Bereaved families' Oct 7 ceremony in Tel Aviv ends with call for inquiry

Survivors of the October 7, 2023 attack and relatives of those killed held their own national memorial ceremony at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening, marking three years since the Hamas-led massacre. The Times of Israel reported that some 50,000 people attended, and that the event was separate from the official state ceremonies held on Monday, the date on the Hebrew calendar chosen for the anniversary.

The evening was led by former hostage Eli Sharabi and actress Shani Cohen, and it closed with a demand that has run through the families' campaign: a full investigation into how the attack happened. Ynet reported that Sharabi ended the ceremony by urging people to remember what happened, investigate how it happened and not rewrite history, and that tens of thousands were present.

Who organised it and who spoke

According to The Times of Israel, the ceremony opened at 9:15 p.m. with a minute of silence, and testimony from bereaved families alternated with pared-down performances by Israeli musicians. Sharabi was himself held captive in Gaza. His wife and two daughters were killed at their home in Kibbutz Be'eri, one of the communities struck on October 7, and his brother was abducted and died in Gaza.

Ynet described Omri Shefroni, who lost 4 relatives in the massacre, telling the crowd through tears that without establishing the truth there could be no repair. A survivor of the Be'eri massacre, Ynet's alerts channel reported, called a state commission of inquiry a moral and security obligation. A state commission of inquiry is the most formal type of official investigation available in Israel, and its establishment has been a central demand of many bereaved families.

Other speakers included the mother of Noa Marciano, a military lookout who was taken alive from her base at Nahal Oz and killed in captivity, and the mother of Karin, who was murdered at the Nova music festival. The Times of Israel said the ceremony gave particular attention to the 46 hostages abducted alive and later killed in Gaza, most by their captors and some unintentionally in Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strikes. The daughter of a man named Eli, killed at Zikim beach, also addressed the audience, according to Ynet.

N12 reported that Sharabi's closing words drew loud applause, as he told the crowd not to cut corners, not to let time blur the truth, and that only by repairing what went wrong could Israel become safer and better.

Political figures in the audience

News.co.il reported that Eisenkot, Bennett, Lapid, Golan and Gantz sat beside one another at the ceremony, and N12 published a photograph of Bennett and Eisenkot seated together. All are figures outside the current governing coalition.

Gadi Eisenkot, chair of the Yashar party, issued a statement carried by N12 after leaving the event, praising the civilian heroism and solidarity of that day and accusing what he called the regime's channel of shamefully ignoring the families' ceremony. Separately, News.co.il reported that every television channel except Channel 14 broadcast the ceremony live.

A disputed ceremony

The event is one of several commemorations, and it is not the government's. Ynet and N12 called it the national memorial ceremony of the October 7 families, while News.co.il described it as an alternative ceremony and wrote that, according to testimonies it did not identify, it excluded former hostages and bereaved families identified with the political right. None of the other reports addressed that claim.

Earlier on Wednesday, a post by Axios reporter Barak Ravid quoted Ruby Chen, whose son Itay was killed in battle on October 7 and whose body was taken by Hamas, demanding answers, rehabilitation and a commission of inquiry, and urging people to vote. The post does not say where Chen was speaking.

The Nova site

Hours before the Tel Aviv event, families gathered at the Nova festival site near Kibbutz Re'im in southern Israel. The Times of Israel reported that the Tribe of Nova ceremony began at 6:29 p.m., matching the morning hour the festival came under attack. It gave the toll there as 378 killed, 344 of them civilians and 34 security personnel, with 44 more taken into Gaza as hostages. Ynet reported that former hostage Elkana Bohbot recited Yizkor, the Jewish memorial prayer, from the spot where he was abducted, and that President Isaac Herzog also spoke.

What the reports do not say

Attendance figures differ: The Times of Israel gave about 50,000, Ynet said tens of thousands, and Haaretz described hundreds of bereaved families, former hostages and community representatives without a total. No report gives an organiser's or police estimate. The reports do not name the Be'eri survivor who called for a state commission, do not identify which channel Eisenkot was criticising, and do not include any response from the government or from Channel 14. The claim that some families were excluded rests on News.co.il alone, and no organiser is quoted responding to it.