One year after Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Tri-State Area remembers victims amid calls for hostage release
NEW YORK -- It has been one year since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the deadliest in the country's history.
More than 1,200 people were killed in the massacre that day, and more than 250 others were taken hostage, according to the Israeli Health Ministry. Many of them were attending the Nova Music Festival.
Roughly 100 off those hostages are still in captivity in Gaza. The American Jewish Committee says seven of them are Americans, and more than half have ties to the Tri-State Area.
The attack would trigger a war that is still ongoing in Gaza. One that the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave says has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the region's 2.3 million people and sparked a humanitarian crisis.
Families on both sides of border want bloodshed to end
Carmel Gat watched helplessly as her mother, Kinneret, was murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7. She was then taken from kibbutz Be'eri into Gaza. The 39-year-old occupational therapist turned 40 during her 11 months in captivity, which ended when Hamas executed her and five other hostages.
"In the dark, without food, probably diseases, need to take care of each other," brother Or Gat said. "She could have been saved multiple times."
Or Gat has returned to Be'eri, but retold her story in hopes of saving those still alive, like 23-year-old Bipin Joshi of Nepal, who was taken hostage from the Sdot Negev Regional Council, which is made up of 16 communities near the Gaza border.
Tamir Idan, the council's leader, says 30 people were murdered that day, many of them agricultural workers from Cambodia and Nepal.
"They get inside about 50 terrorists in the morning and about another 50 in the afternoon, but it's not just they kill them. They do terrible things with their body," Idan said.
The group raising money with the help of the non profit La'Aretz to build a new community for 500 families.
"We cannot do it without without private help," Idan said.
Relatives of people living in Gaza say donations are a means to survive. Each rainfall ruins their tents.
Najla, a New Jersey resident who didn't want to give her last name, said her aunts and uncles families are all displaced.
"They currently live in a tent with no sewer, no toilets, no clean water to to drink," Najla said. "If you have high cholesterol, you have no medication. How do you expect human beings to live like that?"
Duaa Abdulla said her 17-year-old cousin, Amr, died after being hit by flying artillery in March. She said he died in an ambulance shortly after reciting the Dawn Prayer during Ramadan in a tent.
"His aunt and and her children, they survived, but all of them are amputees," Abdulla said. "His death was a huge shock to everyone, because he was in the safe zone."
She said another relative, Ahmed Saeed Al-Abadleh, who had Down syndrome, was killed by an Israel Defense Forces quadcopter near his refugee camp in Khan Younis, when he started walking, thinking he could go back home.
"You're talking about a whole village that's, like, named after my family," Abdulla said. "Every single one of their homes has been destroyed. Every single one of these people have had to evacuate multiple times."
Families on both sides of the border want and end to the fighting the rebuild to begin.
New York and New Jersey flags at half staff
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ordered flags to be flown at half staff Monday. New York landmarks, including the Empire State Building and Niagara Falls, will also be lit up in yellow Monday night in solidarity with Israel and the hostages.
"One year after the horrific atrocities committed against the people of Israel, my heart goes out to the victims and their families," Hochul said in a statement. "New York stands with Israel - today and every day. As the home of the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, we will do everything in our power to defend against the forces of hatred and stand firmly against those who perpetuate it."
"One year after the tragedies of October 7, 2023, we continue to mourn the devastating losses and urge all parties to reach an agreement that immediately returns every hostage and puts an end to the continued suffering of civilians in Israel, Gaza, and throughout the region," Murphy said in a statement of his own. "Our hearts go out to the families that have been shattered by the terrorist attacks on October 7th and the humanitarian suffering that followed, and we continue to pray for a swift end to the war and restoration of peace across the region."
New York City Mayor Eric Adams added that several city buildings within the five boroughs would also shine yellow.
"One year ago today, people of all faiths and creeds gathered at the Nova Music Festival in Israel to sing songs of peace and coexistence. With the brutal murder of more than 1,200 innocent men, women, and children by cowardly terrorists, a part of all of us died that day. Hundreds more were taken hostage in the aftermath, and many still remain in captivity today," Adams said in a statement. "And as we see the devastation wrought on innocent people in the Middle East in the aftermath of this unprovoked attack, the thought of peace becomes even more distant. But that is exactly why we must continue to strive for peace — for the safe return of all of the hostages, for the defeat of Hamas, and for an end to this deadly conflict."
Vigils to remember Oct. 7 victims
It's a somber day with several events being held across the Tri-State Area. Vigils and ceremonies are planned to remember the victims and call for the release of hostages.
Hundreds of people gathered Monday evening in Union Square, including the groups Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, If Not Now and Israelis for Peace NYC. Organizers laid stones and candles to honor the dead.
Family and friends of the hostages also came together Sunday in Central Park, as they have every weekend for the past year.
"I cannot describe the pain of not knowing where your child is or how is he," said Yael Alexander, whose son Edan was taken by Hamas.
"It's a day-to-day struggle. We are in an upside-down world, but we have to stay focused. We have two more kids to raise, and just to stay strong for our kid, we have no choice," his father, Adi Alexander, said. "A cease-fire would give families on both sides a chance to reunite to children, to feel safe again and for peace to begin."