Israel marks 7 October attacks anniversary
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 October 2025
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Israelis are marking two years since Hamas's attacks on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Meanwhile mediators at talks on the US Gaza peace plan are reported to have reached an understanding with Israel and Hamas on a five-point framework for negotiations.
Also in the programme: the Nobel Prize for Physics; and some good news about humpback whales in Australia.
(Photo: Israelis visit memorials at the site of the Nova music festival, near Re'im, on the second anniversary of the 07 October 2023 Hamas attacks, near the Gaza border, southern Israel, 07 October 2025. Credit: Atef Safadi EPA/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.0 | Hello and welcome to News Hour, live from the BBC World Service in London. I'm Rebecca Kesbby. |
| 0:15.7 | Ceremonies are taking place across Israel today to mark the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks which killed at least |
| 0:22.6 | 1,200 people. It was the single deadliest day in Israeli history. 251 people were also taken |
| 0:30.6 | into Gaza as hostages. 48 are still being held two years on, 20 of them thought to still be alive. Among the ceremonies today, |
| 0:39.7 | survivors and bereaved family members of almost 400 people killed at the Nova Music Festival |
| 0:45.6 | have revisited that site. Today marks the Jewish Sukkot Festival, which was also being celebrated |
| 0:51.6 | on that day at the Nova Festival. It's the celebration of the harvest and forgiving thanks. |
| 0:57.5 | The Hamas attacks triggered the largest ever Israeli assault on Gaza |
| 1:01.7 | and the deadliest in Palestinian history. |
| 1:05.0 | More than 67,000 Gazans have been killed, |
| 1:08.5 | at least 18,000 of them thought to be children. |
| 1:11.8 | Vast areas of Gaza have been reduced to rubble and some civilians have been left facing starvation. |
| 1:18.1 | A United Nations Commission of Inquiry says Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a charge it vehemently denies. |
| 1:26.9 | We'll get reflection from Israel and Gaza in the program today. |
| 1:30.6 | First, though, our Middle East correspondent, Yoland Nell, has this report on the day that changed history two years ago. |
| 1:40.6 | In a tearful call to Israel's Channel 12 two years ago, Ella Benami said she'd just found a picture on social media of her father Ahad in Gaza. |
| 1:52.5 | It was the start of a national hostage crisis and a family trauma. |
| 2:02.7 | In February, after 16 months in Hamas captivity, |
| 2:07.4 | Ahad emerged emaciated from a tunnel in the last ceasefire deal, |
| 2:12.9 | and was reunited with his wife Raz another former hostage |
| 2:17.1 | and their three adult daughters. |
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