Following this morning's emotional ceremony honoring Israel's fallen servicemen and women, Arutz Sheva takes you live to the the official memorial service for victims of terrorism, which began at 1 p.m. at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl cemetery.
As detailed in a recent report released by the National Insurance Institute (NII), a total of 2,495 Israeli civilians have been murdered in terrorist attacks since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
Those victims have left behind 2,853 orphans - 99 of whom lost both parents in terrorist atrocities.
978 people were widowed as the result of terrorism.
Perhaps the most painful statistic of all are the 800 parents in Israel today who have lost at least one child to terrorism. That number does not count parents who lost children but have since passed away themselves.
In 2013 alone the NII paid out NIS 453 million in benefits to victims and their families.
Last night, at the start of Memorial Day, hundreds of victims of terrorism and their families came together for a special event in Jerusalem.
This year's memorial service hit headlines in recent days, after some bereaved families called on those government officials - including the Prime Minister - who had voted in favor of the recent release of nearly one hundred convicted terrorist murderers as a "goodwill gesture" to the Palestinian Authority to avoid the commemorations.
"From a moral point of view, I would advise the ministers who voted in favor of [releasing terrorists] not to come to the cemeteries [for the memorial ceremonies]," Meirav Osher, whose father Avi Osher was murdered by an Arab terrorist in 1991, told Arutz Sheva.
"They have no right to be there. You freed the murderers and we do not want to hear or see you. Leave us alone because you betrayed us and we are now walking around with terrible feelings. Do not come to the cemeteries. You aren’t wanted there," she declared.