Israelis across the country marked Tuesday the second anniversary of the October 7 massacre, an event that this year coincides with the Jewish festival of Sukkot, with nationwide protests and memorial ceremonies honoring the nearly 2,000 victims and calling for the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
Beginning at 6:29 a.m. — the exact time the Hamas-led attack began two years ago — protesters gathered outside the homes of government ministers and coalition Knesset members, demanding government accountability and action to secure a hostage deal.
Protests outside ministers' homes
(Video: Esther Wiener Iluz, Miri Porat, Verdit Alon-Korfel)
The demonstrations took place as Egyptian officials hosted talks on a peace initiative proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, which protesters referenced in their appeals. Outside the home of Knesset member Yuli Edelstein, demonstrators addressed the American president in English: “We demand that our government accept your peace plan and bring peace to our region. Bring everyone home — now.”
Dozens of protesters stood outside the Tel Aviv–area home of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, reading aloud the names of 48 hostages and holding signs that read, “We have not forgotten the abandonment.”
Outside the home of Transportation Minister Miri Regev, demonstrators displayed photographs of hostages and signs declaring, “Miri, there is no atonement. We will not forget and we will not forgive.”
Similar “neighbor protests” were held outside the Haifa home of Likud Knesset member Ariel Kallner. Among the participants was Boaz Zalmanovich, son of the late hostage Aryeh Zalmanovich, who was killed during his abduction on October 7.
“We came here to call out to a representative of the government — one of those responsible for the abandonment,” Zalmanovich said. “The neglect is part of the forgetting of our loved ones. Thankfully, we have President Trump pressing both sides — Hamas and Bibi — to act and rescue the hostages.”
He added, “We have no choice but to keep protesting, because it’s inconceivable that this is still happening.” Zalmanovich thanked the demonstrators who joined him early that holiday morning.
Some of the protests began later in the morning, at 7:10 a.m. A demonstration outside the home of Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman included a reading of the hostages’ names.
According to protest organizers, similar actions were held outside the homes of several other senior officials, including ministers Avi Dichter, Yoav Kisch, Eli Cohen, Amichai Chikli, Ron Dermer, Nir Barkat, Israel Katz, Yariv Levin, Gila Gamliel, Haim Katz, and Yitzhak Wasserlauf. Demonstrations were also reported outside the residences of Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chair Boaz Bismuth, and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, as well as several other coalition lawmakers.
Across kibbutzim near the Gaza border — areas devastated by the attack — residents held memorial ceremonies throughout the morning. Flags were lowered to half-staff to mark what many described as both a day of mourning and a day of reckoning.
At 10 a.m., the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and the “October 7 Family” movement were set to lead a national “civil siren,” urging Israelis to pause for a minute of silence in memory of the victims. The groups called on the public to “stop everything for one minute,” and asked drivers to honk their car horns in unison.
“Let us all stand for a minute in memory of nearly 2,000 men, women and children who are gone,” organizers said in a statement, “and to demand a deal to bring home all the hostages and end the war.”
At Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit communities on October 7, residents released a message written by Liat Atsili, a survivor whose husband, Aviv, was murdered and kidnapped to Gaza. His body was returned to Israel this past June.
“October 7, 6:29 a.m. Exactly two years ago, our world collapsed,” Atsili wrote. “We lost 65 beloved people that dark day, and since then many have been held captive. Eighty-three were kidnapped from their homes; four managed to escape, three were murdered on the way, and 76 entered the gates of hell in Gaza. Nine are still there.”
She described life in Nir Oz before the attack, recalling the kibbutz’s communal spirit and the everyday moments that once defined it.
“We will remember Nir Oz in its days of glory,” Atsili wrote. “The homes, the lawns, the trees and paths. The pool and the grocery store, the pub with the arakito and Goldstar on tap. The children’s house and the caregivers, the students and volunteers. The dining hall — fries on Thursdays, falafel on Fridays.
“We will remember the fields and orchards that gave us the tastiest fruits and vegetables in the world. The sunsets. The oasis that was our home. May we yet return to rejoice there, to celebrate a wedding there.
“We will remember the yellow gate that guarded our special place — until that murderous day, when it fell under attack and could not protect us. We will remember that we were all heroes, from infants to elders. Like the phoenix, we will rise from the ashes to build new lives.”
Atsili concluded with a reflection on loss and remembrance: “We will remember that day. The sun rising over the bloodshed. The silent sky above. The ashes beneath the blooming gardens. May the living remember the dead; may the free remember the captive. Let us not be silent until our lives are worthy of their memory.”