October 7
The day Israel will not forget. In a single Sabbath morning, about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken captive.
The most terrible day since the Holocaust
On Saturday, 7 October 2023, the festival of Simchat Torah, at about 6:30 a.m., tens of thousands of rockets rained down on southern Israel, while thousands of fighters from Hamas and other groups breached the border fence in more than thirty places and stormed into towns, kibbutzim, and a music festival.
Within a few hours about 1,200 people were killed, and another 251 were seized and taken into Gaza. It was the largest single-day murder of Jews since the Holocaust. This site is a place of quiet remembrance: we remember not numbers, but people.
Facets of this day
Chronicle
How the day unfolded — hour by hour, from the first barrage to the declaration of war.
Communities
The southern kibbutzim and towns that bore the blow: Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz and others.
Nova festival
The music festival near Re'im that became the site of the largest single massacre of that day.
Hostages
251 taken captive, the yellow ribbon, and a road home 846 days long.
In brief
As long as we remember their names, they remain with us.
Remembrance in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan is home to one of the world's oldest Jewish communities and has warm ties with Israel. The tragedy of October 7 echoed with grief in Baku, in Quba, and in Krasnaya Sloboda: in the synagogues memorial candles were lit and prayers offered for the fallen and for the return of the hostages.
How to rememberThis site is memorial and informational in nature. Figures are from open sources and may differ slightly.