KFAR AZA, Israel: Two years after he survived Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel which killed 64 fellow residents of the Kfar Aza kibbutz, Avidor Schwartzman hopes his community can finally begin to overcome its pain.
“We can start the healing process,” Schwartzman told AFP, even if “we know that there are a lot of people who will not come back.”
On October 7, 2023, Hamas commandos stormed over the barrier separating Gaza and Israel, around two kilometers (just over a mile) away from Schwartzman’s kibbutz.
The militants set about burning down homes, looting and killing, before abducting 18 people from Kfar Aza and taking them hostage into the Gaza Strip.
Two of them died in captivity, while the last two to be released, Gali and Ziv Berman, were only returned by Hamas on Monday under a US-brokered deal to end the war in Gaza.
