Here Lived
This was the home of the Tsarfati family: father Itai, mother Mor, their three amazing sons – Amos (then 12 years old), Tomer (then 10 and a half), and Inbar (then 7 years old), and Layla the dog. Itai was originally from Kibbutz Urim. He arrived at Nir Oz on January 1, 2014, with Mor and their two sons, Amos and Tomer. Inbar was born about two years later. Mor, a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was the only one of her immediate family living on the kibbutz. Both her parents, who had been members of the kibbutz, died years before October 7, 2023. For Mor, Nir Oz had always been home, and the people of the kibbutz her family. That was how she grew up, and that was how the whole family lived. Their door was constantly open, and the lawn overflowing with children and friends. The balcony shared by the two families (Tsarfati and Vahava) was always full of life, day and night. Anyone passing by was invited to sit, drink, eat, or simply come over and say hi. “We lived a life of happiness and love in our paradise”.
October 7th
At 6:29 a.m., the entire family entered their safe room, not knowing what lay ahead. They trusted the safe room—and its door—to keep them safe, never imagining that the very thing designed to protect them would almost become the cause of their death.
The family members remained in the safe room, petrified, for hours, with terrorists constantly entering and leaving the rest of the house, singing holiday songs, laughing, and clapping their hands joyfully.
The terrorists ransacked the house, shattered objects, while knocking and kicking at the door of the safe room, trying unsuccessfully to break in. They tried to convince the family to come out by tempting them in Arabic, saying for instance: “Open up, we won’t hurt you, we want to protect you.” Finally, they shot at the door. Fortunately, Itai, who stood and held the door handle in the locked position, was not hurt by the shooting but only by the force of the blast. During the shooting, one of Mor’s sons said to her, “Please open the door. I want this to end already”, while she was struggling to keep the dog from barking and trying to jump at the door, her three sons shaking with fear.
Although the parents of course didn’t open the door, as Mor was calming her son, she began taking leave of her loved ones, understanding that the family could not manage to remain alive. The terrorists left, leaving destruction in their wake, and for several moments the house was empty… but only for several moments. The terrorists returned armed with a flammable liquid and an explosive device. They poured the liquid, and then a huge deafening explosion was heard. Within seconds, thick black smoke began to seep through the broken door, beginning the second part of the day. The family sat for many hours with terrorists shouting and shooting around the house. They choked on the thick smoke entering through the safe room’s damaged door that could not be closed hermetically. The smoke penetrated through the door frame; attempts to seal it with a blanket were unsuccessful. It was then that the parents had to choose between choking to death or facing death outside. They decided not to leave! At that moment, with Mor already very weak and feeling that her body was beginning to give in, although close to losing consciousness, she signaled to Itai to slightly crack open the safe room window. She thought that the terrorists who were still behind the house would hear the noise of the iron window opening, slide a gun in, and spray them with bullets, promising them a faster death and less cruel than by fire. Seeing the terrorists face to face was not an option, and neither was letting the parents die before the children. Itai cracked the window open, so slightly that even light could not penetrate. The terrorists didn’t hear the window opening and didn’t shoot. Luckily, thanks to their resourcefulness and the cloth dolls that covered their faces, the family was extracted from the house by IDF soldiers at 4 p.m. They were exhausted and in a haze, as each of them had lost consciousness at different times during the six hours from the time the house was set on fire. They were barely alive, black from the soot, dehydrated, sweaty, and completely drained. Outside, they realized that the horror they had experienced was only one of hundreds of atrocities perpetrated throughout the kibbutz.
What Happened Since
We lost friends who were family, friends who we considered brothers and sisters, people who were like parents, neighbors, and our home was destroyed – the loss is enormous and incurable.
We survived physically, but our soul will bleed forever. Our pain, longing, and sense of guilt are bottomless.
