Commemorations were held across Europe on Monday to mark the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 massacre on Israel, the deadliest day for Jews since the Nazi genocide on the continent during World War II.

Paris turned off the lights on the Eiffel Tower at 11:45 p.m. local time on Monday, to commemorate the massacre, while the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was illuminated with the Israeli flag to mark the anniversary.

The names of those murdered and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the devastating onslaught on southern communities were read out in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

Nearby, the German chancellery was adorned with a yellow ribbon commemorating the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, 97 of whom remain in captivity, with many of them feared dead.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said to Germany’s “dear friends in Israel” that “we feel with you … we stand beside you.”

Speaking at a conference in Hamburg, Scholz also pointed to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and said, “The daily experience of violence and hunger is not a basis on which good things can grow.”

In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen decried “an alarming surge of antisemitism” in Europe, as she attended a memorial ceremony at a synagogue marking the one-year anniversary of the brutal assault.

“This is just unacceptable,” she said, pledging to devote more resources to ensuring that “Jews can live and thrive” on the continent.

“Antisemitism is a threat to our democracy. It is a cancer that questions the very foundations of our European Union. And we shall never allow it.”

“It is time for the bloodshed to end,” von der Leyen said.

Earlier, lawmakers paid tribute to the victims of the October 7 massacre during a plenary sitting in Strasbourg, eastern France.

“The horror of that day will live in infamy,” European Parliament speaker Roberta Metsola told the gathering.

“There is nothing that could ever justify the indiscriminate mass murder, rape, kidnapping, and torture that occurred a year ago.”

Metsola also addressed relatives of hostages taken by Hamas who were present in the parliament building.

“Thank you for coming. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for being their voice,” she said.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the House of Commons called for renewed diplomatic efforts, while Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited a London synagogue.

“The region cannot endure another year of this, civilians on all sides have suffered too much. All sides must now step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint,” he said. “There is no military solution to these challenges.”

United Nations ambassadors in Geneva also gathered at an event hosted by the Israeli mission.

“We would like the UN to speak in a clear voice, for once, and to say who started this war,” Daniel Meron, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, referring to Hamas.

In Italy, Premier Giorgia Meloni, who has voiced strong support for Israel, visited the main synagogue in Rome and reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself, while insisting that the country respect international law and lamenting the devastation in Gaza.

She denounced the “latent and rampant antisemitism” since the Hamas onslaught, citing in particular pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests in Italy this past weekend, some of which turned violent.

The Vatican marked the anniversary of the attacks by taking up a collection for the people of Gaza and publishing a letter from Pope Francis to Catholics in the region, expressing his solidarity.

French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris with relatives of hostages and of people killed in the October 7 massacre. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot attended a memorial service at the site of the Nova music festival in Re’im, Israel, where hundreds were killed.

In Paris at a ceremony organized by the Jewish community, French Prime Minister Michel Barnier vowed to “continue fighting antisemitism in every way.”

In Poland’s capital, the Jewish community paid tribute to Alex Dancyg, a Polish-born Holocaust historian who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and killed by Hamas.

Police arrested several pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters rallying on the anniversary of the massacre in Amsterdam.

Riot officers carrying shields and batons deployed in force in the Dutch capital as people gathered in the Dam central square to mourn those killed one year ago.

While the pro-Israeli group was listening to speeches and concerts, counter-demonstrators began to shout slogans.

Police grabbed one middle-aged woman and hauled her into an armored van, an AFP journalist on the ground witnessed.

Nearby, police surrounded several dozen pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrators with faces covered and waving flags, to keep them separated from the Israeli gathering.

Police warned them to disperse but later announced they had arrested the group “for breaking the law on public gatherings.”

French tourists Myriam Acef, 23, and Ines Khraroubu, 21, told AFP: “We were there right at the beginning but we only stayed a bit because we quickly saw the police were surrounding everyone.”

“We were pushed around a bit with shields and we were stuck for around 20-30 minutes,” Acef said.

Prime Minister Dick Schoof and other top Dutch political leaders were attending commemorations in an Amsterdam synagogue to mark the October 7 attack.

Away from Amsterdam, pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters staged sit-ins at several stations around the country.

The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern communities on October 7, slaughtering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.

Israel launched a grinding military operation to eliminate the terror group and rescue the hostages.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 41,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting there so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 348.