KAFAR AZA — Under the warm spring sunshine, pink flowers bloom around the stems of eucalyptus trees at Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel, just a mile from the Gaza border.
But if the scent of flowers softens the breeze, no kibbutz worker or security guard here has forgotten that this was—or is—a morgue.
On October 7, Hamas militants swarmed across the border on paragliders, killing 63 people as attackers; 19 people out of a community of 950 were abducted (two of whom are now dead).
According to Israel, about 1,200 people were killed that day and about 240 hostages were captured, 130 of whom are still in Gaza. Israel said 31 hostages were dead, but reports suggested the number could be closer to 50.
“We are still looking for the remains,” said Zohar Shpak, 58, a Kfar Aza Kibbutz worker and former police lawyer and prosecutor.
He called the October 7 attackers and looters “worse than animals.”
“They raped, murdered, beheaded — everything you see in the video,” he said, referring to footage from that day Naked, bloodied womanand Hamas militants shot at civilians and threw grenades into homes.
Like most people who live and work here, he considers himself a supporter of peace and the Palestinian cause. Now he is gathering evidence of crimes committed here.
The attackers’ brutal behavior succeeded in sowing discord and even hatred against the Palestinians among some Israelis who were once their staunchest supporters.
“We used to help the Palestinian people. We used to take children with serious illnesses to the hospital,” Mr. Shpak said. “We know this won’t solve all problems. But we hope this will help build relationships with the Palestinian people. We hope this will create dialogue.
“In previous conflicts, I did feel pain for Gaza. We collected food and aid from the kibbutz and sent it to the Palestinians. But now I don’t care what happens in Gaza. I don’t care,” he said, Looking west toward the devastated Gaza Strip.
He is currently gathering evidence and witness statements in preparation for a report to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Traumatized relatives of the hostages spoke of non-Hamas “civilians” taking part in the attack.Middle Eastern sources include Qatari The prime minister said non-Hamas Gazans, including smaller Islamist groups such as Islamic Jihad, were involved in the hostage-taking.Elias Zananiri, Senior Advisor to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah I “Normal Gazans” took part in the violence, but “if you can call it ‘normal’,” he added.
In the early hours of October 8, 22 hours after the attack began, 41-year-old Deker Eylan, his wife and children were escorted from their kibbutz safe room by a ring of soldiers as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ) is taking place. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas continued to surround them.
Mr Allan’s brother Tal, 46, was not so lucky. “His WhatsApps stopped at 7.08am,” Mr Allan said with tears in his eyes. “We were watching and waiting… we didn’t say anything.” But no news came.
“This is our disaster…the end of our Eden,” he said. “But there are people, like me, who say we can rebuild here.”
Two families have recently moved back. I asked if any more families might come back. Mr. Shpak shrugged, looking skeptical.
Walking along a path, the river bank is overgrown with flowers and weeds, and the small kibbutz house of 23-year-old couple Sivan Elkabets and Naor Hasidim has now turned into a horrific temple, with large-caliber bullet holes in the ground and floors There was a crater and a grenade exploded. Ms. Elkabetz’s mother made a point of allowing the media and the public to continue to tour the home, complete with photos of the blood-stained furniture. “May they come, may they see…what the monster did on October 7, 2023,” her message read.
A few miles south, the site of the Rayim Music Festival has become another, larger memorial site. It was here in the early hours of October 7 that terrified revelers were murdered and raped, or dragged onto motorcycles and taken hostage into Gaza.
“This was supposed to be a two-day concert,” said Maj. David Baruch, 60, an Army reservist and IDF spokesman. “We don’t know what would have happened if the concert had ended. They might have gone on to kill and rape elsewhere, and they might have taken some comfort in the fact that it avoided killing elsewhere.”
Among the fleeing revelers, those who turned left and ran to the next kibbutz encountered more terrorists. “Those who survived ran east across the fields,” Major Baruch said. “They ran for 25 kilometers, some without shoes or water… After three days you could see the bodies of all the terrorists. [when he was there].
“It pains me to think back on that day…the carriages were booby-trapped…” I looked at all the wrecked cars, each one telling a story. “
He said as many as 360 people were killed in the music festival attack. As well as knives and assault rifles, the attackers also used thermobaric grenades – which generate temperatures of 3,000°C when they explode – throwing them into bomb shelters, leaving terrified festival-goers shivering in the shelters . “I never thought I would see archaeologists sifting through the remains and ashes of our people to draw conclusions while looking for DNA from their parents,” he said.
Regarding the failure of the authorities and the military to protect civilians from attacks, he added: “We violated our contract with the Israeli people that day.”
Mark Soter speaking for the Hostage and Missing Families Forum in Tel Aviv I He worries that as attention turns to the shocking carnage and the specter of starvation in Gaza, the survivors of the October 7 attack are being forgotten.
“It is not true that October 7 is over and now we just have a war in Gaza,” he said. “What’s happening in Gaza right now – I can only have the greatest sympathy for these people, but we are still living in a living hell.”
On Wednesday night, Hamas sources suggested that hostage deal talks were “on the verge of collapse” with Israel refusing to agree to key Hamas demands, including a comprehensive ceasefire. The Israeli government says its request for a list of surviving hostages has not yet been met.
Narrated by British-Israeli citizen Sharone Lifschitz I She believes what her 83-year-old father Oded, a peace activist and former journalist, would say if he were released from Gaza’s underground prison where he was abducted on October 7.
“He will feel that Israel has chosen a path led to the emergence of Hamas. He has always advocated against Hamas.he was frightened The State of Israel supports Hamas In various ways. He tolerated no religious fanaticism, not among his own people, nor, needless to say, among our neighbours. Two weeks before he was kidnapped, my father was still driving Palestinians—the sick—to hospitals in East Jerusalem as part of their road to recovery. “
She admits she struggled to connect that message to the brutal reality of what her family and friends experienced the day of the Hamas attack.
“A week ago we were informed that another kibbutz member had died,” she said. “We thought he was a hostage, but he – we know we have video footage of him surviving on October 7th, being taken out of the house. We also know he was dismembered in the most gruesome way. We have to keep learning that we The level of cruelty suffered by the people. I think that’s something that’s very difficult to reconcile.
“This is someone I’ve known my whole life. I’ve known his children. This was my school teacher and she was murdered and the video of her execution was uploaded to Facebook. We know.”
Ms. Lifshitz said her mother, Yocheved, 85, who was released on October 27, claimed people were murdered with forks and other garden tools and their heads were sold in Gaza markets.
As frightening as it is, she believes both sides can—must—achieve some kind of peace. “I think our only chance of survival in this country is to make a long-term deal with the other side,” she said.
“The word ‘peace’ is difficult for me to use,” she added, but she believed some solution was “feasible.”
The alternative – more fear gripping both sides of the conflict – is unthinkable, she said.
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