In a community hit hard on October 7, people have gathered to bury their dead.
The bodies of a father who was kidnapped and his son who was killed more than 10 months ago have finally returned home to Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel.
Avraham Munder was taken hostage along with more than 70 people on October 7 when Hamas-led militants attacked the village, also killing about 20 people, according to The Times of Israel.
The Israeli military recovered his body and those of five others on Tuesday in an overnight operation in Gaza's southern district of Khan Younis, it said.
The cause of their death is unknown.
Avraham's son Roi was murdered on his front lawn during the attack on Nir Oz.
He was buried elsewhere in Israel, and on Wednesday his remains were relocated to be laid to rest next to his father.
Their family and loved ones lowered them into the ground, stricken with grief and anger.
"To bury a friend, it's not an easy job and the way he went from us, it's unbelievable," said Avraham's friend Hannahleh Margalit.
"He went from Nir Oz, he was alive. Wounded but alive … I hate talking about it, but it shouldn't be like this."
She's known him since they were in grade 6.
They grew up together, went to the army together, helped build Nir Oz, and their children grew up together.
"We all love him so much. He was such a quiet nice person," Hannahleh said.
Avraham's wife Ruti, daughter Keren and her 8-year-old son Ohad, were also taken that day.
They spent nearly two months underground in Gaza not knowing his fate until they were released in the first and only one-week ceasefire-hostage deal in November.
"When the women came back on the first or second [ceasefire] they saw him and they were together with him and he was ok, he was alive," Hannahleh said.
"And if the [ceasefire] will go on, he will be here, alive. Wounded, but alive. And it didn't happen."
Speaking through tears, Keren recalled how she worried throughout those weeks, and how wonderful it was when she learned from other released hostages that he too was taken but alive.
"That no soldier or officer came to your or Roi's help on that same horrific Saturday. And [Roi] was abandoned to die in front of [his] burning house," she said during her eulogy.
"On your grave, dad and Roi, I ask for forgiveness, that we weren't with you in the most difficult moments, nightmarish and terrible.
"And when you finished your lives in brutality and inferno without us being able to be by your sides to support.
"You, my brother, could have been saved if entitled officers had listened to the warnings and prepared in time and properly, with suitable forces along the whole border."
Anger at the government
Those in attendance railed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, blaming them for not bringing the hostages out of Gaza sooner or alive.
"Dear father, who got over your wound from the kidnapping, was abandoned again and again by the prime minister and his ministers in the Hamas tunnels," Keren said.
"You could have been returned alive and been redeemed from the physical and psychological pain and the inhumane conditions in which you were held in captivity, if only the prime minister and the ministers had acted with political honesty and empathy and not sacrificed you."
She described her father as being good and modest, unlike the leaders.
Her cousin, Eyal Mor, fiercely echoed her frustrations, recalling how the military refused to properly equip the community to fight against threats.
"When the residents expressed their concerns, army officials calmed them. That there's a fence and there's an obstacle and there's technology and there are cameras, and units and what not. And why did you cut the number of weapons of the emergency squads, the members asked. 'Nonsense, there's no need for it,' the officers responded."
"''Because in the moment of truth, we'll arrive with in maximum half an hour'.
"And that's how the evening of Simchat Torah arrived on the 6th of October. 79-year-old Munder, his wife Ruti, hosting their son, Roi, for the holiday dinner, and Keren and the grandson, Ohad, who arrived from Kfar Saba. Happy and joyful and confident in the state and its army, Avraham Munder went to sleep and woke up in a continuous nightmare."
He said Avaraham and Roi would have felt "abandoned and betrayed" by what happened on October 7.
He criticised Mr Netanyahu for choosing "strategic assets" in Gaza "that can't be given up, even at the price of giving up on the hostages", saying it goes against the values of the country.
About 100 hostages are thought to be inside Gaza, and about 70 are likely still alive.
"Netanyahu continues to kill people," one older man shouted after a eulogy, referring to the hostages who remain in Gaza.
The sporadic sounds of explosions and artillery fire rang in the distance during the funeral, a reminder that the war in Gaza just a few kilometres away still continues.
A ceasefire deal is far from being achieved with both Hamas and Netanyahu remaining steadfast in their demands.
Boycott of memorial
Nir Oz joined several other kibbutz communities in Gaza's periphery in announcing their plans to boycott an upcoming government memorial event marking the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
"The setting for the ceremony is a reminder of the greatest failure that ever occurred in the State of Israel," the kibbutz said in a statement.
"Those who led to a complete breakdown of trust will not be able to hide behind rituals and use us as extras."
They called out Mr Netanyahu for not yet visiting the kibbutz, and not inviting its members to the ceremony.
"The resounding failure of the current Israeli government to return the abductees will not allow it to continue trying to close the circle," the hostage family forum, an organisation that represents most hostage families, said.
Nir Oz proposed the government transfer the ceremony budget to a civilian body "that will be fully responsible for the events of the day, without any politics".
Kibbutz Kfar Aza echoed the sentiments, calling for the government to "focus all its efforts on saving the hostages and content itself with lowering the flag to half-staff [and] standing at attention for the siren, not putting on grandiose events."
While hostage families and protesters around Israel continue to push for the government to achieve a ceasefire, many have lost hope.
"I don't believe that they really want to bring them [hostages] back," said Hila Galili, a mourner angry at the government, who is also involved in the weekly protests.
Many seem worried the current state of affairs will continue.
"I tried to believe that peace will come some day, [but] we can't. It's a war that will never end and that's the worst [part] of it," Hannahleh said.
