Survivors and family members of the victims of the deadly Hamas invasion on October 7, 2023, gathered at communities along the Gaza border Monday for ceremonies marking the second anniversary of the massacre, with speaker after speaker expressing incredulity that hostages were still being held in the coastal enclave two years after they were taken captive in the brutal assault.

The ceremonies came as delegations from Israel and Hamas prepared to start negotiations in Egypt on Washington’s plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip and free all 48 remaining hostages, at least 20 of them believed to be alive.

Members of Kibbutz Nir Oz visited their former home in the largely destroyed community to mark two years since the October 7 attack.

Arriving in a convoy from Kiryat Gat, where the community has relocated temporarily, they gathered at the community’s cemetery.

Sagui Dekel-Chen, who was released from Gaza in February in a previous ceasefire deal, said that it was his first visit to the cemetery since being freed, but that he had visited it in his imagination while held in Gaza “without knowing who the names are, without knowing how small some of the coffins are.”

“Somehow, in a dizzying way, I survived, I am above all this, but not after all this,” he added through tears.

The kibbutz was largely destroyed on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists entered all but six of over 200 homes in the small community and either murdered or kidnapped one of every four residents — 117 people out of some 400.

Of those abducted, nine are still being held in Gaza, of whom five are believed still to be alive — David and Ariel Cunio, Matan Zangauker, Omri Miran, and........

© The Times of Israel