Time stopped on October 7 for Adi Levy-Slama, who misplaced 5 relations gunned down by Hamas bullets in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz in southern Israel close to the Gaza border.
“We discovered them wrapped round one another, all 5 of them, however we do not know what occurred,” Levy-Slama informed AFP, her voice shaking on the reminiscence.
The lifeless have been Levy-Slama’s 49-year-old sister Livnat Kutz and her household: her husband Aviv, 53, their 18-year-old daughter Rotem and their sons Yonatan, 16, and Yftah, 14.
Earlier this month, earlier than heading from their house in central Israel to go to the kibbutz, Levy-Slama, 37, and her household attended a ceremony marking the tip of the Jewish mourning interval on the Gan Yavne cemetery, 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Kfar Aza.
“Disappointment, guilt, frustration, ache, all these feelings reside inside me, day and night time, since October 7,” Asher Levy, Adi’s brother, stated through the ceremony, standing in entrance of the Kutzes’ graves.
– ‘Indicators of peace’ –
Hamas’s assault on October 7 resulted within the deaths of 1,205 folks on the Israeli facet, most of them civilians, based on an AFP tally based mostly on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory navy marketing campaign in Gaza has killed no less than 41,431 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians, based on figures offered by the well being ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The United Nations has acknowledged the toll as dependable.
In Kfar Aza, a kibbutz of 800 folks located two kilometres from the Gaza border, some 64 folks have been killed and 18 kidnapped by Palestinian militants and brought to Gaza on October 7.
The Kutz household didn’t have time to alert their relations to what was taking place.
Their home’s damaged again door provides some concept of how Hamas fighters pressured their approach inside to what Levy-Slama had beforehand thought of “an island of happiness”.
As she confirmed an AFP workforce round the home, she recalled previous picnics on the garden, her nephews laughing as they performed basketball.
Her niece, she stated, had served as a younger soldier.
Levy-Slama additionally spoke of her sister, who she stated was “every part” to her, and her brother-in-law, who she stated organised a kite pageant yearly on the kibbutz.
Simply in the future earlier than the assault, Aviv Kutz was placing the ultimate touches to preparations for the fifteenth version of the pageant, scheduled to happen the subsequent day.
Levy-Slama stated the kites have been “indicators of peace”, a conciliatory gesture to militants who usually hearth rockets at Israel.
– ‘No extra life’ –
In a protracted interview punctuated by silences and tears, Levy-Slama evoked her sister’s creativity, pointing to angel wings she normal out of worn toys and displayed in a communal eating space.
“These wings are a logo that every part is feasible, that each one can fly on his personal and go very far,” she stated.
Livnat Kutz was presupposed to rejoice her fiftieth birthday on October 25.
She had informed family members she had little interest in presents, as a substitute asking that they carry out an act of charity to mark the day.
In entrance of Kutzes’ home, within the heavy silence of the kibbutz which has been largely empty since October 7, Levy-Slama recounted visiting only one week after the assault.
“The home was intact, the pots on the range, the shabbat bread on the desk confirmed there was life. Now, there is no extra life,” she stated by way of tears.
“My coronary heart is damaged.”
Benny Kutz, Aviv’s 80-year-old father, additionally lived in Kfar Aza and managed to outlive.
He and his spouse have quickly moved to Tel Aviv, and Benny stated he had no plans to return to the place the place he lived for almost six many years.
“Time will not be serving to and I neglect nothing. I give it some thought on a regular basis,” the retiree stated.
“I am going to by no means be the identical once more… I’ve misplaced my household and my home, immense losses.”
– Finish of the road –
Benny’s father settled within the space almost a century in the past through the time of the British mandate after fleeing pogroms in his native Poland.
Surrounded by images of his solely son and his household, Benny lamented that his father’s identify won’t reside on.
“The Kutz tribe has come to an finish,” he stated.
In a neighbourhood of Kfar Aza dominated by younger {couples}, the entire homes had been broken by hearth.
In entrance of every one, posters characteristic photos and the names of these killed or kidnapped on October 7.
One of many homes — belonging to 23-year-old Sivan Elkabetz and her companion Naor Hasidim — is open to guests.
The partitions are pocked with bullet holes, and varied gadgets — a mattress, articles of clothes — are strung about in disarray.
Strolling alongside the kibbutz’s abandoned streets, Levy-Slama stated she nonetheless cannot get used to the concept that those that lived there “will not come again”.
