Seven hundred and fifty-five days after Hamas’ brutal assault on October 7, 2023, Kibbutz Nir Oz has finally reached a heartbreaking milestone: the return of its last hostage, Amiram Cooper. All 76 kidnapped residents of the kibbutz—once a symbol of abandonment—are now accounted for, though not all alive.
Nir Oz, a quiet farming community near the Gaza border, became a central symbol of the military and intelligence failures that unfolded on that day. Forty-seven residents were murdered in the massacre and 76 were abducted, representing a quarter of the community. Nearly every home was burned to the ground.
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A burned home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
“Seven hundred and fifty-five days after the massacre—there are no more hostages from Kibbutz Nir Oz held in Gaza,” the community said in a statement Thursday. “On October 7, during hours of catastrophic failure, 76 people were kidnapped from Nir Oz, and our home became a site of disaster. Since then, our community has relived that day, fighting to bring everyone home. Now, with the return of the last hostage, we can begin to process, to heal and to mourn the 65 loved ones who will never return. But even as we close this painful circle, 11 families still await their loved ones. We will continue to fight alongside them until the last hostage returns.”
Before the attack, Nir Oz had around 400 residents. Of the 76 abducted, 67 were taken alive. Six of the 47 victims murdered in Nir Oz were partygoers fleeing the nearby Nova music festival. The kibbutz suffered staggering destruction, with more than 70% of its homes burned or ruined and infrastructure completely collapsed.
IDF investigations later revealed that during the height of the assault, more than 400–500 Hamas terrorists were inside Nir Oz, facing off against 385 civilians, including foreign workers. No IDF forces arrived until 40 minutes after the last of the terrorists had left the kibbutz at around 12:30 p.m.—and the first responders were not army soldiers, but a Border Police undercover unit dispatched following a police emergency call. The military later admitted it had no idea what was happening inside the kibbutz during the seven hours of unopposed attacks.
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Mailboxes belonging to residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz, marked after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre to indicate who was murdered, kidnapped or survived
Military investigators classified the IDF’s failure as a systemic breakdown, not a tactical one. Due to Nir Oz's location at the edge of the "Horseshoe" cluster of Israeli communities near the Gaza border, and because the severity of the massacre was misunderstood in real-time, command centers failed to prioritize the kibbutz for rescue. This left residents to fend for themselves under unimaginable violence.
Despite everything, Nir Oz has begun the slow process of recovery. Most residents were evacuated to hotels in Eilat, then relocated to temporary housing in central Israel. Some have now returned to live in caravans and temporary shelters on the kibbutz grounds. The site has become a destination for foreign dignitaries, delegations and journalists seeking to witness both the devastation and resilience of the community.
Be'eri still awaiting closure
Alongside Cooper, the remains of Sahar Baruch from Kibbutz Be’eri were also returned this week. But Be’eri’s circle of grief remains open: two of its 29 abducted residents—Meny Godard and Dror Or—are still considered fallen hostages whose bodies remain in Gaza.
Be’eri suffered one of the highest death tolls of any community attacked on October 7, with 101 people murdered out of a pre-war population of 1,000. The Hamas Nuseirat Battalion carried out the assault, beginning at 6:42 a.m. with 25 elite Nukhba fighters breaching the kibbutz perimeter. At the height of the invasion, around 340 terrorists were inside the kibbutz. Some were diverted from an intended attack on the city of Netivot after encountering resistance and instead entered Be’eri.
According to the IDF, nearby bases failed to defend the kibbutz due to simultaneous attacks on their own positions. Reinforcement units, including elite Sayeret Shaldag and the 890th Paratrooper Battalion, reached the area late in the morning but did not enter until around 1:00 p.m., delayed by ambushes on approach routes and confusion about the battlefield situation.
For hours, local civilian security teams and residents fought alone to defend themselves and their homes.
Be’eri, like Nir Oz, is one of five southern Israeli communities identified in a recent government report as still not fully recovered. Many of its families remain scattered across the country, with some not expected to return to the kibbutz until at least 2027.