region in Khan Younis where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled Israel’s bombardment from other parts of Gaza.

Residents who spoke to CNN said they feel there is no safe place to go to.

Several killed: Before the announcement of the new evacuation notice, the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza said it received people with several “artillery fire” injuries from Beit Lahia.

The hospital said that five men were killed, and a “number” of others injured “after being struck by a drone strike in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.” The dead and wounded were brought to the northern medical facility.

More context: Gaza’s north is witnessing renewed strikes. The Israeli military on Sunday said it launched a new ground operation in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, encircling the area after seeing signs of Hamas rebuilding, despite nearly a year of fighting and strikes in the territory.

Hamas’s military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, said its fighters are engaged “in fierce clashes at zero distance with the enemy forces” in Jabaliya.

The orders come as Israel marks the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack, and as the IDF launches several strikes throughout the strip, saying it had “thwarted” threats.

This post has been updated with more details on the evacuation orders in Gaza.

Some families of the Americans believed to be held hostage by Hamas in Gaza spoke with two senior White House officials on Sunday, a source familiar with the call said.

The call with senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein, who traveled to Israel last month, and White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk came one day before the anniversary of the October 7th terror attack against Israel.

In a statement Monday morning, US President Joe Biden renewed his calls for a ceasefire deal that would secure the release of hostages even as those talks have gained little traction in recent weeks.

“We will not stop working to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza that brings the hostages home, allows for a surge in humanitarian aid to ease the suffering on the ground, assures Israel’s security, and ends this war. Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to live in security, dignity, and peace,” he added.

President Biden said on Saturday that he would be speaking with the hostage families, but it’s unclear whether any of those conversations might happen today.

The White House did not immediately comment on the hostage families’ call with McGurk and Hochstein on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has paid tribute to the “fallen of Jerusalem” in a joint event with the city’s major, one year after the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

Netanyahu and Moshe Leon lit candles at the “Iron Swords” monument erected in Jerusalem in honor of the victims.

“We went through a terrible massacre a year ago, and we stood up as a people, as lions. The people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up themselves as a young lion,” the pair said in a statement on Monday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meanwhile issued a lengthy statement remembering the “nightmare of a brutal attack” and pledging to win “a war against enemies on 7 different fronts.”

“The peaceful communities, the site of a music festival, the agricultural lands – the beautiful region of southern Israel, was scorched by bloodthirsty murderers with only one wish in their hearts – the total destruction and annihilation of Israel,” Gallant said.

“On this painful day, more than ever, we are eternally committed to the security and continuity of the State of Israel and her people.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it intercepted five projectiles launched from the northern Gaza strip on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said nine projectiles had been launched from southern Gaza, injuring two people.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies at a Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C, on May 8.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin offered the United States’ “unwavering” commitment to Israel’s security during a call Sunday with his Israeli counterpart on the eve of the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, according to a readout of the call.

Secretary Austin reiterated to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant the US position that Israel has a right to defend itself and noted the US maintains “significant capability” to defend US personnel and to support Israel’s self-defense.

Austin also expressed his condolences for two Israeli soldiers killed in an attack on October 3 and wished a “full recovery for those who were injured.”

Austin and Gallant also emphasized their commitment to “deterring Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from taking advantage of the situation or expanding the conflict.”

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris marked one year since the deadly October 7 attack in Israel with statements commemorating the “solemn” anniversary and calling for a ceasefire and hostage deal.

He also said: “On this solemn anniversary, let us bear witness to the unspeakable brutality of the October 7th attacks but also to the beauty of the lives that were stolen that day.”

Harris and Biden also both called for a diplomatic solution amid the now-expanding war between Hezbollah and Israel. And both leaders reiterated US support for Israel’s right to defend itself in the face of attacks by Iran.

“It is far past time for a hostage and ceasefire deal to end the suffering of innocent people. And I will always fight for the Palestinian people to be able to realize their right to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination. We also continue to believe that a diplomatic solution across the Israel-Lebanon border region is the only path to restore lasting calm and allow residents on both sides to return safely to their homes,” Harris wrote.

And the vice president said she is “devastated” by the loss and pain felt since the October 7 attack, which launched the war in Gaza.

“We will not forget, and we will not lose faith. And in honor of all those souls we lost on October 7, we must never lose sight of the dream of peace, dignity, and security for all,” she wrote.

Israel is marking the first anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attacks — an assault that left more than 1,200 people dead and more than 200 taken hostage. A number of vigils and memorial events are taking place across the country on a somber date.

