Bereaved families held an alternative memorial ceremony Saturday evening at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, drawing thousands under the title “1,000 days of blood and tears,” as Israel enters its annual remembrance period.
The event, organized by the umbrella protest group the October Council, was described by participants as a “ceremony of forgetting,” reflecting frustration with the government’s handling of the Oct. 7 attack and its aftermath. Actor Tzachi Halevi hosted the ceremony, where representatives from different communities spoke and lit torches in memory of loved ones.
Among those taking part were relatives of hostages, victims of the Oct. 7 attack, fallen IDF soldiers and members of the security forces. Ofri Bibas, sister of hostage survivor Yarden Bibas and a relative of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were killed in captivity, placed a wreath for the hostages.
“I will never forget,” Bibas said. “I don’t need a reminder, not one day a year to tell me to stop and remember.” She described the fear in the eyes of her relatives and said there were days when they could have been saved.
Other participants included Benjamin Katz, whose relatives were killed in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Yuval Zaushnitzer, widow of an IDF company commander killed on the first day of the war, who placed a wreath for fallen soldiers.
Eyal Eshel, father of surveillance soldier Roni Eshel, who was killed on Oct. 7, said his daughter “did her job until the last second,” accusing leaders of failing to respond. “We will not be silent,” he said. “Not until there are answers and not until there is accountability.”
Revital Markovitz, widow of a police officer killed while protecting the Nova music festival, said she was there “so the country does not forget” the officers who died that day. She described her husband as someone who chose to stay and fight despite opportunities to withdraw.
Families also recited an alternative memorial prayer, which organizers said was meant to express anger over what they described as failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack.
Organizers said the ceremony was one of dozens of events planned for the coming week. On Sunday, families are expected to hold additional memorial gatherings outside the homes of government ministers and coalition lawmakers.