Palestinian supporters will call for “justice and solidarity” when they again take to the streets in Sydney and Melbourne later on Monday.

Monday marks a year since Palestinian militants killed about 1200 Israelis and took 250 hostages in the October 7 attack that sparked Israel’s incursion into Gaza, which has killed about 41,000, according to local authorities.

Vigil organisers from the Palestine Action Group said about 500 were expected at a candlelight vigil planned at Sydney Town Hall later on Monday.

There would be interfaith prayers “to offer respect and recognition to our martyrs lost during the ongoing bloodshed by ‘Israel’ in Palestine and Lebanon”, the group said.

“Jewish, Christian, Muslim and community members of all faiths will unite in solidarity in our call for justice and sovereignty,” it said in a Facebook post.

Spokeswoman Amal Nasser said the aim was for the event to be peaceful, after largely uneventful protests on Sunday under a heavy police presence.

Another pro-Palestine event, said to be backed by an extremist Islamic group, will be held at the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s south-western suburbs.

Earlier, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan advised against an evening vigil at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.

“Today is very much a day of profound grief and trauma and deep, deep sadness for Victoria’s Jewish community,” she said.

“They are grieving and have been grieving for a year now, for the single biggest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust.

“Today is certainly not a day to add to that grief and trauma.”

Organisers of the vigil, which will be followed by an overnight wake, said October 7 marked the first day that “Israel transformed Gaza from an “open air prison” into a “graveyard for children”.

The vigil was a chance for people to show their “unrelenting resistance to the Israeli occupation, oppression and genocide of the Palestinian people”, organisers said.

Those who attend have been urged to wear black and the keffiyeh, which represents the Palestinian liberation movement.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Allen will attend a formal commemoration in Melbourne, organised by Zionism Victoria, for the Israeli victims of October 7.

Albanese has released a recorded message mourning the loss of innocent life and denouncing anti-Semitism.

“Jewish Australians have felt the cold shadows of anti-Semitism reaching into the present day and as a nation we say, never again,” he said.

Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns asked for his community to have space and time “to reflect and to mourn and to mark the loss of life, of family, of friends, of innocent people”, but urged empathy towards others.

“Grief is not a competition, this conflict hurts, it hurts people across many different communities,” he told ABC radio.

“If we don’t hold compassion and space for one another, how on earth can we expect people in the region to?”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said in paying respect to those who were murdered that October 7 was “a day of depravity”.

“Israel was at the epicentre of Hamas’s evil on October 7 last year, but the shockwaves of the terrorist attack resonated around the world,” he posted on X.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said his party’s commitment to “compassion, honest, peace and justice” obliged it to call out Israel for its attack on Gaza and Lebanon, along with Hamas for the initial attack.

Israel’s military campaign has spread to Lebanon as it pursues senior figures in Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group backed by Iran and designated a terrorist organisation by Australia.

-with AAP