By Paola Virrueta
A quarter of the population of Kibbutz Nir Oz, 117 people were killed or kidnapped by Hamas on the morning of October 7, 2023, while the rest of its residents had to leave the area after the massacre. There are only seven residents left in the place who have to deal with the pain and the constant sound of missiles.
Silent witnesses to the murders
Amid the roar of missiles, we are greeted at Kibbutz Nir Oz by Roni Kaplan, spokesman for the Israeli Defense, whose life was also changed on October 7, 2023, when 117 people were killed or kidnapped here alone on a tragic morning. Today, seven people remain on the kibbutz.
On that Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 6:36 a.m. between 300 and 400 members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad crossed the Gaza-Israel border at a distance of 1.6 kilometers and in a matter of 5 to 7 minutes passed through a gate in the middle of a potato field on board vehicles and cut through the fence to enter Kibbutz Nir Oz. That was one of the three points through which they managed to enter.