The nation of Israel on Tuesday fell silent today as it marked a month since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
Across the country, people stood silent in the streets, store aisles and high-rise offices. Many openly wept as strangers consoled strangers.
The attacks, which were recorded by Hamas terrorist bodycams, include gruesome torture. Investigators say 80% of the dead showed signs of torture before being killed. In one inhumane instance, terrorists burned a baby to death in the family oven. Investigators could not tell if the parents were forced to watch or were spared the horrific site by their own murders.
The attacks, which killed 1,400, is the greatest loss of Jewish life in one day since the last days of World War II before the concentration camps had been liberated.
This moment of silence was community-led and organized at the grassroots level.
In Ashkelon, Israel, Hamas fired rockets causing sirens to sound during the moment, though people stood their ground and did not seek shelter.
Communities around the world also joined Israel in marking the moment.
A moment of silence was held in Jerusalem as people gathered hundreds of empty beds and children’s cots, set up to mark the 229 people Israel said were taken by Hamas during October 7 cross-border raids pic.twitter.com/n3W855GRiF
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 30, 2023
In Gaza on Tuesday, Israel also opened up a humanitarian evacuation corridor through Gaza City which it now surrounds. Thousands of Palestinians took advantage of the gesture, ignoring orders by Hamas to stay in place.
-Dwight Widaman
