Israel prepared Tuesday to mark Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism, honoring the Jewish state's 20,512 fallen soldiers and 3,134 victims of terrorist attacks.
A one-minute siren set to sound across Israel at 8 p.m. will usher in Memorial Day and will be followed by a state ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, led by President Reuven Rivlin and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot.
Following the ceremony, Rivlin and Eizenkot will join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh, Mossad Director Yossi Cohen, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and Chief Justice Esther Hayut at the Chagall State Hall in the Knesset, where hundreds of bereaved families are scheduled to attend a memorial event.
Several commemoration events took place on Monday, including the placing of Israeli flags on fallen soldiers' graves at the National Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
Rivlin, Eizenkot, Alsheikh, Cohen and Shin Bet security agency Director Nadav Argaman attended the ceremony.
"Here, in the National Memorial Hall, we stand together and remember the fallen, the names on the walls surrounding us a silent testimony to the heavy price we paid over the years for this land," Eizenkot said.
Alsheikh said that "the nature of the confrontations over the past decade pose greater security challenges for the Israel Police, and few know the lengths and sacrifices required by our officers to carry out their mission successfully."
A two-minute siren will sound nationwide at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, after which the official state ceremony honoring Israel's fallen soldiers will take place at the National Memorial Hall. Hundreds of memorial ceremonies are scheduled to take place simultaneously in military cemeteries across the country.
The state ceremony honoring victims of terrorism will be held on Mount Herzl at 1 p.m.
The ceremony honoring Israel Police officers killed in the line of duty is scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m. on Mount Herzl.
The Defense Ministry said it will make hundreds of shuttles available for bereaved families seeking to visit their loved ones' graves and attend Memorial Day ceremonies.
