‘Our place is in Nir Oz, not Kiryat Gat’: Freed Hostage Gadi Mozes urges kibbutz to rebuild 

Gadi Mozes, an 80-year-old Nir Oz resident freed in January 2025 after 482 days in Hamas captivity, has issued a handwritten call to his kibbutz community, urging them to rebuild their shattered home nearly 17 months after the October 7, 2023, attack that left it in ruins.

In a letter shared online yesterday (Tuesday) by Nir Oz, Mozes—a potato farmer and agronomist who lived there since age 20—wrote with quiet resolve: “Let’s get to work,” envisioning a return to a “warm and vibrant home” of culture, education, and hope, despite the scars of terror etched into their collective memory.

The letter, penned after his first post-captivity meeting with Nir Oz residents on Monday, confronts the community’s trauma head-on. “We’ve endured moments of terror and fear, alone and together,” Mozes wrote. “I saw on your faces existential questions, insecurity, the fear and anger at our abandonment by those responsible for our safety.”

His partner, Efrat Katz, was killed during a Hamas abduction attempt on October 7; of the kibbutz’s 400 residents, 117 were killed or kidnapped, with 14 still in Gaza—nine confirmed dead. Only seven of 220 homes survived unscathed, many reduced to ash.

Yet Mozes, who turned 80 in captivity, rejects despair. “I share all the fears and doubts,” he admitted, “but I’ve decided to roll up my sleeves and join those who want Nir Oz to thrive again—a home with health, creativity, and security.” Released on January 30 via helicopter to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, he’d vowed minutes after crossing the border: “I’ll do everything to rehabilitate Nir Oz.” Discharged a week later with his children by his side, he reiterated his longing “to return soon to the fields.” Now, he implores his neighbors: “Stand up, work shoulder to shoulder—time is critical.”

His vision contrasts sharply with their current reality. Displaced to Kiryat Gat’s Carmei Gat apartments after the attack, Mozes wrote, “With respect to these new, spacious homes, our place isn’t in high-rises but in Nir Oz’s fresh air, near our fields.” Quoting a Hanukkah song—“We’ve come to banish darkness, each a small light, together a mighty flame”—he casts the effort as a collective defiance of despair. “I join those who still believe we can drive out the dark,” he added, nodding to those undeterred by loss.

Mozes offers grace to the weary. “I hold nothing against those whose strength has run out,” he noted, recognizing the varied toll of grief. Of Nir Oz’s survivors, many wrestle with returning: 90% voted in November 2024 to rebuild, yet the path remains unclear—security promises untested, homes rubble. Still, Mozes’s faith in “our ability to stand on our own two feet” echoes a kibbutz ethos forged over decades, now facing its sternest trial.

A Community’s Echoes

His words ripple beyond Nir Oz, resonating with Gaza envelope kibbutzim still reeling from October 7. On Tuesday, at a kibbutz movement conference, Finance Ministry official Ze’ev Elkin—whose New Hope party rejoined the coalition in September 2024—faced boos and walkouts. “Why sit with a prime minister who hasn’t visited Nir Oz?” one heckler demanded, others pressing for a ceasefire to free the remaining 14 hostages. The outburst underscored a broader rift: trust in a government blamed for that day’s failures remains fragile.

Mozes’s letter, though, sidesteps politics for pragmatism. A farmer who tilled Nir Oz’s soil for 60 years, he sees salvation in action, not rhetoric. His captivity—482 days in Gaza’s depths—only sharpened that resolve. “We’re not weary travelers but trailblazers,” he wrote, a quiet rebuke to resignation.

Rebuilding Amid Rubble

As Israel nears 18 months since October 7, Mozes’s voice—steady at 80—offers both plea and promise. “Let’s get to work,” he concludes, a farmer’s creed for a community poised between memory and renewal.

Times of Israel contributed to this article.