Harris pays tribute to 7 October victims: ‘never lose sight of dream of peace’

Kamala Harris paid tribute on Monday to the victims of the 7 October attacks in Israel and called, in their honor, to “never lose sight of the dream of peace, dignity, and security for all.”

“What Hamas did that day was pure evil – it was brutal and sickening,” the US vice-president said in a statement. “And it has rekindled a deep fear among the Jewish people not just in Israel, but in the United States and around the world.”

Harris also nodded to the more than 40,000 Palestinians killed in Israel’s year-long war in Gaza.

“I am heartbroken over the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year – tens of thousands of lives lost, children fleeing for safety over and over again, mothers and fathers struggling to obtain food, water, and medicine,” she said. “It is far past time for a hostage and ceasefire deal to end the suffering of innocent people.”

Harris and Donald Trump are both set to speak on Monday at events commemorating the one-year anniversary of the attacks.

Harris planned to hold a ceremony and plant a pomegranate tree – a symbol associated with the Jewish new year, which began last week – at the Naval Observatory in Washington, the vice-president’s official residence.

Accompanied by her husband, Doug Emhoff, Harris is also expected to deliver remarks reaffirming her “unwavering commitment to the security of Israel and of the Jewish people”, according to a White House spokesperson.

Emhoff, who is Jewish, will also attend a prayer ceremony at the American Jewish Committee’s 7 October 7 memorial commemoration.

Donald Trump is set to speak later Monday at a remembrance event at his golf course in Doral, Florida.

“Jewish community leaders will gather to honor the 1,200 lives lost after being taken hostage and killed on that fateful morning one year ago,” the Trump campaign said in a statement.

He is widely expected to turn the event into an attack on his rival. In recent weeks, he has said that he has been “the best president by far” for Israel, and that Jewish voters supporting Harris “should have their head examined”.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden is scheduled to commemorate the anniversary with a candle-lighting ceremony at the White House, where he will be joined by a rabbi. The US president paid tribute in a statement to “the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust” and condemned the “vicious surge in antisemitism in America” since the attacks.

“The October 7th attack brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of hatred and violence against the Jewish people,” he said, before also referencing the suffering of Palestinians.

“I believe that history will also remember October 7th as a dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas unleashed that day. Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict.”