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One year ago today, the world witnessed the worst attack on the Jewish community since the Holocaust. I woke up the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, looked at my phone and immediately noticed a barrage of red alerts from Instagram and texts from family members. I was initially confused because, while red alerts occur often in Israel warning citizens about attacks, this one seemed unusually substantial. I soon learned why.

Israeli civilians suffered catastrophic losses on Oct. 7 that struck the lives of countless people around the world. Yet the coverage of the attack has been discarded by the media and lacks coverage equal to the suffering caused.

Although the attack on Oct. 7 was a year ago, hostages remain in Gaza, living under extremely inhumane conditions. To this day, these people are starved, dehydrated, psychologically tortured, abused and lack sufficient air and light. According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, “all hostages are humanitarian cases in imminent danger. As time progresses, the number of survivors decreases sharply, potentially reaching a point where none remain alive.”

The Iranian-backed terrorist group Hamas took 251 hostages on Oct. 7, with around 100 still in captivity. One of these hostages is Kfir Bibas, who was nine months old when captured and has now been held hostage longer than he has been alive. Hamas has rejected the opportunity for peace countless times, turning down agreements presented by both the United States and Israel. Although U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and other government entities have engaged in talks with both Israel and Hamas to end the war, none have successfully led to an agreement between the two.

The lives of the families impacted by these attacks should not go unnoticed. Hamas not only invaded the Nova Music Festival, they destroyed families in the surrounding neighborhoods too. They committed horrendous acts of sexual violence, and, according to Bituah Leumi, Israel’s social security agency, murdered 36 children, including 10-month old Mila Cohen, who was shot and killed.

Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,200 people that day. Many were injured and transported to local hospitals. Buildings and homes were beyond repair. Neighboring towns surrounding the Gaza Strip in the south of Israel saw their homes covered with bullet holes.

These attacks reached people all over the world, including many U.S. citizens, making this conflict hit closer to home than some might think. Some U.S. citizens who were at the Nova Music Festival and other neighboring communities like Kibbutz Be’eri were taken hostage by Hamas.

One of those hostages was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a U.S. citizen from Chicago whose parents remained vocally optimistic about seeing their son return home. But all hope was lost on Aug. 30 when Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were found dead, murdered by Hamas terrorists. Goldberg-Polin had the support of many Jewish communities within the U.S. and Israel, leaving many heartbroken at the news of his murder.

Now, here we are one year later, remembering all of these atrocious acts committed against the Jewish people that should never be forgotten.

Still, Oct. 7 seems to be forgotten about in conversations regarding the Israel-Hamas war and isn’t discussed nearly as much as it should be. The quantity of lives lost on this day is hard to comprehend, and unfortunately, there are people in this world who still won’t condemn the terrorists who took so many lives. Oct. 7 will forever be remembered as the second-largest massacre of the Jewish people behind the Holocaust, and it should be referenced as such whenever the topic of this war is mentioned.

Oct. 7 is a difficult day for Jewish people, myself included. I will remember the lives of the Israeli citizens who were murdered by Hamas terrorists one year ago today, and I will continue to do so every year from now on. Hamas’ charter makes it very clear – their goal is to annihilate the state of Israel and replace it with a Palestinian Islamic state. They’ve carried out multiple attacks against Israel, including Oct. 7, which emphasizes the need to spread awareness and prevent this from happening again.

While there is much need for peace during this time, Hamas has proven difficult to create peace agreements with. It is time to voice awareness for the families who are forever affected by these attacks, and we must hold space for recognition, memorial and respect for those who died. Though many people and other communities assumed this war would have ended only a few weeks or months after Oct. 7, we still have not received any signs of civility from Hamas. It is a continuous battle to focus our attention on the hostages and help bring them home.

Joe Kaplan is a junior majoring in magazine, news and digital journalism. He can be reached at jfkaplan@syr.edu.

Published on October 7, 2024 at 11:33 pm