Over 100 days in captivity • The family of the abductee Elad Katzir tells about the pain and the feeling of being homeless

(Live here) - 100 days in captivity of Hamas. 136 abductees are still in Gaza, 110 have been released to date. The families of the abductees are still waiting for the return of their loved ones, safe and sound.
Carmit Pelati Katzir, the sister of the kidnapped Elad Katzir, in an interview with Lahi Fe.

Katzir family

Until October 7, the Katzir family lived a quiet and peaceful life in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Rami, 79, and Hana, 77, built their home in the kibbutz, started a family and raised three children: Elad (47), single, who continued to live in the kibbutz in his own apartment close to his parents, and daughters Carmit and Avital, who started families in other cities. Among them, Carmit chose to live with her family in Haifa. Rami and Hana have six grandchildren from their daughters.

On that black Sabbath, the lives of Carmit and Avital turned upside down and went through a shakeup. Rami, the father of the family, the beloved humble and peace-loving man, the beloved and devoted father and grandfather, was murdered. Hana, the mother and the grandmother were kidnapped from her home while she was wearing pajamas and barefoot and brother Elad who for more than a month did not know what happened to him - if he was on the list of the murdered, on the list of the missing or on the list of the abducted. Finally, it turned out that he was kidnapped. Today he has been held captive by Hamas for over 100 days.

Carmit Pelati Katzir tells about the struggle

Carmit Pelati Katzir, the next generation of the Katzir family, is a married mother of three children and lives in Haifa. She is a social worker specializing in psychotherapy. In an interview with the Lahi Pa news corporation, she talks about the difficult time she had to go through and her coping and hope.

This is how she says:

Every day I wake up with the feeling that it cannot be that another day has passed and that our reality has not changed. I had hope that we wouldn't reach the centenary and that maybe things are brewing that we don't know about. Day by day I understand that it is impossible to trust only our country or the security cabinet to do the job and bring our loved ones back safely.

The brokenness I experienced on October 7 is unimaginable. Life has turned upside down for me, for the community of Nir Oz, for all the surrounding settlements and for many other families not connected to the Western Negev. A personal and collective disaster.

This is how she continues to tell: "What hurts me the most is the feeling that my country does not support me. I can't believe that the most important thing for the country is the return of the kidnapped. In the first three weeks, the return of the abductees was not set as a goal in the goals of the war. The State of Israel arrived on October 7 when it was vulnerable and weak and therefore unable to protect the settlements.

I was born and raised in Kibbutz Nir Oz which was always on the border. I grew up with the feeling that I am very safe, that there are a lot of military forces around and a fence guarding us and if God forbid something happens, we have an emergency room ten minutes away.''

"On the same Sabbath that my family was abandoned"

Carmit tells about Black Shabbat: "On the same Shabbat that my family was dispossessed. My parents are elderly people, they were in their house alone in the dimension, no one from the kibbutz could reach them because everyone was besieged in their house. I read all the correspondence from the kibbutz WhatsApp and it was horrifying No one came - not the police, not the army and not any political agency. The most horrible neglect imaginable.

We know that many of my kibbutz members simply died from blood loss. A stabbing that could have ended in a dressing and antibiotics ended up with people bleeding to death in their dimensions. My mother was kidnapped in her pajamas and barefoot from her home. My brother who talked to me and my sister all morning on the phone was kidnapped.'

One in four residents of Nir Oz was murdered or kidnapped

"There are 400 people in Kibbutz Nir Oz, of which 100 people were murdered or kidnapped. That is, one out of four is murdered or kidnapped, the dimensions of the disaster and the pain are illogical and not something that can be contained.'

About Elad the brother who is in captivity for the 100th day, Carmit says: "Elad lives in Nir Oz, lives in his own house. A sweet, charming and beloved person in the kibbutz. He has a senior position in irrigation in agriculture - the irrigation coordinator in the fields of David Moshe's kibbutz, which grows vegetables and wheat for the farm and all of Europe. For a whole month Elad was declared missing and we had no information about him, unlike my mother, of whom a video was released and we knew she had been kidnapped. After a little over a month, we received a message from the army that he had been kidnapped to Gaza.'

With all the upheavals that Kerami goes through - the loss, the grief, the lack of knowledge and uncertainty, the grief and the feelings of neglect, she manages to bravely face the situation, especially since she comes from the field of social work and psychotherapy.

This is how she says:

I experienced a tremendous disaster but most of the time I have strength because the world of therapy and the knowledge of therapy helps me and it is definitely a resource and strength and also to my delight I am surrounded by many friends from the world of therapy who help me and have become a significant support group.

Hana Katzir's return from captivity

This is how Carmit says: "It was a crazy day. Two days before her return we received word that she did not survive captivity. Our hearts went through a crazy roller coaster. My mother was released at the first beat and we had no idea about anything. We drove quietly to the hospital and prayed that she would arrive safely in one piece At one o'clock in the morning we met her on a stretcher.

On the one hand, she was very mentally strong and alert and never stopped telling us what happened to her - faces, people and places. She gave a lot of useful information to the Shin Bet. On the other hand, she came back in a bad physical condition. She lost 20 kilos and told about difficult conditions in which she slept on an iron bed, did not move from the room, and therefore her body weakened. Also, her heart weakened and it was difficult to stabilize her After a while her condition deteriorated and she is still hospitalized.'

A feeling of absolute lawlessness

Hana who was kidnapped did not know what happened to her husband Rami and her son Elad, until Karamit had to tell her and break the bad news: "When mother came back she saw me, Avital and her only sister and when she didn't see Elad's father and brother she asked where they were."

Carmit says that in the first two weeks after Black Sabbath, no one from the country accompanied the family. Only after two weeks, they were contacted by an officer from the army who accompanies the family to this day and then they were joined by Menashe Shemesh on behalf of Gal Hirsh's director who has accompanied them ever since.

Carmit's expectations:

This is how Carmit says: "My view is very simple - I expect the Israeli government and the defense cabinet in particular to make a brave decision." The kidnapped will only be able to return to us by a deal, even if it involves heavy prices. The leadership must be brave and prioritize the lives it owes to the citizens after it failed to protect them on October 7.

Carmit: "There is no privilege to despair - if I give up Elad's fight, who will fight for him?"

About Rami, the beloved father and grandfather, she says: "Father was a good man, a peace-seeker, pleasant, calm, homely and my family loved classical music." We always laugh at him that he was the only mechanic in Israel who listened to classical music in his work corner. He was gifted in repairing and restoring to use agricultural tools. He was a loving and amazing grandfather and allowed all his grandchildren to form a special bond with him. He taught them checkers and chess and took them on trips. He loved family, friends and the kibbutz. We miss and pain his death very much.'

Despite the disaster and with all the pain and difficulty, Carmit still believes in peace: "I have terrible anger at the vile murderers who committed crimes against humanity. Many members of my kibbutz have been involved in humanitarian activities with the residents of the Gaza Strip all their lives. It pained me greatly to hear that many Gazans also kidnapped people, looted and burned my kibbutz. And at the same time, I believe in the ability of Jews and Arabs to live together in this country. We will have to learn to do it better."

"Don't let the abductees think you're abandoning them"

Carmit addresses the readers and asks that for a moment they put themselves in the shoes of the abducted families and think what they would do if their family member was the one in Gaza. Carmit asks the readers to protest in the streets: "Don't let the abductees think that you are abandoning them and don't let us feel that we are alone because it could have happened to anyone."