TEL AVIV — Israelis gathered at military cemeteries and memorial sites across the country on Monday, laying wreaths, lighting remembrance candles and collectively remembering the lives lost and changed since Oct. 7, the deadliest assault in Israeli history.
In a country where a mandatory draft applies to nearly all 18-year-olds, Memorial Day is a sacrosanct national holiday. It comes a week after Remembrance Day, in which Israel commemorates the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and at sundown is followed by Independence Day, which is usually filled with street festivities and fireworks.