My summary:

Today we visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza in Sha’ar HaNegev region (our sister city), just 1 mile from the Gaza border - lost 52 people out of 900 on 10/7. Many others were taken hostage. Some areas were completely destroyed and others untouched.

Today, the president of the German Bundestag was there at the same time as our group. An hour after we left, PM Netanyahu visited with Elon Musk.

A few meaningful and inspirational quotes below.

Itzik - our tour guide - is a Major (reserves) in a paratrooper unit w/659 people specializing in logistics. He says “the number of hearts, homes and pockets being opened in Israel is amazing. I don’t know if we needed a war to unite the nation but we are absolutely united. We are again one.”

Met many soldiers at a community center that San Diego helped build - it opened in June. One, Yitzhak, a Lt. Col. in a supply/medical evacuation unit, is a doctor in a hospital ER. He’s been on Gaza front lines for 51 days. He says “I have one message for you to take home, ‘Do not worry. We are united! We are strong, focused, and motivated. We will win and ‘never again’ will mean ‘never again.’”

An English medic, gynecologist said “First question every wounded soldier asks - ‘when can I go back to my brothers in the unit?’”