Oh my goodness, my deepest condolences. I can't imagine what that must have been like to go through. I am glad to hear that things have gotten better, though. *le hug*
You should come (at a time where there's peace)! There's another ceasefire at the moment, so things are quite calm (unlike in November when we kept running for shelters whenever the warning sirens went off). That said, they just had their elections last week so everyone's getting used to the new political climate. I've been here since September, and it's been a really educational five months. That's cool that your friends lived here - do you know where they stayed? Were they Jewish, out of curiosity? (Also, there are many inexpensive organized trips to Israel you may be able to look into, especially if you're Jewish.)