Dozens of residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz gathered under the pouring rain at Struggle Square in Kiryat Gat’s Carmei Gat neighborhood Thursday morning with sadness in their eyes.
Though they have not talked about the murdered hostages being returned to Israel from Gaza until they are positively identified, a sense of sadness is felt everywhere.
The murdered hostages, whose bodies are being returned, have been reported by Hamas to be Oded Lifshitz and Kfir, Ariel, and Shiri Bibas, all of whom were abducted from Nir Oz by the Palestinian terrorist group during the October 7 massacre. However, their bodies have yet to be identified by the Bibas and Lifshitz families.
'Feelings of sadness and heartbrokenness'
“We will not give up on the effort to bring everyone back and bring home the fallen to be buried,” said Eli, a Nir Oz resident and coordinator of an effort to bring home all the hostages taken from the kibbutz on October 7.
“There are feelings of sadness, and our hearts are broken because we wanted to see all those who were killed return home alive. We don’t plan to talk further until there is direct confirmation of the hostages’ identities from their families. This disrespect shown toward the families must stop.
“It is a sad day, and even now, there are hostages living in hell who need to be released.”
Ziv Shalev, a resident of Nir Oz, added that many of the residents are having “very difficult feelings.”
“We are waiting for the bodies to be identified. We don’t decide on the news ourselves, and our hearts ache for every fallen [hostage] that is returned,” he said.
“It has been a terrible and horrible day since yesterday as we wait for the identification [of bodies] to tell our children. We have shed tears since yesterday, but everyone needs to be brought back home, even if it means more days like this, to create closure for the communities and families.”
“This is a sad day for the Nir Oz community,” added Renana Goma. “Everyone needs to come home, both the living and the dead. The community is heartbroken, and everyone is crying.”
Kfir Swisa, the mayor of Kiryat Gat where the residents of Nir Oz are living, came to Struggle Square and commented that while they are all hoping a miracle will somehow occur, they are also all heartbroken.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.