Israeli families hold funerals at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem after Hamas attack

Israeli families held funerals to bury their dead at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Thursday 12 October, as the country reels from last weekend’s Hamas attack.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said in an update on Wednesday that at least 1,200 people have died as a result of last weekend’s assault and the days-long conflict.

The nation’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has alleged that the Hamas attackers engaged in atrocities, including binding boys and girls and shooting them in the head, burning people alive, raping women and beheading soldiers.

Netanyahu joined with a top political rival on Wednesday to create a wartime cabinet to oversee Israel’s retaliation against Hamas.