The October Council also organized a convoy through communities devastated during the October 7 attack, beginning at the Nova music festival site near Kibbutz Re’im. By Pesach Benson, TPSIsrael began marking 1,000 days since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre on Thursday with memorial ceremonies, protests, and renewed calls for a state commission of inquiry as bereaved families, survivors, and former hostages commemorated the victims.Events began at 6:29 a.m., the exact time Hamas launched its assault on southern Israel.Organized by the October Council, which represents bereaved families and October 7 survivors and former hostages, the day opened with demonstrations and roadblocks in Jerusalem, Caesarea, and other locations.Protesters called for the government to establish a state commission of inquiry into the attack, accusing political leaders of evading responsibility.Near the Knesset in Jerusalem, demonstrators staged a mock funeral procession and wore orange prison-style jumpsuits while carrying signs denouncing what they described as a “moral, leadership, and strategic failure.”Police later removed a large coffin display erected near the Knesset entrance and cleared protesters from the area.In Caesarea, outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence, activists erected a symbolic installation featuring a bedside table, a red telephone, a calendar marked October 7 and a clock frozen at 6:29 a.m., accompanied by recordings of unanswered phone calls and news broadcasts from the morning of the attack.The October Council also organized a convoy through communities devastated during the October 7 attack, beginning at the Nova music festival site near Kibbutz Re’im.The convoy will continue through Nir Oz, Kissufim, Be’eri, Nahal Oz, and Kfar Aza before concluding at a memorial site near Sderot.At 10 a.m., the group called for a nationwide minute of silence, mirroring Israel’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day siren.Later in the day, organizers planned to open an exhibition in Tel Aviv displaying 1,000 personal belongings of victims and hostages, followed by a protest outside the Defense Ministry headquarters and an evening rally at the former Hostages Square.Danny Miran, whose son Omri was held hostage in Gaza before being freed, criticized the government’s handling of the aftermath.“This was not a war of revival; this was a war of bloodshed,” Miran said during a demonstration at a junction in northern Israel. “Fifty more hostages could have returned alive.”Sharon Sharabi, whose brother Yossi died in Hamas captivity and whose brother Eli, sister-in-law Lian, and nieces Noya and Yahel were murdered during the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, said the failure to establish an official inquiry remained a national failure.“A thousand days in which a state investigation committee has not yet been established,” Sharabi said. “The questions still resonate. How did this happen? How did the State of Israel fail to protect its citizens?”Despite his grief, Sharabi said the tragedy had also revealed extraordinary courage.“We discovered a fighting people,” he said. “We discovered a fighting spirit that gave hope… Out of this disaster, the people of Israel are alive.”Opposition MK Avigdor Lieberman visited Kfar Aza, saying warning signs before the attack had been ignored.“They are trying to make the public forget and evade responsibility,” Lieberman said, pledging that a future government would establish a state commission of inquiry.Former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, who now heads the centrist Yashar party, issued a brief message marking the milestone, writing: “1,000 days. We will still be worthy. I pledge.”Hamas killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages during the October 7 cross-border attack.The post Israel marks 1,000 days since October 7 massacre with memorials, protests appeared first on World Israel News.