Israeli kibbutz remains a ghost town after 2023 Hamas attack

Dozens of Kfar Aza’s residents – a kibbutz near Gaza – were killed in last October’s surprise attack on Israel by Hamas.

And on the one year anniversary since that incursion, it’s a ghost town with only a few survivors returning.

Shahar Shnorman and his wife live in the kibbutz. Miraculously, they survived last year’s attack and later returned to Kfar Aza, so far the first and only ones to do so.

An entire street of young people were massacred – 17 were taken hostage, but only 12 released.

Shahar blames not only Hamas for what happened, but also his own government.

“We didn’t do what we had to do. Not our government, not our army. And we lost. And we are still losing every day,” he said.

“Every day that we fight in Gaza, they say, ‘oh we killed another terrorist, blew up another house.’ That’s not important.”

Another kibbutz – Nir Oz – was also attacked. It was one of the hardest-hit of the southern communities last October with 117 of its 400 residents either killed or kidnapped.

There are still 29 hostages from Nir Oz held captive in Gaza.

“These hostages are our family,” Rita Lifschitz, whose father in law is amongst those captives, told local media. “All these grandmothers’ hearts are broken.”

Only a handful of the 220 homes in Nir Oz were left untouched, with many of the remaining still carrying scars of the attack like bullet holes or stained blood.

On 7 October last year, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 others hostage.

The attack sparked a war against Hamas that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It says more than half were women and children.

Nearly 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with less than 70 believed to be alive.