But the region remains engulfed by war on several fronts, and fighting has continued in Gaza, Lebanon and within Israel on Monday.

Israel has launched a new offensive against Hamas in northern Gaza, forcing hundreds of Palestinians to flee, and it continues to mull an anticipated retaliation against Iran for last week’s barrage of missiles.

Here’s what you need to know:

It is almost impossible to remember life in Israel before Hamas launched its brutal October 7 attacks a year ago. There is little point, because that life is gone for good. And not just because more than 100 hostages are still captive.

The same is true beyond Israel’s borders.

Israel, its enemies and allies are all harbingers and painful witnesses to a remaking of the region’s diplomatic and political architecture on a scale that could rival the upheavals of the Arab-Israeli conflict a half-century ago.

The post-October 7 changes are both inevitable and, in their current chaotic form at least, preventable. The civilian cost is mounting when diplomacy might have saved lives.

A year ago it seemed the political architecture of the region was on the cusp of significant change. Propelled by US incentives, Saudi Arabia and Israel seemed closer than ever to a historic normalization of relations. Diplomacy and the deft skills needed to stitch such a complex deal together were in the ascendency.

But the prospect of approaching peace and prosperity evaporated as Hamas surged through the Gaza border fences at sunrise that Saturday morning. Butchery was afoot.

Irrespective of whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was calculating he could torpedo normalization and push the Palestinian cause ahead of regional priorities for peace and economic integration, in the short term he succeeded.

Read the full analysis.

Emergency personnel respond after a rocket apparently fired from Gaza hits Kfar Chabad near Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 7.

At least two people were wounded in Israel after Hamas launched rockets from Gaza this morning.

Israel’s military said nine projectiles were launched from southern Gaza into Israel.

Hamas’ military wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, said it struck “the depth of the occupation, the city of Tel Aviv, with a barrage of M90 rockets.”

Israel’s Emergency Services, MDA, treated two women with mild “shrapnel injuries” in Kfar Chabad, just southeast of Tel Aviv, following the attack.

A CNN team on the ground in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where an October 7 memorial service was taking place, saw what appeared to be the smoke trails left by several rockets in the sky.

Emergency personnel inspect the area.

Rocket strikes from Gaza into Israel have become increasingly rare over the past year as Israel has degraded Hamas’ military capabilities in its war on the group.

Israel’s military said it had “thwarted an immediate threat” on Monday by striking “Hamas launch posts and underground terrorist infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that the Hamas-led October 7 attacks last year “set the Zionist regime (Israel) back 70 years.”

He made the statement in a Hebrew-language X post sent at 6:29 a.m. Israel time on Monday, the exact time the attacks started a year ago.

At the exact same time, the Israeli military posted on X: “One year ago today, our country’s history was forever changed.”

Khamenei led a rare sermon in Tehran on Friday to commemorate the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last month, during which he praised Hamas’ October 7 attack and described it as “legitimate.”

Hamas and Hezbollah are part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” an alliance of Islamist militant groups spanning Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen.

A memorial ceremony to commemorate the first anniversary of the October 7 terror attack in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.

A memorial ceremony to commemorate the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack has ended in Israel’s Kibbutz Nir Oz, just a few miles from Gaza.

The agricultural commune of 400 people was among the worst impacted by the attack, with one in four residents murdered or kidnapped.

The Bibas family — husband and wife Yarden and Shiri, their young son Ariel, and baby Kfir — were among those kidnapped on that day. They, along with more than 20 others from the kibbutz, are still being held in Gaza.

In a particularly poignant moment, the names of those murdered in the kibbutz last year were read aloud. The speakers struggled to get through the long list of names, pausing to take a moment when their emotions became too raw.

“We cannot move on when people from the kibbutz are still there, Amat Moshe, whose grandparents were residents of the kibbutz, told CNN before the event started.

Last October, Moshe’s grandmother Adina watched the as Hamas fighters stormed her home and murdered her husband David before kidnapping her to Gaza. She was released as part of a ceasefire deal in November last year.

Most of Nir Oz’s residents have yet to return, living together in the town of Kiryat Gat, about an hour’s drive away. Only six have come back.

President of Israel Isaac Herzog and First Lady of Israel Michal Herzog, right and center, speak with released hostages from Kibbutz Nir Oz ahead of a ceremony to mark the first anniversary since the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog was among those present at the commemoration. He also attended a memorial held at the Nova festival site earlier in the morning.

