It's been one year since the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel at the hands of Hamas.

Nearly 1,500 people were killed in the violence and another 200 taken hostage, according to the Associated Press. Almost 42,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since Israel invaded one year ago.

Spectrum News 1 talked to the father of a victim who was killed on that day. He was in North Carolina recently to visit family.

Aviv Baram was 33 years old when he was killed by Hamas Oct. 7, 2023.

“Aviv was known by his big heart, he had hundreds of friends," Ofer Baram said.

Aviv Baram was 33 years old when he was killed by Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, on the deadliest day for the Jews since the Holocaust.

“I promised Aviv, on my last words to him, on the graveyard, that my mission in life will be to spread all over the world, his story," Ofer Baram said.

He said his son was part of a security team defending a small Israeli community.

“The amount of monsters that entered were too big for those 14 soldiers, at the end, seven of them, among them my dear son, lost their life," Ofer Baram said.

He said hiding was simply not an option for his son.

At one point, while seemingly totally surrounded, Aviv Baram told a fellow solider, "my life is not important, I need to save my friends. He ran into the bullets," Ofer Baram said. 

“Aviv planned to make this smiley, but he died," Ofer Baram said.

He is one of thousands of people in Israel inked with a smiley face tattoo in honor of Aviv Baram.

Besides his father, Aviv leaves behind his mother, brother, a wife, two kids and countless friends.

During the interview, Ofer Baram wore a "Bring Them Home" dog tag.

He said the hostages’ stories need to be told too.

“None of us know what is happening, one year and no one knows if they are alive or not. They haven’t seen light. They haven’t seen blue skies for a year," said Ofer Baram.

Aviv Baram's entire immediate family hid from terrorists for nearly 24 hours on Oct. 7. Fortunately, none of them were hurt.