A nationwide moment of silence, convoys, protest installations, survivor testimony and a central memorial ceremony will mark three years since the October 7 massacre on Wednesday, with events planned at around 400 locations across Israel.
Most of the commemorative and protest events will be led by the October Council, protest organizations and the Kumu movement. The day will begin at 6:29 a.m., the time the Hamas attack began, with ceremonies, installations and memorial events across the country.
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Hostages Square marking 1,000 days since the massacre, about three months ago
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
Events will be held at the site of the Nova music festival near Re’im and at the Sha’ar HaNegev arches junction, where the flag will be lowered to half-staff. Protests are also planned at additional locations, while families affiliated with the October Council will participate in installations and protest activities in Caesarea and Jerusalem.
At 7:00 a.m., several protest groups will hold memorial ceremonies outside the homes of ministers who served in the government on the day of the massacre. Ten minutes later, a vehicle convoy will leave Caesarea for Tel Aviv along what organizers are calling the “Route of Abandonment.”
At 8:30 a.m., the women’s protest group “From Abandonment to Responsibility” will hold an event at Trumpeldor Beach in Tel Aviv, centered on an installation symbolizing the events of October 7.
At 10:00 a.m., convoys are expected to leave northern, southern and central Israel for Ben Shemen Forest, where a memorial ceremony for those killed in the attack will be held later in the afternoon.
From 11:00 a.m., bereaved families from the October Council will take part in memorial services and events for their loved ones across the country.
At 11:47 a.m., a special ceremony will be held beside the yellow container at the Nova site, led by bereaved father Yoram Yehudai, whose son Ron Yehudai was murdered at the festival.
At 12:00 p.m., the October Council plans to hold a nationwide minute of remembrance at hundreds of locations.
The council said municipalities, businesses and organizations have already announced that employees will be allowed to participate.
Among those joining are Soroka, Ichilov, Sheba, Rambam, Hadassah, Schneider, Wolfson and Hillel Yaffe hospitals; the Weizmann Institute of Science, Technion, Ben-Gurion University, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University and Reichman University; as well as the municipalities of Haifa, Herzliya and Givatayim and dozens of regional councils, kibbutzim and moshavim.
Companies and organizations including Taboola, Ness, Keter, TLV Partners, the Israel Bar Association, CET and the Amal school network have also joined the initiative, along with dozens of schools.
The October Council called on additional organizations to participate and urged the public to stop at noon, step out of workplaces, schools and homes and stand for one minute in memory of those murdered.
At the same time, the “Space Left Behind” exhibition will open to the public at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Jaffa, displaying personal belongings of dozens of people murdered on October 7. A short ceremony will also be held there with representatives of families from the October Council.
At 9:15 p.m.: the main ceremony
(Photo: Jack GUEZ / AFP)
Eli Sharabi will host the ceremony
(Photo: Sharon Derhi)
From the afternoon into the evening, protests will be held across Israel. Demonstrations involving protest groups and members of the October Council are planned in Haifa, Afula, Tzemach Junction, Rosh Pina Junction and Sde Boker.
At 6:29 p.m., a ceremony will be held at the Nova site in Re’im Forest with bereaved families and members of the Tribe of Nova association.
At 7:30 p.m., a stage for survivor and witness testimony will open at the Sha’ar HaNegev arches junction.
The day’s events will culminate at 9:15 p.m., when the national memorial ceremony organized by the families of October 7 begins at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv. The ceremony will also be screened at locations across the country and will be hosted by former hostage Eli Sharabi and actress Shani Cohen.
This will be the third year the ceremony has been held. Organizers say the aim is once again to create a “national, all-Israeli, unifying and hopeful” event giving voice to different groups across Israeli society. Performers will include Shlomo Artzi, Ivri Lider, Miri Mesika, Valerie Hamaty and Harel Skaat.