Parents grieve couple slain on Oct. 7 at their bloodied, bullet-riddled Kfar Aza home
On what should have been Naor Hasidim’s 24th birthday, his father visits the Kibbut Kfar Aza apartment the young man shared with his partner, Sivan Elkabetz
Inside a bullet-riddled apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a set of photos show moments in the lives of the young couple who used to live there: sitting on a chairlift above a snowy slope, posing in military service uniforms, smiling for a selfie.
Other photos on display document the scene after they were killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7: blood stains on the floor and the sofa, bullet holes and traces of grenade shrapnel everywhere, clothes strewn amid overturned furniture.
Sivan Elkabetz and her long-term boyfriend, Naor Hasidim, who would have turned 24 on Wednesday, are now buried side by side in the city of Ashdod, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the kibbutz.
“Today is his birthday. I came here to spend some time sitting in communion with him, to pray,” said Naor’s father, Avi Hasidim, during a visit to the ruined apartment. He was wearing a T-shirt with a photo of Naor and Sivan on the front.
“There is a hole in my heart. I don’t know if it will close. It is opening wider and wider and wider,” he said.
Kfar Aza was one of the places hardest hit on October 7, when thousands of Hamas terrorists attacked more than 20 communities across southern Israel, massacring some 1,200 people, raping and mutilating some of them amid scenes of horrific brutality, and seizing around 240 hostages.
סיוון אלקבץ ז"ל, בתו של מפקד גלי צה"ל לשעבר שמעון אלקבץ, נרצחה עם בן זוגה נאור חסידים ז"ל בכפר עזה. השניים, בני 23, היו זוג כבר מגיל 16. נאור, הגיע מביתו באשדוד לחגוג את שמחת תורה עם סיוון ומשפחתה. הם חלמו להזדקן יחד#מאחורי_השמות pic.twitter.com/KS3NWEUfp9
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) December 29, 2023
In response, Israel vowed to eliminate the Hamas terror group, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, launching an aerial campaign and subsequent ground operation to achieve its goal.
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip has said that more than 22,000 people have been killed since October 7, most of them women and children. These numbers cannot be verified, however, and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants, of whom Israel believes it has killed some 8,500. They also include civilians killed by misfired Palestinian rockets.
The sound of explosions in Gaza could be heard on Wednesday from Kfar Aza, which is located close to the border fence.
בני הזוג סיוון אלקבץ ונאור חסידים נרצחו ב-7.10 בכפר עזה, תערוכה לזכרם הוקמה בבית שבו גרו ונרצחו • ענת אלקבץ, אימה של סיוון, קוראת אצל @yoav_ginai: "התמונות קשות, ועדיין יש חוויה אחרת להיות שם. כשנכנסתי שרפו לי העיניים ימים, חשוב שאנשים יבואו ויראו – כי מה שקרה בלתי ניתן לתפיסה" pic.twitter.com/u0LErLhbTg
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) December 22, 2023
‘Human remains on the sofa’
On the walls inside and outside the apartment where Sivan and Naor lived were inscriptions scrawled by Israeli soldiers and sappers who went from home to home after the Hamas rampage, clearing explosives and locating bodies to be recovered and buried. One inscription read: “Human remains on the sofa.”
Sivan’s mother, Anati Elkabetz, also returned on Wednesday to mourn and to show relatives and visitors the apartment and the displays of photographs, which she has arranged as a kind of memorial to the young couple.
Naor’s father said happy memories of the couple were the only thing giving him strength to cope with his grief. He recalled their joy at the wedding of his eldest daughter four months ago.
“How he danced, how she danced. How they hugged and kissed. How much they loved everyone and everyone loved them. These are the most beautiful memories in the world.”
