Weeks after his brother Alon Shamriz was mistakenly killed by Israeli fire while trying to escape captivity in Gaza, Ido Shamriz returned to visit his home in the youth apartments of Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Sunday to survey the destruction terrorists wrought there on October 7.

Speaking from the wreckage, Ido told Channel 12 news that it was “a challenging experience.”

“It’s not easy to be here, not the first time or the second time or any of the times after that, it takes your breath away,” he said. “The scenes of horror and destruction, the difficult accounts of what happened in these apartments, the WhatsApp messages from that day — everything comes back all at once. It’s extremely hard.”

Alon Shamriz, 26, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kfar Aza on October 7 and taken to Gaza during the deadly assault in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 240 others were seized and dragged to Gaza as hostages.

On December 15, Alon, along with two other escaped hostages, Yotam Haim and Samar Talalka, was shot dead by IDF forces in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shejaiya as they tried to reach safety, after they were mistaken by troops for Hamas gunmen.

Both Alon and Haim were residents of Kfar Aza and lived in the small community’s youth accommodations, which were heavily damaged in the Hamas assault.

Asked if he thinks that the destroyed buildings should be built up again and turned into something new when the kibbutz is rehabilitated, Ido told Channel 12 he believes that was the correct thing to do.

“This was a neighborhood full of life, joy, success, love and peace, and in one single day it just turned into hell on earth, a showcase of destruction, devastation and unimaginable horror. This place deserves a whole lot more,” he said.

During his brother’s funeral last month, Ido lamented the tragic end to his life, telling mourners: “Our whole life was like a comedy film, so how is it logical that the end was so tragic?

“The psychologists told me to do things that I love, but what I loved was doing them with you, and now there’s no point to anything,” he said at the time.

Speaking to Channel 12 on Sunday, Ido explained the difficult feelings surrounding his brother’s death, and particularly the way that it had come about.

“We’re not talking about one instance of neglect, we’re talking about a chain of neglect that led to the massive oversight,” he said. “It was the disregard of multiple signs that the group [of hostages] put out.”

The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Shamriz, Haim and Talalka showed that a recording picked up the sound of one of the three shouting for help days earlier, though the recording was only found after their deaths.

The three had also left a sign reading SOS on one building, and another reading “3 hostages. Help,” in Hebrew on another building in the area. However, the soldiers who earlier found the messages believed it was a ruse by Hamas. The signs were written on fabric using leftover food.

When the three were shot by the soldiers, they had taken off their shirts to show they were unarmed and were waving a white banner, the investigation also showed.

“Of course we can see things a bit differently in hindsight,” Ido said, acknowledging the difficult combat situation in which the shooting occurred. “But the feeling of neglect is a bitter pill to swallow.”

Kibbutz Kfar Aza was one of the communities hit hardest by the brutal Hamas assault. In total, 62 people were killed during the siege on the kibbutz, and 19 were taken hostage. Of those taken captive, 11 have returned, Haim and Shamriz were killed, and five people, including two women, are believed to still be held by Hamas.