Kibbutz Kfar Aza sends message of resilience following October 7 massacre.

By David E. Kaplan

Only three days before the release of Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonan on Sunday, January 19, I stood on that preceding Friday with an organised group of visitors looking at the damaged homes of two of them on kibbutz Kfar Aza – Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher. Our guide, Warren Samuels, spoke of Emily and Doron, of how they were taken hostage, and we wondered following their hopeful release, whether they would or even could ever return here where we were standing.  ‘Here’represented home, but it also represented where Emily and Doron’s unimaginable horror began.

As I looked at the relics of their homes straddled with bullet holes and the rows of other devastated homes where the young members of the kibbutz were either murdered or taken hostage on October 7, 2023, I thought back to an article I read of 32-year-old Omri Ronen also originally from this kibbutz, whose 86-year-old grandmother and her Filipina caregiver, were murdered. After nearly 200 days of fighting terrorists, Omri, a member of an IDF special reserve unit, returned here with his father  and was stunned to find that “none of the destroyed houses had been rebuilt.”

Even worse for Omri was finding at his murdered grandmother’s ruined home, a scrawled message in Arabic from one of the Hamas attackers:

“You will die here. You won’t remain here.”

This chilling communication left by his grandmother’s murderers spurred Omri to respond defiantly. He had fought for 200 days, now he was ready to continue fighting only now not only with a gun but with a spade and shovel, a chisel and a hammer. He was determined to rebuild the homes of this once thriving community – to restore life to defy the message from the Gazan merchants of death. In interviews with local media, he said:

“Not only aren’t we dead, we are alive and are here to stay”

His grandfather and grandmother were founding members of the kibbutz, “and this place is theirs and ours.” By “ours” he meant all Israelis.The lesson learnt is to process “who these murderers are,” and decide “what our response should be.”

Many months later, we were standing and observing that “response”!

‘CONSTRUCTIVE’  RESPONSE

The response was restoration and there were volunteers from all over the country busy plastering, painting, paving and laying tiles, whether below for a patio or above for a roof. Our guide Warren, a volunteer laborer in this project explained:

 “I first volunteered to restore the gardens. As there were no residents living here anymore, the gardens had grown wild and weeds were taking over. Our philosophy was even if people were no longer living here, we had to keep the place alive for when they return. We also felt that when residents visit to see the condition of their homes, we did not want them to see overgrown weeds and dead plants.”

Only some 30 of Kfar Aza’s 1,000 residents have returned, living among the skeletal remains of homes burned by explosives, riddled with bullet holes or reduced to rubble by tank shells during the battle that raged for days.

“One can understand the reservation of residents returning,” said Warren. Zohar Shpack, a 58-year-old resident in an interview explained the reservation:

“Are we going to live inside a memorial? Are we going to see a plaque every few meters, he was killed here and she was killed there?”

In the meantime, there was a need to restore this landscape from a wholesale mass murder crime scene.

When the mission of cleaning up, clearing battle debris and reviving the gardens was completed, “we moved onto the next mission,” said Warren, who is from Ra’anana in the centre of the country and spends a few nights a week sleeping at the kibbutz. We all bunch up and Warren calls over a volunteer architect to address us. His name is Roi Goldin who begins by telling:

“I had until recently, been working in one of the largest architectural firms in Israel, based in Tel Aviv and then decided I had to get involved. I am one of many volunteer architects offering our expertise voluntary as is everyone, from laborers to most of the suppliers. We are part of the Brothers in Arms, an Israeli nonprofit organization, that has taken it upon itself to renovate Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the most devastated residential communities. We are over 7000 volunteers, too many to cope with and so we spread it out that at least each volunteer has at least one experience here, which will be meaningful not only for the project but also for the volunteer, so they can feel part of the renewal.”

For those unfamiliar, the Brothers in Arms is an organization of reserve men and women from various units in the IDF, operating within the protest movement against the government’s judicial ‘reforms’.  On October 7, 2023, the day Hamas invaded southern Israel, the organization suspended all political and protest activities and began devoting itself full-time to aid and relief under the name Brothers and Sisters for Israel. In June 2024, the Brothers and Sisters in Arms received The Presidential Award for Volunteerism from the President of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog.

