The families of six young Israeli hostages murdered by Hamas terrorists in Gaza last year marked the first Hebrew calendar anniversary of their deaths on Tuesday, with memorial ceremonies at cemeteries and other sites across Israel.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Or Danino and Alex Lubanov — known in Israel as the “Beautiful Six” — were killed by their captors on August 29, 2024, after surviving almost 11 months in captivity.

Their bodies were retrieved by the IDF two days later from a tunnel in southern Gaza, during fighting in Rafah.

On Tuesday evening, thousands of friends and supporters of Hersh Goldberg-Polin gathered with his family in the Valley of the Cross in Jerusalem to remember the 23-year-old, who was abducted from a bomb shelter after fleeing the massacre at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.

His parents, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, spoke of their son’s qualities, his legacy, and the void his death has left.

Both wore a piece of tape with the number “683” written on it in black, marking the number of days that have passed since 251 people were abducted from Israel, and the number of days in captivity endured by the remaining 50 hostages.

“Sometimes I look deep into my own eyes. I unzip them — my eyes — and I can hear you. And I know you’re here inside,” said Rachel, gesturing toward her heart. “Even though I can’t see you with my eyes — that are your eyes, that are my eyes. Like the too-big ocean that I cannot always see. But there is no doubt that it is there.”

“We are born; we live; and we leave,” she said. “We love, we learn, we grow, we create. Some are here for a moment, others for a lifetime — but the ending is always the same.”

“What remains can be a legacy, a lesson, a breeze, or nothing at all,” she mused. “Usually, only love remains.”

Jon, wearing a Hapoel Jerusalem shirt in honor of his son’s favorite sports team, recalled that “a few weeks ago, a nice man — who I didn’t know — approached me and he said: ‘Hersh’s dad — may I show you something?’ And he pulled out his phone to show me that a picture of you, Hersh, is the wallpaper on his phone.”

And he said, ‘Every morning, I pull out my phone, and the first thing I see is Hersh. I look at him, and I ask myself: What can I do today to be better, and to make the world better?'”

“In your 23 years and 11 months, you always prioritized things that can’t be quantified. Smiling and making other people smile, knowledge, experiences, relationships, and justice,” said Jon.

“The legacy you have already left from your 23 years and 11 months is greater than any of those legacies that could be quantified.”

Orly Goldberg-Polin, Hersh’s younger sister, said that “the hardest thing is to talk about the things that are obvious.”

“To me, you were always my big brother and obvious. You would also do things that upset me, but you were always just you. It was just easy to love you. You were always my brother, and you will always be my brother. Only now, you belong to everyone.”

“I think that also makes me happy, because everyone needs Hersh in their lives,” she added.

Earlier on Tuesday, family and friends of Eden Yerushalmi gathered at the Yarkon Cemetery in Petah Tikvah, along with hundreds of Israelis who didn’t know her but wanted to honor the memory of the 24-year-old Hamas victim, who was also abducted while fleeing the Nova festival.

Her sister Shani Yerushalmi told the Kan public broadcaster that the thing she missed most about Eden was “her noise.”

“Eden would always come home and everyone had to listen to her. She would shout, ‘Hello, I’m home. What’s up? How’s everyone doing?’ And I would always tell her, ‘Eden, quiet, a little quiet.”

“And from the day she was kidnapped, that quiet was very present. All of a sudden, there was quiet at home, and Eden wasn’t there.”

Eden’s mother, Shirit Yerushalmi, spoke to her daughter from the side of her grave.

“A year has passed, and I still cannot believe that you are not here,” she said. “The pain is unimaginable, only growing, and I miss you with every breath. Nothing is the same anymore.”

“You are beyond words, you are a ray of light bursting with endless energy,” said Eden’s sister May. “I miss you, I miss listening to music with you through the little portable speaker you used to take everywhere.”

In Alex Lobanov’s hometown of Ashkelon, his widow, Michal Lobanov, vowed to “make Alex’s voice heard everywhere, and those of the five hostages murdered with him.”

“The most important thing is that we still have 50 hostages in Gaza, and we must fight for them until they are back,” added Michal, who gave birth to their second son shortly after Alex was abducted from the Nova festival, where he was working as a bartender.

She thanked the public for their support over the past 22 months, saying that it was “thanks to them” that she was able to be “standing here on two feet, trying to be strong, doing my best to be strong.”

“Alex will always be in our hearts,” she added.