Israeli Broadcasters Unveil New Documentaries Marking Third Anniversary of October 7

Marking three years since the Hamas assault on October 7, Israeli broadcasters are dedicating significant airtime to the events of that day through an extensive slate of documentaries, special features, interviews, and memorial initiatives.

The most notable aspect of this wave of new programming is its distinct tone compared to the documentaries produced in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Those initial films, quite understandably, were assembled at a frantic pace using cellphone recordings, security camera footage, interviews, news clips, and even material captured by the attackers, in order to document the events and preserve evidence.

Today, three years on, directors have had the luxury of time to track survivors, grieving relatives, soldiers, released hostages, and displaced populations as they work to rebuild, recover, and honor their lost loved ones. These narratives have been crafted deliberately; rather than merely covering the survival of October 7, many of the new works examine the complex reality of continuing to live in its wake.

KAN’s anniversary schedule features several major new productions, including one of the most distinctive offerings that revisits the first hours of October 7 from an unusual perspective: Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

On October 5, the Zman Emet program will broadcast The Shift (HaMishmeret), a documentary by Chen Liberman and Roni Singer examining the events inside the Beersheba hospital as hundreds of casualties began arriving. Soroka became the epicenter of an unprecedented medical crisis, caring for hundreds of injured patients in a single day while the assault was still unfolding.

A new slate of broadcasts exploring life following Oct. 7

The production features previously unseen security camera footage filmed inside the hospital, capturing the corridors, entrance plaza, and emergency department gates in the hours following the beginning of the massacre.

KAN News will additionally air After They Returned from October 5 through 7, a three-part series hosted by anchor Tali Moreno.

Instead of covering the effort to secure the hostages’ release, Moreno speaks with families once their loved ones have returned home. They discuss physical and emotional trauma, the difficulty of reacquainting themselves with family members, and the dawning realization that being freed did not equate to returning to the lives they had before October 7.

On October 6, Hanoch Daum’s Taboo convenes four former hostages – Aviva Siegel, Doron Katz-Asher, Eitan Mor, and Guy Gilboa-Dalal – for a retreat on a moshav. The four discuss their survival candidly, recalling the perpetual fear and the ways they sustained hope, while also revealing the arduous and intricate process of rebuilding afterward. True to Daum’s irreverent style, moments of dark humor are woven throughout.

His Footprints Remained, a new documentary set to air on October 5, chronicles Ibrahim Kharouba, a veteran Bedouin IDF tracker who was killed defending the Nahal Oz base. Coming from a lineage of trackers and dedicating his life to military service, Kharouba joined the defense of soldiers pinned down at the base during the attack.

KAN will also re-examine October 7 via its digital memorial project, 7.10.360, an interactive reconstruction of events across communities, towns, and roads along the Gaza border. Leveraging thousands of hours of footage, testimony, WhatsApp messages, documents, recordings, interviews, and news reports, the platform allows users to trace the events starting at 6:29 a.m. and currently features approximately 250 individual narratives.

HOT 8 is also presenting innovative programming highlighting fresh perspectives, including Saved by the Ball (Segel Haser), a film by Aviad Livny focusing on the Kfar Aza Foxes soccer team. Having screened at Docaviv 2026, the film will air on October 5 at 9:15 p.m. on HOT 8, with additional availability on HOT VOD and NEXT TV.

Just days after October 7, the surviving players, evacuated along with other residents of Kfar Aza to Shefayim, resumed playing soccer. They played barefoot, without the shoes left behind in their abandoned homes, and without many friends or relatives who had been killed or abducted.

They quickly discovered that soccer offered something few other things could: 90 minutes in which they could feel, if only slightly, like the people they were prior to the attack. Approximately every two weeks, the Foxes began facing any team willing to play, ranging from other kibbutzim and high-tech companies to Maccabi Tel Aviv veterans, Supernova music festival survivors, and Ashdod Port workers.

However, when organizers attempted to restart the tournament among Gaza-border kibbutzim in the summer of 2024, the Kfar Aza players declined. Their stance was straightforward: They would not resume play until everyone returned.

Navigating displacement, grief, and uncertainty: the perspective of ‘Whose Are You?’

