October 7th marks one year since Hamas attacked Israel Claire Overton — WWLP

It has been one year since Hamas attacked Israel and the war in the Middle East began.

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP)- It has been one year since Hamas attacked Israel and the war in the Middle East began.

One year ago, Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel that killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 people.

The attack was started at the Nova Music Festival and as dawn broke Monday morning in Israel, hundreds of family members and friends gathered at the site of the festival to honor those killed. 

They played the final song of the festival last year before the attack took place followed by a moment of silence and prayers. Thousands of Israelis attended another vigil Monday morning in Tel Aviv to honor those killed. A siren also rang out at 6:29 a.m. in Israel to mark the hour when the Hamas-led militants launched rockets into Israel at the start of the attack.

Over 90 hostages remain in captivity, including four Americans, but it is unknown how many are alive.

in the past year, over 40,000 thousand Palestinians in Gaza have been killed according to the Ministry of Health. Millions have also been left without a home and hope for a ceasefire has diminished.

Hezbollah has been aiding Hamas in their attacks for the past year. hamas is a primarily Palestinian organization based in the Gaza Strip while Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization with a presence in southern Lebanon, by the border with Israel. Hezbollah is also backed by Iran.

To combat both of these groups, Israel has been launching attacks against both Hamas in Gaza and recently Beirut in Lebanon against Hezbollah.

On Tuesday, Iran launched around 180 missiles at Israel in response to the killing and assassination of Hamas’s chief in Tehran, the leader of Hezbollah, and a senior Iranian military official. These attacks are pushing the Middle East closer to a region-wide war.

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