Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, on Thursday visited Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the worst-hit communities during the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Located only one mile from the Gaza border fence, Nir Oz lost one-quarter of its residents in the attack, with one-in-four residents either killed or kidnapped, among them the Bibas family.
“I feel a deep obligation to ensure the return of all our abductees and to work here to rehabilitate this kibbutz,” Netanyahu said, promising to cut through the red tape to speed the community’s reconstruction.
In November, a majority of Nir Oz members voted to return to their destroyed homes and rebuild.
The prime minister met with the families of hostages, including Einav Zangauker, an activist with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group advocating for the end of the war in return for the remaining hostages.
Zangauker’s son, Matan, 25, was kidnapped from the kibbutz on Oct. 7 along with his girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky. Ilana was released in a deal in November 2023. Matan remains in captivity.
Despite Zangauker’s hostility to Netanyahu—in March, The New York Times described her as “Netanyahu’s fiercest foe”—the two greeted each other cordially.
Commenting on his meetings with hostages’ families, the prime minister said, “You feel to the depths of your soul the magnitude of the pain, the depth of the sorrow, the trauma that befell an entire community, and is still afflicting it.”
“I feel a deep commitment—first of all, to ensure the return of all our abductees, all of them. There are still 20 lives, and there are more casualties, and we will bring them all back,” he added. Hamas holds 50 Israelis in total, living and dead. Forty-nine of them were kidnapped on the day of the invasion.
Sara Netanyahu described meeting Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, who spent almost 500 days in captivity until his release in February.
Dekel-Chen placed his wife, Avital, 34, and two daughters—Bar, 7, and Gali, 3—into his home’s safe room and then went to confront the terrorists. He was taken hostage.
His wife, seven months pregnant at the time, placed the youngest girl’s changing table against the door to keep it shut. “And that’s how they were saved, with bravery and resourcefulness,” said Sara Netanyahu.
Sagui’s mother, Neomit, was also kidnapped. Although injured, she managed to escape and return to the kibbutz after an IDF helicopter shot at the terrorists.
“I told him that he lived among heroic women,” the prime minister’s wife said. “There were amazing heroic stories of people—civilians, women, children, girls.”
Some kibbutz members protested against the prime minister’s visit. As his convoy entered Nir Oz, it was greeted with a large yellow-and-black banner with the words, “Mr. Abandonment” written across it. Protesters shouted, “shame” and “disgrace.”
Dani Elgarat, whose brother, Itzik, was killed in captivity and whose body was returned in February as part of a hostage deal, held a picture of his brother as Netanyahu walked past.
“Look him in the eye and tell him why you abandoned him. Explain to him. He had a heart attack during interrogation. They tortured him,” Elgarat cried out. (On Sunday, intelligence officials visited Elgarat and told him that his brother died of a heart attack while being interrogated by the terrorists in Gaza.)
“Today’s Nir Oz is not the Nir Oz of Oct. 7. He can’t come now and take credit. He has to take responsibility and say, ‘I’m guilty, and I’m responsible for what happened here,’ and only then should he come,” Elgarat told Ynet.
Of the remaining Israelis held in Hamas captivity, nine are from Nir Oz, according to Ynet. Only four are believed to still be alive: Eitan Horn; brothers David and Ariel Cuneo; and Matan Zangauker.
Five were declared dead, their bodies still held by Hamas: Tamir Adar, Eliyahu Margalit, Ronen Engel, Aryeh Zalmanovich and Amiram Cooper.