Omri, a member of Brothers in Arms, consulted with the kibbutz leaders, who ultimately approved his proposal to undertake a project to fully renovate 16 buildings damaged by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 and that will be made available to young students. It was these buildings we now walked through seeing the wonderful work being carried out.

Warren, who recently retired from working in one of Israel’s largest banks, shows us his new talents as a tradesman. He points out where he plastered, painted and squared walls to accommodate new door frames. “It’s amazing,” says Warren, “they teach you what to do in a day, and soon,” with a broad smile, “we’re accomplished artisans.”  It sure looked that way – the work is excellent, overseen by architects like Roi. Warren is most proud that “my kids have joined me in this project,” his son Liron and daughter Michal. Michal was with us in the group also showing us the work she had done.

“It’s amazing that we can do so much more than we think,” says Roi. “I see people who come, who have never worked with their hands  and after a day they have mastered it.” He includes as an example, “my own mother of 76.”

While Omri is currently focusing on the reconstruction of homes in the southern community where his grandparents lived and grandmother was murdered, he eventually wants to assist in rebuilding damaged buildings in northern Israeli communities, which have been destroyed as a result of the Hezbollah terror group’s attacks from Lebanon.

“I don’t think we need to wait for the government,” Omri said. “People are lining up. They want to give. It helps build resilience and takes them out of that feeling of hopelessness to do Zionist work. They’re excited to come and participate.”

“The message is that they broke us, but we will build back better and more beautifully and stand up to terror. We are here to stay,” Omri vowed.

“WALKING IN THEIR FOOTSEPS”

We move on to the row of devastated houses where the young members of the kibbutz lived “and partied,” and where many of them died or were taken hostage. The homes were left as it was – a visual image of death and destruction.

Hilary Kaplan in our group, gives her impressions of the day at Kfar Aza, which she titles ‘Walking in their Footsteps’:

“Yesterday, Friday 17.1.2025 will be a day that is indelibly printed in my mind. A day that I stood on hallowed ground and tried to take in the atrocities committed on Kfar Aza, one of the many kibbutzim attacked on October 7. 2023.

It is hard to imagine the before – the idyllic situation of the kibbutzim surrounded by green fields, trees, and a fence that was so easily penetrable.

They lived, looking across their fields at Jabaliya, in the Gaza Strip. They worked together, took them to hospital when needed and broke bread together.

No reason to think that anything untoward would happen, just a fence, unguarded, albeit with cameras, that were destroyed by the terrorists – that is how they lived.  The cream of Israeli society, murdered, raped, burned alive and taken hostage, 469 days ago.

The horror of what transpired that day speaks for itself as we were allowed to visit the area where the young members of the Kibbutz lived.  Barbecues, old couches, chairs, tables, laughter, chatting and music, I could hear it all, and now silence, burnt out houses with specific markings of the army, bullet holes, and beautiful photographs of the young adults whose lives ended that day or who are still held captive in Gaza, destruction and death. The laughter and music silenced.

Leaving Kibbutz Kfar Aza, after seeing and hearing the traumatic stories of the people who lost their loved ones, those who survived, those who are still held hostage, the sacrifice, the instinct to protect one’s family at any cost, and the waiting….who will come home, who won’t? It is inhumane, and yet, the world perceives us to be the ‘aggressors’.

I keep asking myself, “how does one get up in the morning, face another day, put one foot in front of the other….how?”  and then we met some amazing people who are giving their all to try and make the gardens grow again, by volunteering, cleaning up the gardens and rebuilding a small section of the Kibbutz to house students.  Architects and builders  – ordinary folk putting in the time, giving us all a smidgen of hope that no matter how bad things get in our country, we have the ability to rise up and always look to the light, for surely this is what the people who suffered beyond one’s imagination deserve?”

While the message left by the Hamas murderers in Omri Ronen’s grandmothers’ home was received, it is being replied to by the people of Israel – loud and clear and constructively – by rebuilding.

Am Yisrael Chai – The People of Israel Live

* If anyone is interested to volunteer, to please contact:
Shiri at: +972 50-694-0394 or Gali at: +972 52-828-2825

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