Kfar Aza, Oct 7: On a sun-dappled day in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Liora Eilon stood where her son was killed. She picked up a figurine from among the belongings scattered around an abandoned home nearby.
“Every time we come here, Tal leaves us a little message,” the 71-year-old said, turning over the plastic soldier in her hands.
It has been a year since Hamas militants stormed into this community and killed Tal Eilon, 46, the commander of the civilian defense squad.
Liora Eilon now lives in a college dorm in Israel’s north and wonders if she’ll ever return home to this place, seared into Israeli history for that day of mass death, when militants killed some 1,200 people and took around 250 others hostage. The attack sparked an Israeli campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 41,600 Palestinians.
“How can I trust the government who abandoned me here, who betrayed me, promised me that my family was safe here?” she asked.
About 50 of Kfar Aza’s 1,000 residents have returned, living among houses burned by explosives and reduced to rubble. Others are scattered around the country. The Associated Press spoke to a dozen who shared feelings of vulnerability to future attack and misgivings about Israel’s military, government and Palestinians in Gaza.
Some wondered whether such a place could ever be lived in again.
“Are we going to live inside a memorial? Are we going to see a plaque every few meters, he was killed here and he was killed here?” asked Zohar Shpack, 58.
It’s still the seventh of October’The land still holds traces of the day. Gardener Rafael Friedman still finds teeth and bones in Kfar Aza’s soil – likely remnants of Hamas militants killed in the fighting. Kfar Aza has always been close-knit. Now photos of slain young people are posted everywhere.
The government says it will rebuild. Meanwhile, it’s constructing pre-fabricated houses for residents in another kibbutz, where two-thirds of the community plan to move. Some said they weren’t sure they’d ever feel safe returning to Kfar Aza.
They first want to know why it took the military so long to respond to the attack. The military launched an investigation but has not released results. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has brushed off calls for accountability until war’s end. (AP)