Another new HOT 8 film, Whose Are You? (Shel Mi At?), directed by Dotan Naveh, examines Kfar Aza from a contrasting angle. Ten women married to men from the kibbutz had created a WhatsApp group titled Whose Are You? to help one another find their footing within the close community. On October 7, that mundane question suddenly assumed a wholly different, frequently tragic significance.

The documentary centers on three of these women, each of whom experienced October 7 differently despite living in close proximity. Following them for over two years, the film covers displacement, bereavement, new motherhood, and uncertainty, alongside their struggle to decide whether and where to build a home again. It is scheduled to air October 5 at 7:30 p.m. on HOT 8, and will also be available on HOT VOD and NEXT TV.

Another HOT 8 premiere, You Don’t Bury a Soul (Neshama Lo Kovrim), directed by Adi Feineru, follows 13 parents who lost children on October 7 during a two-week trip through southern India. They are accompanied by a team from Adama Tova, a therapeutic community supporting bereaved families. As they become absorbed in the sights and sounds of India, they wrestle with a painful question: if they let themselves move away from their grief to focus elsewhere, are they somehow abandoning their children? The film airs October 7 at 9:15 p.m. on HOT8.

HOT8 will also showcase Imprints of the Soul (Rishumei Nefesh), a collection of five short docu-poetic films by young directors from the western Negev. This collection, which screened at Docaviv 2026, becomes available beginning October 5.

HOT will also re-release a substantial number of previously broadcast October 7-related documentaries and programs.

A standout among these is Yariv Mozer’s Emmy-winning We Will Dance Again, in which survivors recount the attack on Nova. It is a harrowing, difficult-to-watch, yet memorable and beautifully crafted film.

Tom Shoval’s A Letter to David, the winner of the Ophir Award for Best Documentary, is a cinematic tribute to David Cunio, who was kidnapped on October 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his wife, children, and brother Ariel. David and another brother, Eitan, had starred years earlier in Shoval’s first feature, Youth. The film offers an intimate portrait of a community shattered by grief and loss; Shoval re-edited it after David and Ariel were released in October 2025.

Additional returning programming includes October 7: Emergency Call, which narrates the experiences of Magen David Adom personnel through testimony and calls from residents of Gaza-border communities; Waiting for Him, concerning two young women whose partners died together during military service; and Omri Assenheim and Gilad Tokatly’s documentary series What Happened to the IDF?, which looks beyond October 7 to examine developments within the military over preceding decades.

HOT 8 will also air The Campaign: Disinformation in a Time of War, broadcasting October 4 at 9:15 p.m. This documentary examines propaganda and digital influence during the Israel-Hamas war. Journalist Warren Kinsella investigates bot networks, fake accounts, algorithms, coordinated campaigns, and Hamas’s international messaging strategy.

Two new Israeli documentaries on Yes Docu examine another group still grappling with the war’s consequences: reservists.

Good Morning Gaza, premiering October 4 at 9 p.m. on Yes Docu and Yes VOD, focuses on Or Brandes, a psychology student and reserve soldier who served in Gaza as a tank driver, as he began broadcasting an improvised podcast to fellow soldiers over the military radio network. The soldiers display emotions ranging from denial and thoughts of revenge to humor, occasionally playing pranks. Through radio recordings combined with intimate combat footage, the film provides insight into the emotional landscape of soldiers in the post-October 7 period. Competing at the 2026 Jerusalem Film Festival, it was directed and written by Hanan Brandes and Matan Sacofsky.

Following the broadcast, Yes VOD will offer a companion podcast in which Brandes and Sacofsky discuss creating their first film, as well as reserve duty, war, trauma, and loss.

Immediately afterward at 10 p.m., Yes Docu will premiere One Eye Open, directed by Tom Giat and produced by Ohad Milstein. It received the First Film Award at Docaviv 2026 and the 2026 Weil-Bloch Film Award. During more than 400 days of reserve duty in Operation Iron Swords, Giat closely documented the escalating crisis he and his fellow soldiers faced. The film traces the quiet testimonies of reservists who answered the call to serve only to find themselves staggering under the weight of it, drawing viewers into their world to illuminate their stress and coping mechanisms.

These films will deepen public understanding of the tragedy itself, its buildup, and, perhaps most importantly, assist in grappling with the question of what comes next.

At press time, Cellcom TV and Keshet had not yet announced their special programming to mark the anniversary of the war.

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