As people gathered to mark the anniversary, the Israeli military reported that several projectiles were fired from Gaza toward Israel. Throughout the morning, the sounds of outgoing artillery fire could be heard, as the military continued striking targets inside Gaza.

A Palestinian man speaks to CNN in Jabalya, northern Gaza, on October 6.

Several Palestinian fathers in Gaza told CNN their families cannot face another wave of displacement, as Israeli forces launched renewed aerial and ground attacks in northern Gaza on Sunday.

CNN footage from Jabalya showed boys riding bicycles and vendors manning thinly stocked market stalls yesterday. Echoes of young children filled the area as women walked wearily along the dusty pathway. The Israeli military told people to evacuate Gaza’s north to the Israeli-designated “humanitarian area” of Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis.

But residents say they are wary of attempting to flee the besieged neighborhood in search of refuge, citing numerous Israeli attacks targeting Hamas militants in Israeli-designated “safe zones.”

“I will die and not go to the south,” he said, adding that he was trying to protect 20 other relatives from Israel’s bombardment. “We are resisting and will not leave the north, even if I die here.”

The Israeli offensive in Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks has displaced 1.9 million people, according to the UN. On Sunday, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees warned that the enclave “has become a place unfit for humans,” citing destruction, hunger and disease.

The history teacher said he would rather stay with his two sons at their home, preferring to die “with dignity.”

“There are many like me who will stay in Jabalya. We have no friends, relatives, or real safe shelter, and since death is the same, we will remain.”

Khader Al-Za’anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed reporting.

Idan Shtivi, who was taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 attack.

Idan Shtivi, who was thought to have been killed during Hamas’ attack on October 7 last year, has been confirmed dead, according to the Hostages and Families Forum Headquarters.

The forum said his body is being held in Gaza.

Shtivi attended the Nova music festival and was killed at the site, the forum said.

One year since the October 7 attacks, people in Gaza remain desperate for relief from Israel’s unrelenting offensive, a United Nations official in the enclave told CNN.

“People here remain desperate. Hostages remain in Gaza, their families wait for them,” Georgios Petropoulos, head of the UN humanitarian affairs (UNOCHA) suboffice in Gaza, told CNN’s Rosemary Church.

The Israeli military launched a new offensive in northern Gaza this weekend, days before the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks, which killed over 1,200 people.

The war in Gaza – which Israel says is aimed at destroying Hamas – has killed more than 41,000 people and triggered a dire humanitarian crisis.

Petropoulos said almost 100,000 are wounded in the ongoing war and an unknown number of people – possibly in the thousands – remain under rubble across Gaza.

There are an estimated 430,000 people left in northern Gaza, Petropoulos said, and not many of those displaced are motivated to move south due to the lack of supplies all over.

The intensified bombardment and the advance of the Israeli forces means that around 50,000 people have been displaced in the last 24 hours from the northern communities of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and Jabalya, Petropoulos said.

Protesters march towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence, to mark one year since the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas, in Jerusalem, October 7.

Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza have sounded a siren for two minutes outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem to urge him to bring back their loved ones, marking one year since they were kidnapped by Hamas.

Following Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage, the families have campaigned relentlessly for the Israeli government to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza that would secure the release of their loved ones.

On Monday, the relatives spoke about the immense grief and trauma they have experienced, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Siegel’s mother, Aviva Siegel, was released after two months in captivity, but her father, Keith Siegel, remains a hostage.

“A year has passed since I imagined my parents coming home and us hugging. A year has passed, but it feels like one long day,” Siegel said.

Some relatives also expressed messages of hope and resilience.

“Omeri, my life. I miss you. I feel your absence with every breath, every moment in my body,” said Niva Wenkert, whose son Omer was kidnapped at the Nova music festival last year.

An Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza has killed three people and wounded several more, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

The wounded have been transferred to Al Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, PRCS said.

The Israeli military said it struck multiple locations in Gaza overnight, describing them as Hamas “targets and launchers.”

The President of Israel Isaac Herzog and his wife visit relatives of victims and attend the one year memorial ceremony at the Nova festival memorial to mark one the first anniversary since Hamas attacked one year ago, in Re’im, Israel, on October 7.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog was among those holding commemorations this morning at the Nova festival site, where he described the October 7 attacks as a “scar on the face of the Earth” and called for countries to support Israel.

Herzog also laid a wreath and lit memorial candles in honor of those killed at the site a year ago, accompanied by their bereaved families.

The atmosphere at the memorial site was somber as family members, friends of victims and survivors consoled each other.

