Traditionally, Independence Day torches are lit at the annual ceremony on Mount Herzl. This year, however, on the first anniversary of the date following October 7, they will instead be lit in selected areas among the Gaza border communities and IDF bases that were overrun by Hamas on that catastrophic day.
Twelve of the sites that suffered the most in the devastatingly heinous attacks by Hamas on October 7 have been chosen for this year’s torch-lighting, such as Kibbutz Kfar Aza; Kibbutz Nir Oz; the Supernova (“Nova”) music festival site near Re’im; the IDF base at Nahal Oz; Memorial Park in Ofakim; and the site of the blown-up police station in Sderot.
There will be no fireworks this year, nor the usual military flyover. The ceremony will be prerecorded without an audience because of the ongoing war and because “We don’t know how the different fronts will develop,” Transportation Minister Miri Regev told the media at a press conference last week.
Instead of the usual 12 “outstanding citizens” selected to each light a torch, Israel’s anniversary torch bearers this year will owe their participation to the heroism they displayed on October 7 – or connected to it.
Because, Regev said, “Choosing torch holders among thousands of nominations is an impossible task, this year each torch will be lit by a group.”
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