It will be a long and painful road to recovery for the kibbutzim that were devastated in Hamas’ deadly and destructive attacks on October 7, 2023.

But the collectives that have embodied Israel’s pioneering spirit for over a century are determined to emerge bigger, better, stronger and safer.

Some of those on the southwest border – within sight of the fence that was breached by thousands of Gazan terrorists – suffered unspeakable losses.

Many hundreds of people were murdered at Be’eri, Nahal Oz, Nir Oz, Kfar Aza, Nirim, Alumim and Re’im, near the Supernova festival.

And more than 100 kibbutz residents were abducted and taken to Gaza. Sixteen months on, 40 remain there, out of the 73 hostages still in captivity.

But the message from the Kibbutz Movement, representing the vast majority of Israel’s 283 kibbutzim, is one of hope and resilience in spite of everything.

In spite of the tens of thousands of members and their families who have been displaced from kibbutzim in the Gaza envelope, and in the north, where constant rocket attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon have made life dangerous.

And in spite of the wrecked homes, the burned orchards, the slaughtered or traumatized livestock, the fire damage, the bullet holes . . . and the haunting memories.

“We need to get everyone back to their homes and we need to rebuild the kibbutzim stronger. The areas in the north and in the south need to grow,” said Neri Shotan, CEO of the Kibbutz Movement Rehabilitation Fund.

There are some kibbutz members (kibbutznikim) who simply can’t face going back to the place where their friends or relatives were killed or abducted.

Motivated to rebuild

But Shotan says he has a waiting list of 2,000 people who want to make new lives for themselves in the 22 southern kibbutzim close to Gaza. They’re planning to relocate despite, or even because of, what happened. 

In a word, because they are Zionists, says Shotan.

That was what motivated the first kibbutznikim, a small group of Eastern Europeans who established Degania Alef near the Sea of Galilee back in 1910. And it’s what will motivate a new generation of kibbutznikim to rebuild.

“In Nir Oz, there were only six houses in the whole kibbutz that were not damaged,” says Shotan. “We think it will cost about 500 million shekels [$140 million] to rebuild.

“It will cost about 100 million shekels [$28 million] to rebuild Manara [in the north, 100 meters from the Lebanon border] where three-quarters of the houses have been destroyed, 200 million shekels [$56 million] to rebuild Be’eri [where 132 people were killed and 32 taken hostage], about 100 million shekels [$28 million] to rebuild Nirim and about 250 million shekels [$70 million] to rebuild Kfar Aza.”

Massive volunteer response

Shotan was speaking ahead of the Kibbutz Movement’s first ever online reunion, on February 16, for some of the hundreds of thousands of people who have spent time over the decades as kibbutz volunteers.

Since the October 7 attack, a flood of 20,000 volunteers from around the world have come to help. Among them was a group from Germany who arrived last summer to rebuild the devastated kindergarten at Kibbutz Nirim.

“Throughout the past 15 months, we have been working to help kibbutz members get through this difficult period as best we can,” said Shotan. 

He ran the movement’s political division until 6pm on October 7, when he was tasked with managing the emergency response for the 400,000 men, women and children who live (or lived) on kibbutzim.

“At first we dealt with emergencies like getting shoes for the children who ran barefoot to escape, or laundry, or temporary cemeteries,” he said.

“Then we moved from emergency to rehabilitation, how to maintain the communities and how to take care of the people outside of the communities.”

Families divided

Kibbutzim in the south were mostly evacuated en masse, but those in the north ended up divided, with members and their families in different hotels, sometimes even in different cities. 

Members of Kibbutz Dafna, for example, were put in eight hotels — some in Tiberias, others in Akko, 40 miles away.

In practical terms, the adults have had to cope with being away not only from their homes but from their jobs. Most of them no longer work on the kibbutz farm or in its factory. But even those working outside the kibbutzim still pool their earnings.

The youngsters have also had it tough, with more disruption to their schooling, on top of the years already lost to Covid.

“We are helping the kibbutzim to maintain their educational systems,” said Shotan. “Among more and more youngsters, aged let’s say 13 to 16 or 17, there’s an increasing use of drugs and alcohol, and vandalism. So we’re building the infrastructure in order to bring those youth and children on track again.”

‘We will move back’

Adele Raemer, a survivor from Nirim, told virtual visitors to the reunion that her kibbutz was “95 percent heaven” until the morning of October 7, when Hamas terrorists swarmed through the Gaza border fence, just 2km away. They murdered eight kibbutz members and took five hostages, two of whom they later killed in the tunnels. 

Raemer has no idea how she survived. She said she heard voices in Arabic as she hid in her safe room, then she heard windows being smashed. She and her son said their last goodbyes to each other. Then, inexplicably, the terrorists disappeared.

“When it is safe enough for us to be able to go back, and the army allows it, we will move back home to a beautiful kibbutz — bigger, better, safer and stronger than ever before,” she said.

“But we will not be able to truly begin healing until all of our innocent hostages are returned home, when the living can heal in the loving arms of their families and the dead can be buried in our land.”