An overnight Israeli drone strike on tents housing displaced Palestinians at a hospital compound in Gaza has wounded 11 people, including children and journalists, according to a medical source at the facility.

The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas “command and control center” in an airstrike on the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital compound in Deir el Balah, central Gaza.

The military said it took steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, “including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence information.”

On Sunday, at least 21 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the nearby Al Aqsa Martyrs mosque, where displaced Palestinians were sheltering. Casualties from that attack were evacuated to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas “command and control center.”

The Israeli military has called on “all residents of Lebanese villages who have evacuated their homes” not to return home “until further notice.”

Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee said that Israeli strikes are continuing.

Adraee has been posting multiple messages daily warning residents of over 120 towns and villages throughout Lebanon, calling on them to leave their homes and evacuate.

Lebanese authorities say over 1.2 million people have been displaced since fighting escalated last month. Many have been housed temporarily in schools across the country, or camped out on sidewalks, in parks, churches and mosques.

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CNN visits kibbutz where over 100 were killed in October 7th attack

04:21 - Source: CNN

Scorch marks and bullet holes scar the battered walls of the Haran family home in kibbutz Be’eri. Its tiled roof has caved in, windows smashed, littering the floors with sharp shards of terracotta and glass – the debris, still untouched, of a day of horror for Israel.

“This house tells the story of Be’eri,” says Yarden Tzemach, a farmer and surviving resident of the kibbutz, one of the Israeli communities near Gaza that was overrun by Hamas militants last year.

Outside, beneath the fruit trees in the back yard, a toddler’s ride-on toy car, adorned with stickers of Winnie the Pooh, sits amid the rubble, a stark reminder of the lives shattered here.

In some neighborhoods of Be’eri, barely a building was left intact. More than 100 of its 1,100 residents were killed and another 30 abducted to Gaza on October 7.

Home after home was burned out or reduced to rubble and – a year on – many remain as poignant monuments to an ongoing trauma. At least 10 residents of the kibbutz, all friends and neighbors of each other, are among the more than 100 Israelis believed to still be held hostage.

Nearly 100 residents to have so far returned, with some working to bring kibbutz Be’eri, formerly a self-sustaining farming community, back to life.

Read the full story.

The song that played as Hamas militants stormed the Nova music festival last year was replayed Monday during a memorial for those killed at the site in the October 7 attacks.

In an emotional moment for family and friends of those killed and kidnapped to Gaza, the track was played – and then stopped abruptly – at the same time as last year.

Many of those gathered at the memorial cried, hugged and comforted each other while recalling their loved ones’ final moments.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog attended the ceremony, speaking to families of those murdered here and walking through the memorial field.

The family of Gabriel Barel — his three brothers, mother and best friend — huddled around a portrait of Barel planted amid hundreds of similar memorials.

Barel was 22 when he was killed at the festival. For weeks after the massacre, his family didn’t know what happened to him. He was shot while driving away from the site and the car was subsequently burned, which made identifying his remains extremely difficult.

His brother Yeoda Barel said Gabriel was not meant to go to the party.

“He didn’t have a ticket, but he managed to sneak in and danced all night,” he said.

Yeoda said Gabriel left the festival shortly after the first rockets were fired from Gaza, when he got a call from his mother in the city of Ashkelon.

Yeoda and Gabriel’s best friend from the military, Noam, said he was a fun-loving guy, always surrounded by friends and saving up for a big trip to South America.

To pay tribute to Gabriel’s outgoing personality, the group gathered around his portrait and took a selfie, smiling for the camera.

View of the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 3.

After rushing to comfort Israel as it grieved the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, US President Joe Biden last year pledged America would stand with the country in its dark days and the good ones he insisted would come.

At the time, no one knew the international and domestic political consequences of his promise. An ensuing war has proved the existential role the US plays in Israel’s survival but also severely strained the alliance. It has also exposed and widened some of America’s most profound political divides ahead of an already tumultuous US election.

The October 7 attacks did not only transform the Middle East’s strategic balance as Israel confronted Hamas, then Hezbollah, and traded fire with their sponsor, its archenemy, Iran. The horror set off a chain of events that affected countless lives, unleashing political disturbances thousands of miles away.

Militarily, the United States and its allies have twice staged unprecedented operations to protect Israel from a barrage of missiles and drones from Iran. The US has also repeatedly bombed Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen who have launched attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea in the wake of October 7.

Israel’s onslaught on Hamas in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of civilians, may have finally shattered US hopes of a two-state solution. And it’s turned into the greatest foreign crisis of the Biden administration.

