Israel marked Yom Hazikaron, the cuntry’s day of remembrance for its 23,544 fallen soldiers, members of security forces and victims of terror.

Included in the total are over 3,000 civilians. According to the National Insurance Institute, there are a total of 9,157 bereaved parents in Israel, thousands of bereaved siblings, 4,881 widows and 1,843 orphans under the age of 30.

Places of entertainment are closed until Monday night and TV and radio stations air war stories and melancholy music.

At 8pm Sunday there was a one minute long siren, followed by a solemn ceremony at the Western Wall. The President and IDF Chief of Staff lit candles in memory of the fallen.

President Rivlin said, ““By this Wall of tears and of hopes, this evening, fifty years after the liberation of Jerusalem, we remember: our liberty is sacred, both sacred and hard. We know that there is a price to be paid for our existence here, for our liberty. There is a price, and we, in awe and terror, are willing to pay that price.”

He added, “For this, the IDF must be completely dedicated to the tasks before it. The IDF is all of us: it defends us, we defend it. Our defense and the defense of the IDF – its official national status – is defense of the most fundamental foundations of our national home. We must always remember: together we fall, and together we stand.”

The events marking Memorial Day began on Sunday morning with the inauguration of a new memorial hall in Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said the National Memorial Hall "today becomes one of the symbols of the State of Israel. This structure has been established on dedication to the people and the land. Its walls are made of the might of the land, its dome made of bravery and sacrifice. And among all of these, there is concrete to connects the memories."

"The memory of past events is being carried in the backpack of all of our people. We each carry the many generations that came before us, and marching forward with them," he added.