Djuric visits Israel's Kibbutz Be'eri and Nova music festival site

BE'ERI/RE'IM - Serbian FM Marko Djuric and the parents of Alon Ohel - a Serbian-Israeli citizen kidnapped by Hamas in October 2023 - visited Kibbutz Be'eri in southern Israel, situated near the eastern border with the Gaza Strip.

Be'eri was one of the first kibbutzes targeted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, when around 200 people were killed there in the first attack and 20 others kidnapped.

Djuric also visited Re'im, the site of the Nova music festival, from which Ohel was kidnapped in a Hamas attack that left more than 300 people dead.

He also visited a kibbutz shelter to which Ohel fled before the kidnapping.

Djuric is the first foreign official to visit the area since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.

He said what had happened there must never happen to anyone anywhere.

"A very moving day. We came to visit the communities hit by the October 7 terrorist attacks and right now we are on the site of the Nova festival. More than 500 young people were brutally killed, and this is also where Serbian citizen Alon Ohel was taken from into captivity," Djuric said, noting that Ohel had been incarcerated by Hamas for 503 days.

Together with Ohel's family, Djuric appealed for a release of the 24-year-old pianist and all other hostages held by Hamas.