Near Gaza, Israeli communities ravaged on Oct. 7 refocus on rebirth
| Kibbutz Be鈥檈ri, Israel
Pastry chef Yaki Sagi carefully rolls a tray stacked with eight vanilla sheet cakes into place in the Lalush Bakery oven at Kibbutz Be鈥檈ri, on the border with Gaza.
By day鈥檚 end he and his assistant will make dozens more, to assemble 100 chocolate-and-cream layer cakes to be sold across Israel.
Mr. Sagi, who has the words 鈥淚 am the screenwriter of my own life鈥� tattooed on his left arm, smiles as he swirls around the kitchen under hanging baking pans and between rows of mixers and cookbooks.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onThe kibbutzim and other Israeli communities near Gaza still bear the marks, physical and spiritual, of the horrors of Oct. 7. But as hostages, living and dead, return home, the communities are rebuilding, and shifting toward 鈥渢ekuma,鈥� rebirth.
He reopened the bakery, which operates out of a room in Be鈥檈ri鈥檚 communal dining hall, just two weeks ago, another step in the slow and steady process of rebirth for Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like waking up after a year and a half; it鈥檚 really exciting,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also complicated. ... Over 100 people vanished from here in one day. It鈥檚 unimaginable 鈥� like a movie, a bad movie.
鈥淭here were days I thought we would wake up from this movie, but it鈥檚 the reality and we must continue.鈥�
Kibbutz Be鈥檈ri, a communal village surrounded by wheat fields and mango and avocado groves, became the scene of a massacre when Hamas gunmen rammed a bulldozer through its perimeter fence and began systematically shooting anyone they encountered. As kibbutz residents texted warnings frantically among themselves, the attackers fired through doors and walls with automatic weapons and RPGs, tossed grenades through windows, and set homes ablaze.
This community and others nearby became ground zero of the deadliest day in Israel鈥檚 history. Oct. 7, 2023, saw 1,200 people killed and some 250 taken hostage, triggering the devastating Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. On Kibbutz Be鈥檈ri, home to many who for years fought for peace and better ties with their Gaza neighbors, more than 100 civilians were killed 鈥� about a tenth of its population 鈥� and 32 taken hostage to Gaza, some of whom were killed there.
On nearby Kibbutz Nir Oz, Yarden and Shiri Bibas and their two redheaded young boys were among 79 people taken hostage that same morning while 46 were murdered. Yarden was released Feb. 1 under the current Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.
On Feb. 26, an estimated 100,000 Israelis lined the roads for dozens of miles as a coffin containing Shiri and her sons was taken to Nir Oz for burial, their bodies having been returned the week before. It was an outpouring of a national grief that still hangs heavily over these communities as they try to pivot toward the future.
Getting back to work
For now, the fragile ceasefire is holding, quieting the sounds of war next door. With the last of Be鈥檈ri鈥檚 living hostages having been freed 鈥� an emaciated Eli Sharabi, who only learned upon his release that his wife and two daughters were killed Oct. 7 鈥� the kibbutz is making headway in its plans to rebuild.
Its main source of income, a lucrative printing press, is running at full capacity, employing 400 workers. Smaller businesses like a supermarket, dairy, and the Lalush Bakery are running again, as are the communal laundry, health clinic, and dining hall to serve the workers and the 150 members who have returned to live there. Most of the others reside temporarily on Kibbutz Hatzerim, near the southern city of Beersheva, including Mr. Sagi and his family.
鈥淢y dream is to open a huge bakery,鈥� says Mr. Sagi, beaming. Plans are underway to build one just outside the entrance of the kibbutz, alongside the dairy and a mountain biking and nature center.
鈥淭hat will be the real rebirth,鈥� he says.
Tekuma, Hebrew for 鈥渞ebirth鈥� or 鈥渞enewal,鈥� is the name of the government agency created to oversee the rebuilding of the Gaza-area communities. Most of its $423 million budget for physical reconstruction is earmarked for the three hardest-hit kibbutzim, including Be鈥檈ri.
Some of its overall budget pays for temporary housing as several of the communities, among them Be鈥檈ri, still struggle with the scope of the damage and the uncertain security situation.
Tekuma鈥檚 officials, drawing on studies that show communities are most resilient and cohesive after a disaster if they are part of the planning for rebuilding, are encouraging the 46 communities and one city they are working with to do so.
Focus on rehabilitation
Close to midnight on Oct. 8, a group of Kibbutz Be鈥檈ri leaders gathered in a room of the Dead Sea hotel where the traumatized members had just been evacuated, and drafted goals for the future.
Among them was Gal Cohen, a longtime manager at the printing press, who went out on a run at 6:30 the previous morning and was one of the first people to spot the approaching gunmen.
鈥淲e immediately recognized that if we did not reestablish Be鈥檈ri, then the Gaza border area would never recover, and the Zionist movement itself would be foiled. We also decided then that we would take care of all our members, even those who might decide not to return, and we decided to reopen Be鈥檈ri,鈥� says Mr. Cohen.
鈥淚t was clear to me on Oct. 8 when we sat together that I would change my career focus and dedicate myself to the rehabilitation of Be鈥檈ri. It felt like my mission.鈥�
He and the other leaders realized that restoring a sense of stability was essential.
鈥淚f people have homes and jobs they can rehabilitate more quickly; they can start to see a horizon,鈥� he says.
Be鈥檈ri is targeting the summer of 2026 for the majority of members to return. The biggest question is whether they will feel safe enough, especially families with children.
On Feb. 17, when Israel marked 500 days since the war began, many residents returned to Be鈥檈ri for the day, packing the communal dining hall and filling it with children鈥檚 voices.
鈥淚鈥檓 sure we will return to what we had,鈥� says David Dahan, the dining hall manager. 鈥淚鈥檒l do all I can to be part of that 鈥� we have such a strong community here. We have what it takes.鈥�
鈥淚t can鈥檛 possibly have happened鈥�
Among the many buildings destroyed by Hamas was the kibbutz art gallery. Germany has pledged almost $2 million to rebuild it. A competition is underway to choose its architects.
鈥淵ou can fix a house, but how can you fix the future?鈥� asks gallery director Sofie Mackie. She says art will be part of an answer that acknowledges the trauma of the atrocities without being trapped by it.
鈥淎rt knows how to take what is most poisonous and radioactive and transform it,鈥� she says. 鈥淎n artist can come and imagine it as something else.鈥�
Driving a golf cart through the kibbutz neighborhoods, Nili Bar-Sinai points out key moments of the rampage in a tour of the hourslong assault. Her husband, Yoram, an architect and urban planner who designed some of Be鈥檈ri鈥檚 buildings and neighborhoods, was killed in a gun battle protecting their daughter and her family Oct. 7.
鈥淭his was the first house burned,鈥� she says, waving her hands to an empty plot. She points out another home where a mother was killed and her daughter kidnapped.
鈥淏ecause I don鈥檛 believe it happened I can tell people about it,鈥� she says, shaking her head. 鈥淚t can鈥檛 possibly have happened.鈥�
Eventually she pulls up to a large empty lot where half-destroyed homes were bulldozed. It鈥檚 surrounded by a white metal wall on which a former kibbutz member, an artist, has painted pictures of the kibbutz fields. Just beyond the lot is a construction site where the first post-Oct. 7 neighborhood is being built.
Her gaze fixed, she says, 鈥淭his is the incarnation of听迟别办耻尘补, of rebirth.鈥�
