The national Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen commenced on Tuesday at 8 p.m. with a nationwide minute of silence, as sirens throughout the country marked the solemn moment and flags were lowered to half mast.

The official memorial ceremony was held at the foot of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City and was attended by Israel’s President, Reuven Rivlin and the IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot.

The Kadish, a Jewish mourner’s prayer, was read by Ofer Cohen, bereaved father of 19-year-old Hadar Cohen, who was killed in a stabbing attack in February.

“A great nation cries over its fallen sons and daughters,” opened Rivlin. “We hate death, but we understand the heavy price you payed to protect a nation.”

“The soldiers and the commanders of the IDF stand united to defend the country, our unity is our strength,” Eizenkot said. “But unity does not mean agreement. Our commanders need to know that the entire country stands behind them and supports them even when there’s disagreement.”.

Memorial Day, or Yom Hazikaron, has been observed annually for 68 years, since the foundation of the State of Israel, and is symbolically marked the day before Israel’s Independence Day. In recent years the commemoration has been expanded to include the civilians who died as a result of political violence and terrorist attacks.

According to the Ministry of Defense, since 1860 the total number of fallen has reached 23,447 – including soldiers, policemen, and operatives of Israel’s security and intelligence bodies. The same data reveals that today there are 16,307 bereaved families in Israel.

The count starts at 1860, since it includes not only IDF soldiers, but also fallen fighters of Jewish security and defense organizations from the beginning of the Zionist movement. Organizations such as HaShomer, active during the time of the Ottoman  Empire, and the Hagana, active during the British Mandate and up to the 1948 War of Independence, when the IDF was formed.

According to data from the Israeli National Insurance institute, 2,576 civilians have been killed during Israel’s wars and in terrorist attacks since the end of the 1948 War.

According to the IDF, 68 individuals have joined the list of Israel’s fallen in the past year alone. The Magen David Adom counts over 20 civilians killed in the recent wave of terrorism, which included 106 stabbing attacks, 25 car-rammings, 22 shootings, and one bombing of a public bus.

Eizenkot made a direct reference to the recent escalation in terrorism and its effect on the Israeli homefront, saying that “terrorism has raised its head again over the past year, and today both Israel’s security agencies and its civilians are forced to stand against it.”

Rivlin mentioned several victims of terror by name, including ”Hussein Ali, who will not attend his own wedding, and Hadar, the watcher on the walls of Jerusalem who was no more then a young girl when she was killed, and more.”