JNS
Candles were lit to form the date "7/10," as well as "87," the number of Jerusalemite civilians and soldiers who have been killed since Oct. 7.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday marked one year since Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre and the start of the ensuing conflicts on the country's borders by lighting memorial candles at the Swords of Iron memorial monument in Jerusalem alongside Mayor Moshe Lion.
Netanyahu and Lion lit candles at the memorial in the government campus on Givat Ram, "in memory of the fallen men and women of Jerusalem since the morning of Saturday, Oct. 7," the Prime Minister's Office stated.
The lights were positioned between the walls of the memorial to form the date "7/10," as well as "87," the number of Jerusalemite civilians and soldiers who have been killed since some six thousand Hamas-led terrorists broke through Israel's border with Gaza exactly 365 days ago.
"On this day, in this place, and many places in our country, we remember our fallen, our hostages—whom we are obliged to bring home—and our heroes who fell for the defense of the homeland and the country," the premier said, according to remarks shared by his office.
"We went through a terrible massacre a year ago, and we stood up as a people, like lions," Netanyahu continued, citing from the Book of Numbers: "A people that rises like a lioness, leaps up like a lion."
Lion said, "From Jerusalem, a city that is the symbol of unity, comes the message of unity, and each and every one of us has the task of continuing together, and acting as one, seeing the common denominator for all of us, for Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, for the State of Israel.
"As the months of war taught us well, our strength is in our unity. Only together will we win," the mayor said.
The Swords of Iron monument on Ruppin Street, opposite the National Library, was unveiled last month by Lion and Israeli President Isaac Herzog. The memorial is the first of its kind to commemorate the victims of the massacre and the Israel Defense Forces soldiers who died in the war.
Roughly 1,200 Israelis were murdered on Oct. 7, with thousands more wounded and some 250 others taken into Gaza. One hundred and one hostages, both living and dead, are still being held by Hamas terrorists.
The death toll among IDF troops stands at 729 on all fronts since Oct. 7, 2023, and at 347 since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27.
