Calls for state inquiry as Israel marks 1,000 days since Oct 7

Israelis called on Thursday for a state commission of inquiry into Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, as the country marked 1,000 days since the deadly assault that triggered the war in Gaza.

A series of sombre commemorations were held across the country, as well as protests against the government's handling of events during and after the attack.

The first began at 6:29 am (0329 GMT) -- the exact time at which the Palestinian Islamist movement launched its assault on Israel.

"What weighs on me most is the fact that even now, 1,000 days after the event, we are still in the middle of it, and what could have been done to reach some kind of closure has not been done," Dina Hertz, a Jerusalem resident, told AFP.

"I mean a genuine commission of inquiry, genuine taking of responsibility, drawing real conclusions, and a true sense of shame and pain by those who were at the head of the system on October 7."

In the evening, thousands of protesters gathered on "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv, waving Israeli flags and holding placards criticising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, AFP footage showed.

The plaza, which was renamed "Memory Square" for the day, became a focal point during the war for the struggle to release the captives seized on October 7.

Eyal Eshel, father of Israeli soldier Roni Eshel, who was killed on October 7, lamented that no state commission of inquiry has been established to investigate the security fiasco, a demand shared by many Israelis across the political spectrum, according to polls.

"For a thousand days, we have continued counting, and we will keep counting until a state commission of inquiry is established and until this government is no longer in power," he told AFP.

Netanyahu's government has long refused to establish such an independent body, the likes of which Israel has commonly set up in the past to investigate major state-level failings.

It has instead offered to create a "political" commission, half of whose members would be appointed by the ruling coalition and half by opposition lawmakers.

Opposition leaders have said they would boycott a commission appointed by politicians.

Anti-government demonstrators also blocked a section of the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening, another focal point for protests during the Gaza war.

The Israeli police said eight people were arrested there.

- 'Rebuild' as a society -

Gatherings took place throughout the country, including outside the Israeli parliament and near the homes of government members.

The "October Council", founded by the families of victims and hostages taken on October 7, was one of the main organisers of Thursday's events.

"The families of the hostages and the bereaved families are demanding the establishment of a state commission of inquiry now!" the council said on X.

Meeting with a group of bereaved families, President Isaac Herzog said the day was "a reminder of Israel's capacity to grow out of crisis and unbearable pain: to remember, and never to forget".

Gadi Eisenkot, former army chief and now a leading candidate to succeed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the elections due to be held in October, marked the day on X.

"My promise... to all the people of Israel is to do everything to rebuild ourselves as a society and as a nation," he wrote in one post.

The Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Militants also took 251 hostages to Gaza.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

A ceasefire took hold in October but progress on permanently ending the war has stalled, and Israeli forces currently control nearly 70 percent of the territory.

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