The Both Mighty and Not So Mighty Israel. (EDITOR'S NOTES)

• Date: 01 February 2025
• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Published date: 01 February 2025

KIBBUTZ NIR OZ, Israel--Liat Atzili, a history teacher from a small community near the Gaza Strip in Israel, pointed to the spot where it is believed her husband, Aviv, died on Oct. 7, 2023.

Aviv and two other members of the community's small first response team made their last stand behind a four-foot wall as Hamas terrorists swarmed the kibbutz.

Aviv had taken his rifle and left Liat behind in their home after hearing some commotion before dawn. The first response team was organized to hold off small groups of attackers for a few minutes before nearby army units arrived.

But the army did not arrive, and this was no small-scale attack. At 8:30 a.m., Liat and the two other wives hiding in safe rooms in other parts of the kibbutz all received text messages from their husbands warning them to stay inside. They never heard from them again.

The wives all believed the men knew they were about to be overrun and stopped fighting long enough to send these farewell texts, she told a group of reporters.

Not long after, Liat herself was kidnapped by two Hamas fighters and taken away to the Gaza Strip where she would spend 54 days in captivity, not knowing the fate...