Netanyahu lights memorial candle in Jerusalem for October 7 victims

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lit a memorial candle at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem to honour everyone killed in the Hamas attack of October 7, according to a statement released by the Israeli government. The statement is dated October 7, 2026, the anniversary of the attack, and is filed under the 37th Government.

In the short statement, Netanyahu said the candle commemorated every victim murdered that day, and he described the perpetrators as "the monsters of Hamas." He said the country comes together on the date in shared longing for those it lost, and he closed with a pledge: "We will complete the mission." The government release quotes him as saying Israel has already settled the score with the killers and will keep doing so.

What the statement is

The text was published on the English-language section of gov.il, the Israeli government's official website, as an item in its events and speeches category. It is a press release, not a news report, and it presents the prime minister's own words without independent commentary. A photograph accompanying the release shows the candle lighting, captioned in Hebrew as a memorial candle for all those murdered on October 7.

The Prime Minister's Office is the government department that supports the head of the Israeli government. Its seat is in Jerusalem, which is where the ceremony described in the release took place.

The memorial candle in Jewish practice

Lighting a candle in memory of the dead is a long-standing Jewish custom. In Hebrew such a candle is often called a ner zikaron, meaning a memorial candle, and the Hebrew caption on the government photograph uses that term. Families light one on the anniversary of a relative's death, and Israeli public figures commonly do the same at national days of remembrance. Netanyahu's gesture follows that tradition.

October 7 and Hamas

Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist movement that has governed the Gaza Strip, the coastal territory bordering southern Israel. Its attack on October 7 is the event Israelis now commemorate on that date, and it was followed by war between Israel and Hamas. The statement's reference to having "settled the score" and to continuing to do so reflects the government's position that it will go on pursuing those it holds responsible.

For readers abroad, the date has become one of mourning in Israel and across Jewish communities, with ceremonies and private acts of remembrance held each year. The prime minister's statement frames the day in those terms, speaking of national unity in grief before turning to the pledge of continued action.

What the statement does not say

This account rests on a single source, the government's own release, and no other organisation's reporting was available to compare against it. The release does not say who else attended the candle lighting, at what time it took place, or whether it formed part of a wider official ceremony.

It gives no figures on the number of people killed on October 7, and it does not name any victims. It also does not specify what the prime minister meant by completing the mission, which operations he was referring to when he said the score had been settled, or what further steps the government intends to take. Those questions are not answered in the material, and this report does not attempt to answer them.