A gathering convened under the banner of the First International Symposium: Lessons Learned from October 7 brought together Hadassah Medical Center, the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, bereaved families, and forensic specialists on the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks. The group's stated aim centred on recording what took place, giving recognition to those who lost their lives, and bringing the full scope and character of the violence against Israelis to broader public attention.
Forensic findings gathered at the MOTJ gathering reached an audience drawn from multiple countries, even as relatives of those affected pressed for the underlying evidence to be made publicly available. Planning the two-day conference fell to Dr. Ira Titunik and Prof. Esi Sharon from Hadassah, who worked alongside Granit Almog-Bareket, the Leadership Academy director at MOTJ.
The exhibition 06:29: From Darkness to Light — which recounts that day's events through the voices of women who were present — anchors MOTJ's broader effort to document and sustain the memory of 7 October. Attendees moved through the exhibition space over the course of the conference.
Riss, who holds the title of Managing Director at MOTJ, conveyed that the organisation views its role as one centred on tolerance, peaceful coexistence, and dialogue, and that this mission drives its commitment to documenting the human cost of attacks carried out by Hamas. Forensic evidence presented at the proceedings — including details disclosed publicly for the first time — documents the scale of violence that took place on that day.
Eyal Eshel, whose daughter Roni died at the Nahal Oz military base, told an audience that forensic records from that day contain details of a nature that stretches comprehension, urging everyone involved in conveying the events of 7 October to international audiences to circulate the autopsy documentation so that the scale of what took place becomes understood — noting that physical remains recovered in some cases amounted to nothing beyond a single strand of hair, the tip of a fingernail, or a fragment of charred matter.
Orly Cohen, whose son Amit and his partner Norelle Mansouri — along with her sister Roya — were among those killed at the Nova music festival, spoke at the conference as well, directing her remarks toward the forensic medicine and identification specialists whose work had brought her family a measure of certainty she described as a gift beyond words. Cohen expressed gratitude for the team's commitment, professional conduct, and attentiveness, noting that each person had been treated as an individual rather than simply a function to be fulfilled.
Kugel, who leads Israel's National Institute of Forensic Medicine, outlined how the identification process got under way in the absence of any confirmed roster of the missing. Portions of the recovered material had been exposed to heat intense enough that the skeletal fragments broke apart on contact. Kugel outlined findings that, in his account, pointed to the intentional introduction of combustible materials at certain locations to intensify burning and prevent the recovery of human remains — conditions he likened to those of a makeshift crematorium.
Dr. Nurit Bublil, addressing an audience at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, outlined the technical hurdles her team faces when attempting to extract usable DNA from material that has been subjected to heat above 800°C. At those facilities, identification work sometimes began with as little as two bones, with analysts drawing on targeted techniques and thorough cross-referencing to establish whose remains lay before them.
Titunik, a forensic odontologist and human identification specialist based in New York whose career in forensic medicine spans more than four decades, expressed a preference for drawing attendees physically to Jerusalem rather than having them participate remotely through a platform such as Zoom. The aim, as he described it, was for those visitors to sit across from the forensic scientists and police officers who had worked the scene, listen directly to their accounts, and grasp the full weight of what had unfolded there on October 7.
The collaboration with Hadassah ties forensic documentation to public acts of remembrance, and Titunik expressed a desire for audiences to witness how the country's forensic and law enforcement teams managed victim identification under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. He also noted that for those who lost someone, physical evidence can bring a measure of clarity when little else remains certain, and that for the practitioners who led the identification work, passing on what they learned may better prepare others facing mass-casualty events in the future.
Three years on from the events of October 7, the work of documentation extends beyond naming victims — it encompasses safeguarding physical evidence, making findings available to others, and maintaining a record that keeps individual lives visible within the broader account.
