Tragedy shows no signs of letting up at Kibbutz Kfar Aza. On Sunday December 17, the community, 60-plus members of which were killed in the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, once again attended a funeral. In the afternoon, a silent crowd gathered for the funeral of 26-year-old Alon Shamriz, who was taken hostage along with 19 other residents of the village and then was killed by the Israeli army on Friday, December 15 as part of Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, along with Yotam Haim, another resident of Kfar Aza, and Fouad Talalka. The three young captives, shirtless and holding a white flag, were considered a "threat" by the soldiers.

The Israeli soldiers are now accused of not having respected the military "rules of engagement," according to their superiors. On Friday, Alon's father, Avi, said in an interview on army radio that it was "not a mistake, but an execution. Even if he had been a terrorist, why shoot him like that? It's against the rules we learned in the army."

"Those who abandoned you [alluding to the army's failings during the October 7 attack] are also those who murdered you," declared Alon's brother Ido, in tears before the hundreds of people present, including Nir Barkat, the minister of the economy, and former army Chief of General Staff Dan Haloutz. In addition to the shock, the residents of Kfar Aza who had come to share this "endless sadness," as Dikla, the mother of the deceased, described it, had to pay their respects to the young student over a hundred kilometers north of their home. Like 20 other members of the community before him, Alon Shamriz is buried in the cemetery of Kibbutz Shefayim.

This affluent community north of Tel Aviv is now home to around 700 of the 900 survivors of Kfar Aza. The day after October 7, in the midst of the chaos, they scattered across the country before converging here, a few dozen meters from the sea and far from Hamas rockets. "Even as refugees, we had to be in a kibbutz," explains Ofer Winner, whose son Yahav, a young film director who used Kfar Aza as a backdrop to his films, was killed by Hamas. "It's the only place we can imagine getting better."

'Two kibbutzim in one'

Most of the people who live on the border with Gaza have settled into the area's only hotel, a former conference center split into several buildings, with 140 double rooms, narrow balconies and dark carpeting. Having never set foot in this commune before, the displaced people from southern Israel share the solidarity values of the kibbutz collectivist movement. Thanks to their common references, families from each community have "adopted each other" to work and live together, said Lior Edod, Shefayim's "secretary," the equivalent of the mayor. The 40 year old smiles: "Today, we have two kibbutzes in one." To thank him, several families of survivors have put up a banner at the entrance to the town, which reads in large letters: "Kfar Aza thanks Shefayim for its hospitality."

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