Biden Lights Yahrzeit Candle To Mourn October 7 Victims, World Leaders Send Messages Of Strength To Israel

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden took part in a yahrzeit candle lighting ceremony, a Jewish tradition of remembrance, on Monday inside the White House, to honour the victims of Hamas’ deadly October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel.

The 81-year-old president and Jill Biden stood in silence as a rabbi chanted a prayer for the dead, before Biden lit a single candle in memory of those killed.

“Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict,” Biden said in a statement. US Vice President Kamala Harris said she was “fully committed” to Israel’s security against Iran and its regional allies — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

They also described October 7 as a “dark day for the Palestinian people” and said he and Harris “will not stop working to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza.” Harris said she was “devastated by the loss and pain of the Israeli people” but added that she was “heartbroken over the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year.”

The Hamas onslaught left 1,205 dead on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.

Some 251 people were captured and taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip by militants, of whom 97 are still held captive in the coastal territory, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, 41,909 people, the majority civilians, have been killed since the start of the war. The figures have been deemed to be reliable by the United Nations.

French President Emmanuel Macron sent “fraternal thoughts” to the victims and their families.

“The pain remains, as vivid as it was a year ago. The pain of the Israeli people. Ours. The pain of wounded humanity,” he wrote on X in posts in Hebrew, English and French.

In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was expected at an event Monday evening in Melbourne, while a candlelight vigil was planned in Sydney to show support for Palestinians after a year of war.

The first vigils, memorials and marches to mark the anniversary were held a day earlier, on Sunday, in cities ranging from Tel Aviv to London, Paris and Berlin.

Tens of thousands of protesters also marched in cities around the world over the weekend to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.

In Tel Aviv on Sunday evening, friends and relatives of the 370 people killed in the massacre at the Nova dance festival held a candlelight vigil at a concert hall.

Against a backdrop of neon lights and music, they lit candles for their loved ones and embraced.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday urged “all sides” in the Middle East conflict to “find the courage of restraint”, on the first anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

Addressing lawmakers in parliament, the UK leader said the region “cannot endure another year of this” and that “civilians on all sides have suffered too much”.

“All sides must now step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint. There is no military solution to these challenges,” Starmer told MPs in a sombre House of Commons.

“On October 7, 2023, the terrorist organization Hamas launched a horrifying attack against Israel. We stand with Jewish people and Israelis on this painful anniversary. We won’t relent until we see every last hostage returned home safely,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, during a speech at the Great Synagogue in Rome, said “Let us not forget the inhumane aggression perpetrated a year ago by Hamas.”

Japan’s Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya “unequivocally condemned” the Hamas attacks on Israel but said his nation was “gravely concerned” by the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip one year on.

“Japan is seriously concerned about the rising tensions beyond Israel and the Gaza Strip throughout the Middle East region, including the West Bank, Lebanon, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and Iran,” he said.