Nir Oz invites Netanyahu to visit kibbutz for first time since Oct. 7 massacre

Kibbutz Nir Oz has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make his first visit to the devastated community since a quarter of its residents were murdered or kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, while Israel’s security forces failed to show up for hours on end.

In a letter dated Tuesday, kibbutz chairwoman Osnat Peri — whose husband Chaim Peri died in captivity in Gaza — invited the premier to Nir Oz on the second national day of mourning that the government has set to commemorate the October 7, 2023, massacre.

“For us, there is no need for a national day of mourning,” wrote Peri. The day of the rampage, “in which nobody came to our help, continues to this day,” she wrote, noting that 29 kibbutz members are still being held hostage in Gaza.

If the government nonetheless goes through with the day of mourning, Netanyahu was invited to mark it in Nir Oz, wrote Peri, adding that such a visit would help rebuild the kibbutz’s trust in the national leadership.

On Sunday, the cabinet approved a second national day of mourning for the October 7 massacre, to be held on October 26-27, in accordance with the Hebrew calendar. In a break from custom for Israel, the first day of mourning was held on the massacre’s Gregorian anniversary.

Netanyahu has come under fire for his failure to visit some of the border communities that were hardest hit in the shock assault, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

On that day, 117 of Nir Oz’s 400 residents were murdered or kidnapped. Security forces reached the community some seven hours after the onslaught began.

With only seven out of 220 homes in Nir Oz left untouched, most of the families in the kibbutz haven’t returned home yet.