Omri Ronen, the grandson of 86-year-old Nira Ronen, who was murdered on October 7 by Hamas terrorists in her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza alongside her caregiver Angelyn Aguirre, posted on his X page over the weekend a message that the terrorists left behind where she was killed. “You’ll die, and you won’t stay here,” it read in Arabic.
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"I arrived at Kfar Aza today for the first time, to the home of my grandmother who was murdered," he wrote on Saturday. "During the visit, we found a letter written by the terrorists in her day planner, which was left in the living room, recounting the whole story. 'The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades passed through here and removed the Zionist occupiers. You will die, and you will not stay here,'" the full message stated.
Omri Ronen, one of Nira’s 12 grandchildren, managed to speak with her on the morning of October 7, and she told him that shots were fired outside her house. "I calmed her down. I was certain someone would come to help her, but no one came. What kind of human animals murder an 86-year-old woman and her caregiver?"
Omri, a soldier in an elite IDF unit, rushed to Kibbutz Nir Oz with his team. On Saturday, after nearly four months serving in reserve duty, he visited his grandmother's house near the Gaza border for the first time.
"We found the day planner on a table in the living room," he told Ynet. "It's a diary where she wrote all sorts of things she needed to remember. It was just there. I took a picture and sent it to Arabic-speaking friends to translate for me. Their message doesn’t intimidate us. My grandfather and grandmother founded the kibbutz, and this place is theirs and ours. It only teaches us who these murderers are and what our response should be."
In his post on X, he wrote: "The terrorists' goal was to harm our dignity and try to degrade us. They wanted to murder and slaughter as many Israelis as possible. To make us not want to return and settle in communities close to the Gaza border. Our response to Hamas must continue to be decisive. We must bring back all of the hostages now and eliminate this terrorist organization, no matter how long it takes."
"We need to bring all of its commanders, supporters and collaborators to justice. We must destroy and stop all the means, financial resources and infrastructure at their disposal," Omri wrote, adding: "At the same time, we must rebuild all of the southern communities, expand, develop and nurture them. As quickly as possible."
“We’re proud to be Israelis, Zionists, soldiers and human beings. We will remain in our land forever. And we’ll do it with immeasurable strength. We’ll build our home and families here nonetheless, and continue to build a strong, prosperous and developed country," he added.