Emotional visit to Kibbutz Nir Oz, site of October 7th massacre

Yesterday Hostages and Missing Families Forum organized a media tour to Kibbutz Nir Oz. This emotional visit highlighted the devastating impact of the October 7 attack, where 40 residents were murdered and 71 kidnapped—a quarter of the kibbutz’s population. A year later, 29 hostages remain in Hamas captivity, including the last two children: 5-year-old Ariel Bibas and his 1-year-old brother, Kfir.

During the visit residents and relatives of hostages of October 7th briefed media about the horror of that day and what trauma it has left on the population of the area.

Yifat Zailer, cousin of Shiri Bibas, spoke inside the ruins of Ariel Bibas’ kindergarten. Shiri was kidnapped along with her husband Yarden and their young sons, Ariel and Kfir.

Bat Sheva Yahalomi addressed the media outside her home, from where she and her family were taken. While Bat Sheva and her two daughters managed to escape, her husband Ohad remains in captivity. Their son Eitan was released in a hostage deal.

Rita Lifshitz, daughter-in-law of 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz, the only great-grandfather still in captivity, and Ola Metzger, daughter-in-law of 80-year-old Yoram Metzger, who was murdered in captivity, guided the media throughout the kibbutz.

Yifat Zailer said: “My family, my cousin and the love of her life, Yarden, and their two beautiful boys were taken from us on October 7th last year. I am standing here in front of you all, now, almost a year after, still explaining, still apologizing, still crying. It seems like they’re gone and they disappeared and no one talks about them anymore. My cousin was barefoot, holding her two boys with a blanket.
I am standing here today in a kindergarten called “Strawberry”. It’s where Ariel used to go to kindergarten. Just last year, Ariel celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Hebrew start of a new year. He was happy with no worries. On October 7th, a hand grenade was thrown into this kindergarten.
We don’t know if they’re alive or not. I’m here to ask for your help. I want to hold my cousin again. I want to hold those children again. I want to tell them that I’m sorry. We all owe them an apology. I’m a mother. I have children of my own. I cry for every child who’s been hurt in this war. We were raised to believe in peace in my family. I know my responsibility as a mother is to raise my children to respect whoever is different from them. But on October 7th, something broke in me as well.”

Bat Sheva Yahalomi explained: “We were standing here on the road waiting, the terrorists were filming me as I was begging them to release the children. My eldest is Eitan, he was 12, Yael was 10, and our small baby, she was only one year and eight months old.
We saw two motorcycles arrive and stop here on the road. On the first motorcycle they took my son Eitan, two terrorists were with him, and one of them was holding my baby. Yael and I were sitting on the second motorcycle. The baby was crying so they gave me the baby and we started to drive towards Gaza. The houses were burned. There were so many terrorists around.
As we got closer to the border our motorcycle fell. That was the last moment I saw my son, his motorcycle drove off. One of the terrorists took me and my two daughters to a container nearby. The next time I saw Eitan was 52 days later when he was released from captivity. He is starting a new life because he cannot come back here, the kibbutz is not here. The community is not here. His father, my husband, is not here. Ohad is still there. We don’t know anything about him since January. We don’t even know if he’s alive. And we live like that without knowing, and this is the hardest part. This is breaking us every day. The children are asking about him every day. Why is it taking so long? Will he be back? Is he alive? And I don’t have answers for them.”

Rita Lifshitz said: “Every Friday and Saturday I come here and have a beer outside their home. I toast for this amazing great-grandfather, the only one in captivity, 84 years old. For me, it’s very difficult to not live in the kibbutz which I belong to with all my family members. We were 400 people here before October 7th, one big family, a community. I wait for him like I do for all 29 of our hostages from Nir Oz. Oded and Yocheved were not together in Gaza, they were there separated, and Oded has a lot of problems with his blood pressure. I believe that he’s still alive, that he’s with one of the amazing families there and they are taking care of him. I believe he will be back home with us.”