Israel commemorates its fallen

Sirens sounded for 2 minutes throughout Israel Wednesday morning as the nation commemorated fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, local media reported. Motorists stopped their cars on highways throughout the nation as the sirens sounded and stood silently to mark Israel\'s Memorial Day, The Jerusalem Post reported. President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and military Chief of Staff Benny Gantz attended a national memorial service at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, and other services took place at military cemeteries in the country, Haaretz reported. \"I know what you go through on this day and every day,\" Netanyahu told bereaved families at Mount Herzl. \"I\'m one of you. I know the agony of parents who have lost a son or daughter, the tragedy of young children who will never know their father, the cutting down of life felt by brothers and sisters, the longing of a young widow for a love who will never return,\" said Netanyahu, whose older brother, Yonatan, was killed in a 1976 Israeli military operation to free hostages taken aboard a hijacked plane in Entebbe, Uganda. The Israeli military said 22,993 security personnel and terror victims had been killed since 1860, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. Peres, Gantz and Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky laid wreaths in honor of the fallen.