The second anniversary of the Hamas massacre that started the war in Gaza will be marked on television, in Israel and around the world, by dramatic and documentary series and movies about the events.
One Day in October, the first television series to dramatize the attack, will release three new episodes which will be shown in Israel on YesVOD on October 7, and in the US on HBO Max, also starting on October 7. Both the first and second seasons will be available in the US on HBO Max on that date.
Each episode of One Day in October (known in Hebrew as Red Dawn) tells a separate story and works as a gripping short film, at times incorporating actual footage from Hamas body cameras and security cameras. Both seasons are moving, well crafted, beautifully acted, and cinematic. The series features some of the most publicized stories from the day of the attack and brings them to life with Israel’s most talented and popular stars.
Stories in the new season
The new season starts out with one of the most inspiring stories from the war, that of Inbal Rabin-Lieberman (Neta Roth), the head of the quick-response security squad on Kibbutz Nir Am, who will be remembered as one of the great heroines in Israeli history.
Just 25 when the attack took place, she had wanted to quit her post so she could concentrate on her work as a tattoo artist. But no replacement had been found by October 7, and even though she had been partying with friends the night before, she jumped into action. Even before she knew for sure how massive the attack was, she opened the kibbutz armory, giving weapons to the rest of the squad.
Slightly reluctant to order around her all-male team, she nevertheless positioned them strategically around the kibbutz, and ordered that the electricity be turned off, so no terrorists could open any of the gates. In the end, Nir Am was among a handful of places in the area that suffered no loss of life on that day, thanks to the squad’s early deployment and her leadership.
Roth, who has been terrific in so many roles, such as in Image of Victory and The Deer, has just the right combination of vulnerability and gutsiness to make Rabin-Lieberman into a relatable everywoman. Lior Ashkenazi plays her proud, encouraging father.
The second episode is even more harrowing. It tells the story of the Golan-Hogeg family from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Ariel (Michael Aloni of Shtisel), Ellay (Moran Rosenblatt, who was in Fauda and We Were the Lucky Ones), and their infant daughter, Yael, who were planning to spend a quiet holiday together, when the attack began. When the terrorists set their home on fire, they had to face a horrific choice: to stay inside and burn or run out and be shot by the terrorists. Inspired by their desire to save their daughter at any cost, they spent hours defying what seemed like a certain death sentence with incredible bravery, and during which they were aided by Ellay’s knowledge as a medical student.
Israeli audiences will note that they read the children’s classic Yael’s House to their daughter, which is about a little girl on a kibbutz who wants a house of her own and creates makeshift dwellings all over the kibbutz. Throughout the day, they find themselves mirroring the fictional Yael’s journey.
The third episode, "505," details the experiences of Omer Shem Tov (Uri Perelman), who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival. The number in the title refers to the amount of days Shem Tov was held before he was returned to Israel.
It’s a daunting task to dramatize the horrors of captivity, much of which Shem Tov spent in a tiny dark cell in a tunnel. But the creators show both the long stretches of nothingness, punctuated by taunts from his captors as they tossed in stale pieces of pita bread, and the times after he won their trust. There is an especially scary scene in which they accuse him of being a soldier, in which he struggles to prove he is a waiter who finished his military service years ago. Once they got to know him, he began to cook and clean for them and joined them in their frequent task of counting huge amounts of cash, in shekels and dollars, which he did so well they joked they could use him in Hamas. Through it all, his essential sweetness and resilience shines through.
The episode is dedicated to the memory of Ori Danino, another young man kidnapped at the music festival, who was murdered after about 11 months in the tunnels.
The first season, which was shown in Israel last year, features four episodes. The series was created by Daniel Finkelman and Oded Davidoff, both of whom directed it, and its producers include Chaya Amor (The Performance), Aviv Ben-Shlush (Shtisel), Lee Ben-Shlush Kuperman (Highway 65) and Fox Entertainment Studios head Fernando Szew, who brought the project to Fox.
One Day in October was made by Fox Entertainment Studios, Yes TV, Israel ZOA Films, and Finkelman’s Sparks Go company.
Other October 7 programming
Yes features much more October 7 programming on its YesDocu and YesVOD channels. This includes Barry Avrich’s documentary about Noam Tibon’s rescue of his family on October 7, The Road Between Us, which will be shown on October 16; October 8 by Wendy Sachs, about how antisemitism erupted in the US after the massacre; Nim Shapira’s Torn: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on NYC Streets; Brandon Kramer’s Holding Liat, a portrait of a hostage family that won the documentary award at the Berlin International Film Festival; Dan Pe’er’s #Nova, a look at the massacre at the music festival told through texts and testimony, and which includes an interview with Israel’s 2025 Eurovision contestant, Yuval Raphael; and many more.
Emergency Call, a three-part documentary series about first responders on October 7, is available on Hot VOD and Next TV. It celebrates the bravery of the many emergency medical teams who risked, and in far too many cases lost, their lives trying to help others.
The first episode, which focuses on Amit Mann, the young paramedic and aspiring singer who was killed trying to save lives in Kibbutz Be’eri, where over 130 people were killed and 32 were taken hostage, is especially moving. You may have seen her picture, but you may not know her story. Dozens more were wounded, and Mann, 22, stayed to care for them, rather than fleeing and saving herself. Mann, a devoted paramedic, was the youngest person in Israel to teach a Magen David Adom course.
She kept in touch with her family and friends throughout the day, at first to reassure them that she was all right, and after a Hamas terrorist shot her when she pleaded to be allowed to continue her work, to say goodbye to them.
Her texts and voice messages, along with videos of her singing in happier days, are one of the more heartbreaking stories from that day of tragedy. The other two episodes detail the stories of first-response teams in Sderot and Ofakim.
On October 7, KAN 11 will broadcast its series The Day That Never Ends on the events of October 7 and their aftermath, starting in the morning. The series is also available on Kan.org.il.
It’s an ambitious series that presents the events as comprehensively as possible. Over 100 people who experienced the attack firsthand are interviewed at dozens of different locations. They recount the moments of nightmarish terror and heroism in kibbutzim, villages, cities, IDF bases, parties, and forests in the South.
Those giving testimony include released hostages Yocheved Lifshitz, 86, and Yagil Yaakov, 13, as well as dozens of others who lived through that day.