Israel marks a year since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack as war rages on

RE’IM, Israel (AP) — Israelis held somber ceremonies Monday to mark a 12 months because the deadliest assault within the nation’s historical past, a Hamas-led raid that shattered its sense of safety and has since spiraled into wars on two fronts for ever and ever.

Hamas marked the anniversary of its Oct. 7, 2023, assault by firing a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv, underscoring its resilience after a 12 months of struggle and devastation in Gaza. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which started firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8 in help of its ally Hamas, fired greater than 170 rockets regardless of its latest losses.

The battle quickly drew in the US navy as effectively, and troops ranges there stay increased than regular as a way to forestall a much bigger struggle from breaking out.

Just a few weeks after Hamas’ assault, on Oct. 19, the Navy destroyer Carney grew to become the primary American warship to take out a salvo of drones and missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

That back-and-forth between the Houthis and the Navy has continued on a near-daily clip for the previous 12 months within the Purple Sea and Gulf of Oman, and Navy ships have additionally performed a job in capturing down Iranian missiles fired at Israel on two events.

U.S. floor forces have additionally endured months of assaults by Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq, though the frequency of such assaults has lessened.

Nonetheless, a January assault on the Tower 22 base on Jordan’s border with Syria killed three U.S. troops.

They’re Sgt. Kennedy Sanders, Sgt. Breonna Moffett and Workers Sgt. William Rivers.

Questions have additionally emerged about how lengthy the U.S. navy — and the Navy specifically — can maintain expending finite sources within the area.

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press Israel’s campaigns on all sides, the navy bombarded southern Lebanon with greater than 120 strikes in an hour Monday, saying it was concentrating on Hezbollah positions. An earlier strike killed at the least 10 Lebanese firefighters, the most recent of dozens of first responders killed in latest weeks, in accordance with Lebanon ‘s Well being Ministry.

In a attainable signal of the enlargement of its marketing campaign, the navy stated it will quickly launch operations on Lebanon’s southern coast, telling residents to remain off the seashores and the ocean for a 36-mile stretch alongside the Mediterranean.

Within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, Israeli troops shot and killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in a refugee camp, Palestinian well being officers stated. The navy stated it opened hearth on Palestinians throwing stones at its forces.

A 12 months since Hamas’ shock cross-border assault, the struggle in Gaza rages on at the same time as Israel is combating a brand new struggle in opposition to Hezbollah, escalating its bombing marketing campaign in Lebanon the previous three weeks. There may be additionally a mounting battle with Iran — which backs each Hamas and Hezbollah — that threatens to pull the area into an much more harmful conflagration.

And inside Israel, two essential commemorations for the day underscored the nation’s divisions. One was held by the federal government, the opposite in Tel Aviv by households of these killed on Oct. 7 and of hostages nonetheless held in Gaza who refused to affix the official ceremony.

It was an indication of how Israelis’ religion of their leaders and navy have been shaken when the militants stormed out of Gaza, catching the nation unprepared on a serious Jewish vacation. The militants killed some 1,200 individuals, largely civilians, and kidnapped one other 250. Round 100 hostages haven’t been returned, a 3rd of whom are believed to be useless, and cease-fire efforts have floor to a halt.

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No formal commemorative occasion is deliberate in Gaza, the place Israel’s assault since Oct. 7 has killed greater than 41,000 Palestinians, big areas have been utterly destroyed, a lot of the inhabitants have been pushed from their houses and starvation is widespread.

At 6:31 a.m., 4 projectiles have been launched from Gaza towards the identical communities that got here underneath assault final 12 months, with out disrupting ceremonies there.

The navy stated one other 5 rockets have been launched from the southern Gaza metropolis of Khan Younis towards central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv. Two girls have been flippantly wounded, in accordance with first responders, and there was minor injury. The navy stated it struck the launch websites.

Sirens blared a second time in central Israel hours later when Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile. The navy stated the missile was intercepted.

Israel responded to the Oct. 7 assault by launching one of many deadliest and most harmful navy campaigns in latest historical past.

“We misplaced all the things we’ve got,” stated Liyala al-Shanar, who fled her house in Gaza Metropolis. “We reside in a tent that doesn’t shield us from the winter chilly or the summer time warmth.”

Hamas’ fighters have repeatedly regrouped in areas the place Israel carried out main operations. On Sunday, Israeli forces encircled the northern city of Jabaliya and launched one other main operation there that the navy says is geared toward rooting out militants.

The previous 12 months has seen a surge of violence within the West Financial institution, together with Israeli raids on cities concentrating on armed teams, elevated assaults by Palestinian militants and Jewish settler assaults on Palestinians.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah has stored up its hearth even after intensified Israeli strikes have killed many in its high command — together with longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah — and pounded giant areas of Lebanon.

Israel’s strikes have killed at the least 1,400 Lebanese, together with civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, and 1.2 million have been pushed from their houses. Lebanon’s Well being Ministry stated Monday’s strike that killed the ten firefighters hit the municipality of the southern city of Baraachit simply as they ready for a mission. There was no instant remark from the Israeli navy.

Israel launched what has to date been a restricted floor operation throughout the border final week. It says it goals to drive the militant group from its border so tens of hundreds of Israeli residents can return house.

Israel has additionally vowed to reply to a ballistic missile assault final week that Iran stated was in response to the killings of Nasrallah, high Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and one among its personal Revolutionary Guard generals.

Hezbollah stated Monday it will proceed its assaults till there’s a cease-fire in Gaza, saying Israel “was and can stay a lethal, aggressive, cancerous gland that should be eradicated, irrespective of how lengthy it takes.”