Much of the conversation in Israel today has focused on commemoration and visions for a better future for the nation, but October 7 also triggered multiple wars that shook the region, no more so than Gaza.

And, three years later, two fathers have chosen to reach across the Gulf that currently divides Israelis and Palestinians.

Jonathan Dekel-Chen is the father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, who was shot and kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October the 7th and was held hostage by Hamas for nearly 500 days before his release.

And Jaser Abu Mousa is from Khan Yunis, Gaza.

On October the 15th, 2023, an Israeli airstrike hit his home, killing his wife and two of his children, Hmaid and Abdulrahman.

His two surviving children evacuated to the United Arab Emirates, where they underwent several surgeries to recover.

Later, another Israeli airstrike killed his mother.

And Jonathan Dekel-Chen and Jaser Abu Mousa now join me together from New York, where they are appearing together tonight at the 92nd Street Y for an event titled "Across the Divide."

Thank you very much to you both.

Jaser, let me start with you.

Why have you had decided to have this public conversation together?

And what do you hope to achieve?

JASER ABU MOUSA, Former Gaza Resident: Thank you, Nick, for having us.

I think the basic question is, what is the cost of not having this conversation?

And, apparently, we already knew the cost, because, as you said, and on the 7th of October, Nir Oz and other kibbutzes were attacked and Jonathan's community was attacked, and then there were murdered people, I mean, and Sagui was taken into Gaza.

And after a week of this, my wife and my two children were killed because of -- because of lack of conversation, because of lack of dialogue.

And I need to explain that we are not hoping very much of this, but I hope that we are -- if Jonathan and I could have this conversation, I think, with all of the background of the stories, I think we are provoking hope in this sphere.

NICK SCHIFRIN: So, Jonathan, do you agree?

If the two of you can have this dialogue, could that lead to a certain kind of hope?

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN, Father of Former Hamas Hostage: We -- I think both of us have come to the conclusion that, given the tragedies that befell our communities and the devastation on both sides of the border, we don't have the luxury of leaving a better tomorrow to our political leadership, to ideologues on both sides.

And I completely join Jaser in this hope that those viewers who see us, whether it's here with you or later on this evening or in other venues, will absorb the fact that two men who whose lives were irrevocably changed by October 7 and the months thereafter, and if we can find a way to have reasonable conversations about how we can make life better for our communities by defusing hatred that has plagued us all for so long, then we hope that that message can be spread not just in the neighborhood that we come from, but as far as the streets of New York.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jaser, your loss is unimaginable for all of us.

Talk about how you found it within yourself to seek what seems to be one of your top priorities, a kind of humanity across this divide that you're trying to seek.

JASER ABU MOUSA: Nick, I will be very honest with this.

I had every reason to take another path, and yet I sat down and I had a calculation sheet and calculated my decision like the calculus, like arithmetic.

And I reached a conclusion that my pain and my grief is very real, are very real.

But I learned how to point them at the right direction, not at people, but at policies, as structures, at leaders who actually took the people as collateral damage or as expendable assets.

The other thing that is -- that motivated me actually to make this decision is my children.

And I do not want to inherit them or to leave to them the anger and the pain that I'm leaving for -- I mean, I'm feeling, but to give them a chance, actually.

We have moved to a new place, a new language, a new country, and either to give them a chance or to give them anger or pain.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jonathan, how much for you is this about Sagui, not only Sagui, but also his children, so your grandchildren, finding that resilience that Jaser was talking about?

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN: Our community, our kibbutz was completely devastated on October 7.

And it's really easy to and understandable and natural to slide into this perpetual cycle of hate.

And I think both of us have seen from the very bottom where this inevitably leads.

And if we continue to wait for this or that political leader to lead us out and to put aside the mobilization of hate for political reasons, then Jaser's children, my children and now grandchildren will be in a very similar -- horrifically may find themselves in a very similar situation not too long from now.

NICK SCHIFRIN: I'm going to ask you both to respond to a similar question.

Jaser, how do you judge today, sitting next to Jonathan, Hamas' October 7 terrorist attack?

JASER ABU MOUSA: The history did not start on the 7th of October, but on the 7th of October, and I acknowledge this, Nir Ozempic, where Jonathan's community was living, was attacked viciously by Hamas.

Hamas militants attacked these kibbutzim.

They did not see human beings.

And when Israel is bombarding Gaza, they did not see human beings.

They saw collateral damage or expendable assets or enemies or -- but they did not see the human being behind this.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And, Jonathan, I suppose a similar question to you.

How do you judge today, sitting next to Jaser, how the Israeli Defense Forces fought in Gaza?

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN: It's difficult question to answer, Nick.

I think history will judge what the IDF did and did not do in Gaza starting on October 8.

What I do know is that the vast majority of Israelis wanted the violence to stop very early on, and in order to get hostages back, but to create a cease-fire.

Israelis are not represented really by our current government, by any means.

I deeply wish and -- that the horrors, the civilian horrors that occurred in Gaza never happened.

But here we are.

And so we can choose to try and re-adjudicate what has happened.

I fear and we see all around us those who choose to go that route never move forward.

They simply institutionalize the hate that we all know is around us.

So, as I said before, we are seeking a different path, and that keeps us looking forward.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Jaser Abu Mousa, the dialogue that you're having tonight is called "Across the Divide."

Thank you very much to you both.

JASER ABU MOUSA: Thank you, Nick.

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN: Thank you.