Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove remembers victims of Oct. 7 Hamas attack

Hundreds gathered at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove on Sunday to commemorate those killed in the Hamas attack on Israel two years ago Tuesday.

Among those who spoke at the afternoon event were a survivor of the Holocaust and an Israeli citizen living near the Gaza border when Hamas militants launched their attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

In his opening address to about 200 people in attendance, Alan Mindel, the center's chairman, reminded them of the toll exacted by the militants on Israel.

"On October 7, 2023, our promise was broken. ‘Never again’ happened," Mindel said.

Hamas militants and other groups killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in its attack on Israel two years ago, taking hundreds of others hostage, according to the Israeli government. Since then, the Israeli military has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and militants.

On Friday, President Donald Trump ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza after Hamas accepted parts of his brokered ceasefire plan and release the remaining hostages.

For many Long Islanders, the Hamas attack has had a tragic local fallout. Omer Neutra, a 21-year-old from Plainview, and a platoon commander in the Israel Defense Forces, was killed in the 2023 attack. His family spent months praying for his return, only to eventually learn he had been killed in the initial attack.

Rosalie Simon, 94, a Holocaust survivor, focused on Israel's ongoing importance to Jewish people everywhere.

"Antisemitism still exists, not only in the pages of history, but currently in all parts of the world," Simon told those assembled. "Had Israel existed in the '30s and '40s, many Jewish people would have been saved."

Aviv Lapid, 18, described yearslong attacks by other groups on her city of Sderot, located about a half-mile from Gaza.

Before Oct. 7, 2023, Lapid said at the memorial Sunday, her family had been protected by Israel's defense systems and bomb shelters in and around her home.

But on that day, officials told her family to lock their doors, as militants had entered the city, she said.

"We avoided the news and social media as much as possible. We have a TV in the shelter, so we watched movies," Lapid said.

A day after the attack, Lapid added, she left Sderot with her family, later learning that a volleyball teammate had been killed in her home, and a classmate died while hiding with his family.

Eventually, Lapid joined a new school and volleyball team, laying roots with her family in another part of Israel.

It wasn’t the building that felt like a home, she told the group Sunday.

"It’s laughing at a bad joke my father made," Lapid said. "It’s fighting with my siblings. ... This is home."