Read the full analysis.

Children in Lebanon are suffering severe injuries from strikes and shrapnel, a spokesperson for the United Nations Children agency said Monday, as Israel’s war with Hezbollah intensifies.

“The toll of this conflict has escalated in recent weeks and is really, really taking a tremendous toll on the children here… in terms of the numbers killed and injured but also displaced,” UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram told CNN’s Michael Holmes.

Ingram said the most common injuries were shrapnel wounds, and some children have also suffered brain injuries, concussions and limb injuries from being thrown by blasts. Children are also experiencing anxiety, nightmares and flashbacks.

Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah have killed more than 1,400 people in Lebanon in recent weeks, according to its health ministry, and created a humanitarian crisis.

UNICEF says more than 690 children have been wounded in Lebanon as the conflict escalated in the last six weeks, and more than 400,000 children have been displaced from their homes as families try to flee from strikes.

Lebanese authorities say over 1.2 million people have been displaced since fighting escalated last month. Many have been housed temporarily in schools across the country.

Idit Ohel, mother of Israeli-Serbian citizen Alon Ohel, who is being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas, holds the portrait of her son during a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, on September 11.

Idit Ohel, mother of Israeli hostage Alon Ohel, said she was out walking the dog on the morning of October 7 when her family began to realize that something had happened at the Nova music festival.

At around 8 a.m. her son sent a message saying he was in a bomb shelter but was fine. A few hours later, they received a phone call saying he was sent to a hospital. But when her husband arrived there, they received news that Alon had been kidnapped alive and taken to Gaza.

Ohel told CNN’s Bianna Golodryga “what Hamas did is not human,” and urged governments around the world to help rescue hostages still held in Gaza.

Ohel said her son “was the glue” that brought her family together, and said he loved music and playing the piano.

“He just loves life,” Ohel said of her son. “He came back home, a month and a half before he was kidnapped, from traveling over Asia. And in meeting people and finding interesting, different kinds of food.”

Family members and friends of the lost and kidnapped gather at the site of the Nova Festival to mark the one year anniversary of the attacks by Hamas, in Re'im, Israel on October 7.

Fighting continues in the Middle East on the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, with commemorations planned across Israel and around the world.

Hezbollah struck the northern Israeli city of Haifa for what appeared to be the first time in its ongoing conflict with Israel. Beirut has seen some of the most intense bombing by Israel in its war against Hezbollah, which has further escalated the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon.

Israel has vowed to retaliate against Iran for last week’s missile barrage, and its military has launched a new offensive against Hamas in northern Gaza, forcing hundreds of Palestinians to flee.

Here are the latest developments in the region:

This aerial photo shows a site of the attack on the Nova music festival by Hamas militants in southern Israel on October 10, 2023.

Everything changed at 6:29 a.m. on October 7 last year at the Nova music festival in the Negev desert, said event co-founder Ofir Amir.

“A year has passed but we still feel like we are on October 7, (like) it was just a long day that never ends,” Amir told CNN’s Bianna Golodryga from Israel.

“It’s still unimaginable what happened on that day.”

Amir, who was shot in both legs, was among the last people to leave the festival site.

Hamas fighters killed 347 people and took others hostage at the festival on October 7 last year, according to the Israeli military.

Also speaking to CNN, Yariv Mozer, director of “We Will Dance Again” — a documentary on the festival attack — said it was important to chronicle how the events unfolded, minute-by-minute, using footage from survivors and videos taken by Hamas fighters as evidence of the brutality they faced that day.

Friends and family members of Mor Meir Trabalsi gathered at the site of the Nova Music Festival.

Hundreds of family members and friends are gathering for a ceremony honoring those killed in Hamas’ attack at the site of the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel on October 7.

Danielle Cohen, whose cousin Mor Meir Trabalsi was murdered while trying to escape the attack, attended alongside several friends and family members. The group, all wearing blue t-shirts with Trabalsi’s name and photograph printed on them, gathered at a small memorial to honor him, one of hundreds erected on the site.

Trabalsi was shot dead while driving his wife and friends away from the festival. He told everyone in the car to duck down and kept going — likely saving their lives while losing his.

The survivors, including his new wife, were trapped in the car with Trabalsi’s body for about five hours before the Israeli army rescued them, Cohen said.

Cohen said Trabalsi’s wedding was the biggest she’s ever been to, with more than 800 people attending.

