‘We Survived, But We Can’t Heal Until This Ends’

Stand for Israel  |  October 2, 2024

Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attacks on October 7, many of the survivors of these attacks still are uncertain about their future writes Amelie Botbol at JNS:

My life feels like someone exploded a grenade in it. I lost everything,” said Shachar Tzuk, a resident of Kfar Aza who lost friends and members of her extended family on Oct. 7.

Tzuk, who spoke to JNS near the Gaza border on Monday, has not returned to live permanently on the kibbutz but visits her parents there once a week and leads tours to shed light on the plight of her community.

In Kfar Aza, located 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from Gaza, Hamas massacred 64 people and kidnapped 18, five of whom remain in captivity. The youngest fatality on the kibbutz was in middle school, the youngest hostage was three years old. She was returned along with 104 other hostages as part of a week-long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in late November.