Kibbutz Be’eri was one of the Gaza periphery communities hit hardest by the events of October 7th. The burnt-out homes, still standing today, have become a symbol of the destruction wrought on southern Israel that day.
In addition to the Jewish festival of Simhat Torah, Be’eri residents were celebrating the 77th anniversary of the founding of the kibbutz on that weekend. A total of 102 Be’eri residents were killed – 10 per cent of the farming community’s population – along with 31 security personnel.
Thirty-two residents were seized from the kibbutz and taken into captivity in Gaza, including then nine-year-old Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand. An estimated 300 heavily armed militants entered the kibbutz and they were joined, a few hours later, by scores of Gaza civilians who arrived via the numerous breaches in the border fence with Israel, and grabbed anything at hand. At least 100 gunmen were killed and 18 were captured by the kibbutz’s security detachment and Israeli soldiers who later arrived on the scene.
Yuval Haran (37) was woken up at 6.30am, along with everyone else, when sirens sounded after Hamas fired hundreds of rockets out of Gaza, coinciding with the first incursions by militants, on motorcycles and pickup trucks, into Israel.
Rocket attacks are a regular occurrence for the Gaza periphery communities but soon residents heard gunfire and by 7am Be’eri members’ WhatsApp messages said terrorists were inside the kibbutz, going from house to house, shooting and setting homes on fire. Entire families were wiped out: some were shot and others died from the flames or suffocated from the smoke. Many families held out for as long as possible in safe rooms but decided to make a run for it before they suffocated to death. Most were shot or captured by the waiting militants.
Yuval’s father was shot dead. His mother, sister and seven other relatives were taken hostage to Gaza. His mother and sister and her children were set free in the hostage release in November – in which Emily Hand was also freed.
“We don’t care about politics. We don’t seek revenge,” Haran told reporters last week. “I just want my family back. Many hostages from Be’eri were murdered in captivity. We still have three hostages in Gaza and we believe we can save them: my brother-in-law Tal Shoham and also Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi. These are civilian hostages and they’ve been there a year. The most important thing is to bring them back. After that we can talk about everything else.”
The members of Be’eri who survived relocated to a Dead Sea hotel. Ahead of the new school year, most families recently moved again to kibbutz Hatzerim, where a new neighbourhood was built for them close to Beersheva, a 45-minute drive from Be’eri. The arrangement is temporary and the plan is to move back to Be’eri in two years’ time, if the members vote in favour.
Haram is still not sure if he will be able to return. “I don’t know because for me I’m still living in October 7th. I still can’t plan for the future. I’m just trying to save Tal.”
Every one of the Be’eri members who survived the Hamas attack was deeply traumatised, having lost family members or close friends, often murdered in front of them. Kibbutzim are small, close-knit communities: everyone knows everyone else. The members have undergone therapy and counselling but the ongoing anguish of the hostages in Gaza hasn’t helped the recovery process.
Ayelet Hakim (56), the sister-in-law of hostage Ohad Ben Ami, spent 17 hours in her safe room on October 7th with her husband and two children, aged 12 and five, without food or water. Hamas gunmen were in her house for most of the time and it was thanks to her husband, who held the handle of the safe room closed for almost the entire time, that the family survived. The attackers tried and failed a few times to force the door.
The dozen or so members of the kibbutz security detachment bravely engaged the marauding gunmen but were hopelessly outnumbered. A van of police officers and even a few soldiers managed to reach Be’eri during the day but they were no match for the hundreds of militants. Only in the evening did the Israeli army manage to regain control of the roads, enabling significant reinforcements to reach Be’eri and the other besieged kibbutzim along the border, to engage the militants and reach the terrified residents.
“All we wanted was for somebody to come and free us but they didn’t come,” Ayelet Hakim says. It wasn’t until 1am that soldiers reached the Hakim home and safely extracted the family. “When they took us out of our safe room, our kibbutz was in ruins,” she says. “It was a war zone all around us. There were bodies on the ground, cars and houses burned.”
Hakim’s sister and brother-in-law were kidnapped. Her sister was freed in the hostage exchange 54 days later but Ohad Ben Ami remains in captivity.
Danny Majzner (63) was born in Australia but spent most of his life in Be’eri. His sister was murdered there on October 7th. For him the most important message from that day is that Israel should not underestimate its enemies.
“I think nurturing Hamas, as the [Israeli] government did, was wrong. Thinking that Hamas would not have the power, nor the leadership nor the technology to do what they did. We have to treat our enemies who live around us and seek to destroy us more seriously,” he says. “Don’t feed them with the Qatari money and all the humanitarian aid.”
Be’eri residents are divided over what to do with the destroyed and burnt-out homes that are still standing. Some want to keep them standing as a memorial. Others dread the prospect of busloads of visitors coming at weekends to visit the site of the massacre when the Be’eri community will be trying to get their lives back together and seeking some closure.
The veterans from Be’eri recount how in the past they used to eat hummus in Gaza and visit the beach. Those days will never return and it is doubtful if Israel will ever allow Gazans to enter Israel to work. The majority of members believed in coexistence and some prominent peace activists lived in Be’eri, notably Vivian Silver, who was among those murdered on October 7th.
For some members of Be’eri, October 7th ended the dream of coexistence with their Palestinian neighbours forever. Others still cling to that dream. “I believe all we have to do is speak to each other,” says Ayelet Hakim. “I believe peace is still possible.”
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