Community in Israel's Gaza region is frozen as new Hamas crimes are reported

 Community in Israel's Gaza region is frozen as new Hamas crimes are reported

Bodies continue to be discovered in the neighborhoods close to Gaza.

This article contains facts that some readers may find upsetting.

On Wednesday, rescue workers in Kibbutz Be'eri recovered a woman's corpse from the debris. Her feet were shackled with metal wire, and she was nude.

One of the team members said that more than 20 children's corpses had been bound together, burnt, and recovered nearby.

Even seasoned employees struggle since such deaths are enough to shatter the living.

As we arrived to the kibbutz in Nir Oz, a line of ambulances and black vehicles slowly moved beyond the barrier. The neighborhood has been paralyzed by the attack's mayhem, leaving this area in a state of calm.

The only activity comes from cats, who dart between colorful toys scattered over gardens, fallen roofs, and the burned, gaping bones of people's houses.

There are often big explosions above that break the stillness. It's just three miles to Gaza.

Early on, gunmen from Hamas assaulted Nir Oz. According to survivors, one in four people—including Danny Darlington, a British man—are either dead or missing.

He had just moved to Germany from Manchester, where he was born and reared, and he had been staying with relatives in the kibbutz.

On the morning of the assault, a neighbor recognized Danny's corpse, but the family is still awaiting formal word that he has passed away.

That morning, Danny wasn't supposed to be at the kibbutz. Lior Peri, his half-brother, had been waiting for him to return to Tel Aviv the day before, but Danny opted to spend an additional night.

On Saturday morning, while the assault was taking place, Lior got a text message that read: "S**t, big balagan [chaos] in the kibbutz."

Lior informed me, "That's the last I heard from him." "Right now, I'm attempting to assist the Manchester family. They really operate in the shadows.

Haim Peri, Lior's father, was also abducted from Nir Or during the assault.

In the past, Haim transported Gazan children who were ill to Israeli hospitals. Among the trash that has been thrown across the home and yard are some of the pieces of art that he liked to collect.

When Hamas militants initially burst in, Haim and his wife, Osnat, were hiding in their safe room. The safe room's door remained solid, but the shooters came back with more guys.

This time, according to Lior, Haim instructed his wife to hide in the safe room behind the couch before opening the door and surrendering.

When a second, less orderly, more damaging bunch of individuals barged in, his wife was still hiding. The home was purged by them. Even though the safe room's door was remained ajar and it was pitch-black inside, they chose not to bother checking.

Haim is now officially recognized as a captive.

The delayed flow of information on the dead and missing has angered a lot of the relatives here.

At army bases, tent cities with klug lights have appeared to mark the graves. A steady soundtrack of generators, fighter jets, and cicadas is played as doctors in plastic robes operate.

We were taken to a facility where more than a dozen shipping containers were displayed, their shelves filled with body bags of various shapes and sizes.

The staff estimates that around 1,000 people's remains have traveled through this location; some are in Captain Maayan's custody. She is unable to reveal her last name due to Army constraints.

She informed me, "I didn't see one corpse that was shot only once.

"In each corpse, I saw mistreatment and torture as well as several gunshot wounds, slashes, and bruising to the head and extremities. We don't feel like we're in a war, even when there are victims. It is as if we are both participating in and witnessing a slaughter.

The military took nine hours to reach Nir Oz. With hundreds of thousands of soldiers already deployed along the border, Israel is planning to launch a massive offensive operation inside Gaza with the goal of defeating Hamas as the next phase of this conflict.

Lior Peri feels out of step with the present state of Israel as a country.

"Revenge is a very strong emotion, which a lot of people have now," according to him. "However, if they hear from us and the families, maybe they will think again. They may say something like, "Let's do all we can to get out of this hostage situation. We'll have time for retribution later.

In the hours after the assault, the relatives of Israel's captives and missing are still in a state of uncertainty, left without explanations, and stuck between two traumas: their own and that of their country.