Yelena Trufanova comes to the kibbutz of Nir Oz every Sunday and Thursday to feed the homeless cats.
The weeks go by, but this is a place frozen in time since the day of the Hamas terrorist attacks.
She used to tend to the homeless cats with her husband, Vitaly.
"Vitaly and I took care of all the cats in the kibbutz. Now that Vitaly is no more it is all mine, the only thing that is left after my husband. You see, everything here burned down," she said.
The family have lived in the kibbutz since they emigrated from Russia in 1999.
Vitaly worked in an agricultural cooperative, while Yelena had a job at the local paint factory. Their son Alexander, or Sasha, grew up here and went on to work for Amazon. He turned 29 last November.
Everything changed on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked the kibbutz.
Sasha and his girlfriend Sapir were visiting, and were staying in the guest house.
"My husband and I were in the secure room here and saw through the window how about 10 people, maybe more, broke down the door in Sasha’s house and rushed inside. And I thought that they were killed."
But she didn’t know for sure. Yelena was captured and kept hostage in Gaza.
As it turned out, she was held with her son’s girlfriend Sapir, who insisted that Sasha could still be alive.
Surviving as a hostage, Yelena says, depended on personal character.
"I saw people who broke down and I saw those who came out of this stronger. For example, Sapir. There she helped everyone. She even took upon herself the responsibility for a 16-year-old girl that was also captured."
Yelena was released in November 2023. She only learned then that her mother was a hostage and was also freed and that Hamas killed Vitaly.
There is tentative evidence that Sasha is still alive. Palestinian militants have released proof-of-life videos.
He's also on the alleged list of hostages they've agreed to release as part of ceasefire negotiations with the Israeli government.
Yelena says that when her son is released she will not hesitate to return to live in the kibbutz and finally do something she’s been putting off.
"Only then I shall be able to mourn Vitaly. I haven’t even been to his grave yet. They buried him without us, while we were in captivity. I do not want to visit his grave on my own. I shall only do it together with Sasha."