With the shock of October 7 still raw, profound sadness and anger grip Israel on its Memorial Day

Israel's Memorial Day is marred by the absence of graves for families of fallen soldiers, highlighting the nation's turmoil.

Ruby Chen's son, Itay, was killed in the Hamas attack on October 7. But unlike scores of other families of soldiers killed that day, Mr. Chen doesn't have a grave to visit because his son's remains are held captive in Gaza.

The absence of a final resting place is being felt acutely now, as Israel marks its Memorial Day for fallen soldiers, when cemeteries are brimming with relatives mourning over the graves of their loved ones.

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“Where are we supposed to go?” Mr. Chen said. “There is no burial site for us to go to.”

Memorial Day is always a somber occasion in Israel, a country that has suffered through repeated war and conflict throughout its 76-year history. But Mr. Chen's torment underscores how this year it has taken on a profound and raw sadness coupled with percolating anger over the failures of October 7 and the war it sparked.

Families of the fallen, along with broad segments of the public, are demanding accountability from political and military leaders over the blunders that led to the deaths of hundreds in the deadliest attack in the country's history.

“Too many people were killed on that day because of a colossal misjudgment,” said Mr. Chen, who for months thought his son was still alive after he was snatched into Gaza, before receiving confirmation earlier this year that he was dead. “People who made the misjudgment need to pay, from the prime minister down.”