'They've got me': Father of Israeli woman taken hostage relives daughter's words as hope for peace fades
CBC
Every year in early October, when the winds were strong, the residents of the Kfar Aza kibbutz near Gaza would make what they called peace kites and fly them as a symbol.
Oct. 7 was the day of the kite festival, and kibbutz residents had invited extended family to Kfar Aza the night before to enjoy the annual event.
Instead, it was carnage. Hamas militants stormed the kibbutz, terrorizing its residents. According to the community, at least 60 people were killed and 18 more taken hostage, some as young as three.
"They broke through all the fences and just moved from one house to another and killed unarmed people; civilians, children, women, my husband," said Orit Cohen, whose father helped found the kibbutz.
Her husband left his house and raced for his car to go help secure the kibbutz, but he was shot dead before he got to it, she said.
Though Cohen and her husband are separated, she says she was able to geo-locate where he was on the kibbutz through his phone, but says no one could get to him to save him.
In Tel Aviv on Thursday, Cohen and the traumatized survivors of Kfar Aza and hundreds of others gathered in a seaside park to fly the kites again. On each of 18 kites is the name of one of the hostages from Kfar Aza.
Aviv Kutz, the man who founded the peace kite festival, was also killed on Oct. 7. Cohen says his body was found in his bed with his arms around his wife and three children — all dead.
Now, the longing for peace has been displaced by anxiety and worry for the 18 community members who haven't been heard from since Oct. 7.
"We just want them back. We have to have them to heal ourselves. We can't bury any more people. Have you ever been to eight funerals a day," Cohen asked rhetorically. "We're a small community. Everyone knew someone."
Roni Steinbrecher stood watching the kites in Tel Aviv with tears in his eyes. One of his daughters spoke to the crowd, ending her speech in tears.
Steinbrecher's second daughter, 30-year-old Doron Steinbrecher, was abducted by the militants the morning of the attacks.
On his phone, her father plays a voice recording of the last words he heard her utter: "They've got me. They've got me," she said, over the sound of frenzied voices.
"My greatest fear is that she won't come back alive," he said. Doron has a medical condition affecting her stomach, and Steinbrecher worries her health will deteriorate without daily medication.