A memorial event that was a narrow glimpse through a window that needs to be opened, to a different reality for the people of both Israel and Palestine

In a day of great pain, and for many more than ever before, of personal grief, hundreds of Israelis, Jews and Palestinians, and others touched by the conflict across the world, attended a joint ceremony from Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle — Families Forum.

Amid war and lack of entry permits for Palestinians, controversial annual event is pre-recorded and livestreamed; Gazan who lost 60 relatives says all wanted to ‘live in freedom’

“Many people have woken up to the reality that this conflict cannot go on,” said a director of one Israeli peace-building group, referring to the decades of violence.

Immediately following the Yom Hazikaron ceremony in Israel two men who have recently lost family members to violence speak of the need for reconciliation rather than revenge

Relatives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians killed since October 7 speak as rights groups call for an end to violence

A number of bereaved Israelis and Palestinians have chosen to join the Parents Circle – Families Forum since October 7. Six of them tell Haaretz about their choice to stand together, with very little support from their society around them

Since Israelis’ lives were engulfed in horror on October 7, a catastrophe that has yet to end for Palestinians in Gaza, we bereaved families from both sides of the conflict are coming together to remember the innocent children whose only crime was being Palestinian or Israeli

We are dedicating the ceremony to children in war. Their only crime is being Palestinian or Israeli.

While a ceasefire agreement is once again on hold, dividing Israeli society, some families of hostages say they are victims of intimidation by a government prioritizing its ongoing operation in Rafah.