Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin attended Israel's official state ceremony at Yad Vashem Holocaust museum where they laid wreaths.

People in Israel and Jerusalem paused to the sound of a lamenting single-tone siren today, Holocaust Memorial Day, to commemorate the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War Two.

Israelis in Jerusalem and Netanya came to a standstill when a two-minute siren wailed through the streets at 7amGMT.

Throughout the day, television stations have been devoting their broadcasts to documentaries and interviews with survivors as radio stations played sombre music.

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