Gaza border communities struggling to recover six months after evacuation

• Published date: 10 April 2024
• Author: SETH J. FRANTZMAN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

There is a small pond and stream near the beach, and dunes with small stout layers of brush stretch up from the waterfront towards the east. The dunes frame the area, offsetting the kibbutz and road that runs down to the sea from an industrial area of Ashkelon

Today, this area is deserted.

The beach, which once hosted the toned bodies of young men and women from the area who come to enjoy the spot and the fishermen who would come on weekends to try their hand at a catch, is gone.

It is all gone because Hamas attacked this beach on October 7 when it attacked two dozen points along the border with Israel and carried out its massacre. I came to this area on October 8, trying to reach the coastal area because there are several IDF posts here and the beach, and I thought that with the war unfolding, it might be a good place to get to for a story.

At the time, I was unaware there was still fighting going on in this area and that terrorists were still lurking in the bushes and dunes.

I quickly learned the area was an active combat zone when I came upon the bodies of two terrorists and a still-running Savannah van parked next to them on October 8 near the fence that runs around Kibbutz Zikim. The fighting here continued for days.

On October 11, several soldiers of the Maglan unit were killed in this area. Flags with their names are now draped on a concrete shelter along the road. Inside, their comrades have written their names and left candles and a kippah in their memory.

Six months later

It has been six months since that day. October 8 was the second day of this war.

Six months later, I was in Kibbutz Zikim, looking out onto the road where I'd encountered the dead terrorists and the van. A member of the community recalled the same scene unfolding on October 7 from inside Zikim.

Although terrorists were able to attack and infiltrate the IDF posts near the border, killing soldiers and massacring civilians on Zikim beach, the kibbutz itself was saved by the quick response of its security team and soldiers.

Today, the kibbutz feels like it is slowly returning to life, and some of the residents have returned. The community is laid out in a large circle, with houses facing the perimeter fence, looking toward the sea. It's bucolic and beautiful.

For some reason, it is also filled with peacocks. The birds apparently escaped from a local small zoo and have infested the community for years. Because there are so few human residents, the animals seem to have the run of the...