Life across Israel came to a halt on Monday morning as a two-minute-long siren sounded to mark a moment of silence for Holocaust Remembrance Day.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, places of entertainment are closed, and memorial ceremonies are held throughout the country. The central ceremonies are held at Yad Vashem on the evening and the morning of the memorial day.
At Yad Vashem, wreaths were laid at the foot of the six torches lit on Sunday night by dignitaries and representatives of survivor groups and institutions.
Six million Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime and its allies in the Holocaust from 1933-1945. Millions of individuals from other targeted groups were murdered by the Nazis and their allies in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East as well.
Shlomo Mansour, an 86-year-old resident of Kibbutz Kissufim who survived the Nazi-inspired Farhud pogrom in Bahjdad in 1941, is one of the 133 Israelis still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.