“It’s unusual for Israeli weddings to be that big, but Mor had more friends than people I know in my life. He was that person that is always surrounded by friends, and everybody wanted to be his friend,” she said, a tear rolling down her face.

“Looking back, the wedding was like a big farewell party for him.”

The scene at the Nova music festival memorial near Re’im in southern Israel on Monday, October 7, 2024.

At just after 5:30 a.m. in Israel, people began gathering at the site of the Nova Music Festival, where Hamas militants murdered 347 people and took 40 others hostage on October 7 last year.

The event Monday in the Negev desert is the first of several gatherings to mark the one-year anniversary of the attacks that killed more than 1,200 people, saw more than 250 taken hostage and triggered Israel’s devastating war in Gaza.

While the atmosphere at the memorial site is somber, reminders of the conflict are ever present. Just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Gaza perimeter, the sound of outgoing artillery rounds echoes through the quiet morning every few minutes as the sun begins to rise.

Tributes to those killed in last year's Hamas attacks at the Nova music festival memorial near Re’im in southern Israel on October 7, 2024.

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Video shows aftermath of missile strike in Haifa, Israel

00:44 - Source: CNN

At least five people were wounded in Haifa on Sunday following a Hezbollah rocket attack that appeared to mark the first time the Iran-backed militant group has struck the northern Israeli city in its ongoing conflict with Israel.

Hezbollah said in a statement that it launched the rockets at Israel’s Carmel military base, while Israeli authorities reported rockets and shrapnel dropping around the city.

Haifa’s Rambam Hospital said it was treating six people who were impacted by the attack. One person was “lightly to moderately injured” and four others were “lightly injured” due to shrapnel, it said. A sixth person was being treated for anxiety, it added.

Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency services said it treated two people at the scene — a 13-year-old boy with a head injury caused by shrapnel and a 22-year-old man who was hit by a window that fell due to the blast.

Debris and shrapnel were reported by police and bomb disposal experts in two primary areas, according to the police.

The Israel Defense Forces said earlier that it had spotted five projectiles fired toward the city and tried to intercept them, but several of the rockets landed.

Israeli officials say Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets across the border Sunday. Israel continued with its extensive bombing campaign on southern Beirut and surrounding areas in Lebanon, which has killed more than 1,400 people over the past two weeks, according to Lebanese authorities.

CNN’s Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.

A long roll of paper containing the names of people killed in the Israeli occupation is seen carried by protesters in Plaza de Catalunya during the rally in Barcelona, Spain, on October 6.

There were demonstrations, marches and memorials across the world this weekend ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel.

Large crowds marched through the streets of Barcelona, Jakarta, Sydney, and other cities on Sunday, marking a year since the attacks, which killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry there, and created a dire humanitarian crisis.

Miguel Verdugo, a 72-year-old protester in Barcelona, told Reuters: “We must express that we are against genocide. The least we should all do is protest in every capital city around the world.”

There were tributes and memorials for the victims of the Hamas attacks in cities across the world.

Events were held in Berlin, Paris, London and Israel on Sunday, while the Pope led a prayer for peace at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.

In Berlin, hundreds of people rallied under the slogan, “United against the crimes of Hamas against Israelis and Palestinians,” Reuters reported.

Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal spoke at the Berlin event, saying of the October 7 victims:

In Tel Aviv, Thousands gathered for a vigil marking the anniversary, where loved ones mourned victims and survivors shared their stories. Protesters are urging Israel’s government to secure a deal to free the remaining hostages.

The Israeli military has reinforced soldiers near Gaza ahead of the ceremonial events marking one year since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks into southern Israel.

Additional troops have been deployed at border communities for both “defensive and offensive scenarios,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday.

“The soldiers are fully equipped to defend the region in coordination with local security forces, the Israel Police, and Magen David Adom, ensuring a comprehensive response to any incidents that may arise,” the IDF said.

A week before Israel marked the anniversary of the Hamas attacks, Israel launched a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon as it ratcheted up its war with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

For the first time since 2006, Israel struck central Beirut, with previous attacks being confined to the city’s southern suburbs. Israel is now pounding Lebanon with a level of bombardment not seen outside of Gaza in the last 20 years, according to air warfare experts.

The dramatic escalation in the Middle East suggests fears of an expanded regional war have been realized.

Those fears have only been deepened by Iran’s largest-ever missile attack on Israel — which also came last week. The region is bracing for Israel’s response, and Tehran has already pledged it will attack Israel again if it deems that necessary.

Here’s a timeline of last week’s key events: