A home destroyed by Hamas within the Kufar Aza kibbutz in West Jerusalem, Israel.

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A home destroyed by Hamas within the Kufar Aza kibbutz in West Jerusalem, Israel.

Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR

BE’ERI – To stroll the streets of the small village of Be’eri in southern Israel these days is to relive the horrors from the only deadliest assault on civilians in Israel’s 75-year historical past.

The streets of this as soon as close-knit group are actually lined with partially destroyed properties. Some had been blown open, others burned. Inside one are blood-splattered partitions. In one other, two childrens’ rooms are full of books, binders, stuffed animals and paint provides. The mattresses lay in white mattress frames and are stained with blood.

A damaged window of a home within the Kibbutz.

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A damaged window of a home within the Kibbutz.

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A mattress lined in blood in a toddler’s bed room.

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A mattress lined in blood in a toddler’s bed room.

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An IDF spokesman leads a press tour of destroyed properties and reveals indicators of what occurred within the assaults.

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Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR

An IDF spokesman leads a press tour of destroyed properties and reveals indicators of what occurred within the assaults.

Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR

On the street main into this kibbutz, a backhoe scoops up the our bodies of Hamas militants who stormed this group of simply over 1000 folks about three miles from the border with Gaza.

The Israeli navy has been main journalists by means of this village in current days to provide the world a glimpse of what occurred as soon as Hamas militants crossed the border from Gaza into Israel undetected, storming a number of communities the place they killed no less than 1400 folks and took some 200 hostages.

Many residents of the cities hid inside secure rooms ready for Israeli forces to rescue them. For hours nobody got here. When it was lastly over and so they emerged, the scene was not like something they’d ever seen earlier than.

“It was like an apocalypse,” mentioned Dan Alom, 23, who waited 15 hours earlier than assist arrived. “Everything ruined, bodies lay around.”

Destroyed vehicles, homes, and different carnage current within the Kibbutz.

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Destroyed vehicles, homes, and different carnage current within the Kibbutz.

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A automobile with glass inside and bullet holes. The police didn’t know what occurred to the folks in automobile.

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A automobile with glass inside and bullet holes. The police didn’t know what occurred to the folks in automobile.

Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPR

On the street passing Sderot Abandoned stroller and blanket.

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On the street passing Sderot Abandoned stroller and blanket.

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More than per week for the reason that Hamas assault, which set off a warfare between Israel and Hamas in Gaza the place the group is predicated, survivors are nonetheless ready to determine our bodies and plan funerals

“We’re just still trying to figure out how we’re going to deal with so many funerals,” Alom informed NPR’s Morning Edition . “We don’t know where to bury them because it’s not safe.”

Over 100 folks right here had been killed, some ten % of the group.

Soldiers patrol the destroyed neighborhood.

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Soldiers patrol the destroyed neighborhood.

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In a few of homes, indicators of makes an attempt to cover in showers, barricade themselves inside, and of blood on partitions, and in beds had been discovered.

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In a few of homes, indicators of makes an attempt to cover in showers, barricade themselves inside, and of blood on partitions, and in beds had been discovered.

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A destroyed home belonging to Dan Alom.

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A destroyed home belonging to Dan Alom.

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“I just don’t know how to deal with it,” he mentioned “For more than four or five hours we were slaughtered and no one came to help us. I don’t know whose fault it is but I just know we’ve been slaughtered.”

Alom holds out hope that the 2 teenagers he endorsed at camp is likely to be alive. Maybe, he says, they’re being held in Gaza. He needs them again.

“I am worried about them. And after they will be home, I don’t care what happens with Gaza I really don’t.” he mentioned. “Shoot them all. I don’t care.”

It’s a sentiment repeated amongst traumatized, grieving and frightened Israelis.

Shoot all of them.

Eliminate Gaza.

Erase Gaza.

Military gathered outdoors of Kufur Azza kibbutz on Oct. 14, 2023.

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Military gathered outdoors of Kufur Azza kibbutz on Oct. 14, 2023.

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Inside a bomb shelter outdoors Kufar Aza.

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Inside a bomb shelter outdoors Kufar Aza.

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Israeli troopers man a checkpoint outdoors kufur aza-sight of the incursion by Hamas.

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Israeli troopers man a checkpoint outdoors kufur aza-sight of the incursion by Hamas.

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Their anger just isn’t but aimed a lot on the authorities for its intelligence failure or Israeli forces for his or her delayed rescues, however towards the Palestinian enclave.

Visible from Be’eri are plumes of smoke on the horizon. That smoke rises from Gaza.

It’s being crushed by a relentless wave of Israeli airstrikes, choked by a whole siege that is barred meals, gas, electrical energy and water from getting into, and is bracing for Israel’s floor invasion, all geared toward ridding the territory of Hamas.

More than 4,100 folks have been killed. Entire households and greater than 1,600 youngsters are gone.

The devastation there may be tougher to recount as a result of the borders are sealed and so few journalists are inside.

Black smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the eighth day of the clashes in Gaza Strip, Gaza on October 14, 2023.

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Black smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the eighth day of the clashes in Gaza Strip, Gaza on October 14, 2023.

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Palestinian residents examine harm to their properties attributable to Israeli airstrikes on October 14, 2023 in Gaza City, Gaza.

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Palestinian residents examine harm to their properties attributable to Israeli airstrikes on October 14, 2023 in Gaza City, Gaza.

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Palestinian residents examine harm to their properties attributable to Israeli airstrikes on October 14, 2023 in Gaza City, Gaza.

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Palestinian residents examine harm to their properties attributable to Israeli airstrikes on October 14, 2023 in Gaza City, Gaza.

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An Advocate for Peace Shot and Killed

Miles away from the border with Gaza, sitting in a Jerusalem cafe, 27-year-old Noy Katsman mentioned they needs the warfare to cease. They is aware of Alom’s ache however wields it otherwise.

Katsman misplaced their brother, Hayim, 32, within the village of Holit a couple of mile from Gaza. Hayim was hiding within the closet when Hamas militants shot him and was one in all 30 Americans killed within the assault.

Hayim Katsman was killed within the village of Holit a couple of mile from Gaza.

Courtesy of Noy Katsman

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Courtesy of Noy Katsman

In life, Hayim was a peace activist. He wrote his doctorate on the hazards of the precise wing in Israel and was vital of the federal government for encouraging unlawful Israeli settlements and uplifting excessive anti-Arab voices.

That’s why Katsman believes their brother, regardless of his tragic killing, “would say we should never kill innocent people” and would encourage Israelis to re-think the long-term repercussions of retaliation.

It’s a view Katsman stands behind firmly, having seen Israel repeatedly attempt to fail in stamping out Hamas on the expense of civilian life.

“My government, instead of saying, ‘Okay, we failed, maybe we need to do something else,’ they’re saying, ‘Oh, we need to kill more Palestinians. We need to now destroy Hamas,” mentioned Katsman. “It’s right-wing politicians who gain power from violence and hate, these are the people who gain from it. But we lose from it.”

Violence brings extra violence, they mentioned.

“You need a basic understanding of how people feel,” they added. “And if after they kill us, a thousand people, we are going to kill three thousand of them, that’s not an understanding of people, because these people will grow up and hate us even more.”

As they communicate, folks on the cafe start to stare.

A waitress approaches to ask concerning the nature of Katsman’s interview with NPR.

Noy Katsman’s older brother Hayim was killed on the kibbutz he had known as house for almost a decade.

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Noy Katsman’s older brother Hayim was killed on the kibbutz he had known as house for almost a decade.

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A market in West Jerusalem, close to the shiva for Noy’s brother.

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A market in West Jerusalem, close to the shiva for Noy’s brother.

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A person in tent holding shiva for Noy’s brother in West Jerusalem, Israel.

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A person in tent holding shiva for Noy’s brother in West Jerusalem, Israel.

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“Is it pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli?” she asks.

“It’s pro-life,” Katsman replied. “My brother died on Saturday and he was a peace activist and I’m talking in his name.”

As the waitress walks away, Katsman slams their espresso cup onto the desk.

“That’s the problem – Israelis only care if something is pro-Palestinian or pro-Israel,” they mentioned. “This question is a distraction. People die. People die from both sides.”