Kibbutz Be’eri votes to demolish all homes damaged in Oct. 7 Hamas assault, bar one

After months of debate, community decides to preserve a single house for testimony; community director, says, ‘We rebuild, remember, commemorate — and continue to live’

By Sue Surkes

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9 December 2025, 10:34 am

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Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

New housing is built on the site of slain resident Pessi Cohen's home at Kibbutz Be'eri, which was shelled by IDF tanks on October 7, 2023, as the army battled Hamas terrorists who had taken 15 hostages and barricaded themselves inside. (Kibbutz Be'eri spokesperson's office)

All homes damaged in the two worst-hit neighborhoods of Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza border will be demolished, save for a single house that will remain as a memorial to the destruction and bloodshed of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, the community announced Monday.

The house will initially remain standing for five years. The kibbutz did not specify which home will be preserved.

Ofer Gitai, Be’eri’s community director, said, “Between the desire to move forward and the obligation to leave testimony for future generations, we have chosen a path that allows for both.”

The decision followed months of discussion, consultation, and community dialogue.

Gitai said the move would help “preserve the memory of the October events, in a way that respects the narrative that the community chooses for itself, and will leave it in full control of the story.”

The preserved building will form a part of the community’s testimony, along with documents, visual materials, and objects. The latter have been selected as part of a special visual history program at the Yad Ben Zvi research institute.

Out of the 1,200 people that Hamas terrorists killed along the Israeli side of the Gaza border on October 7 two years ago, 102 were residents of Kibbutz Be’eri, constituting around a tenth of the community. The gunmen also kidnapped 30 Be’eri residents to the Gaza Strip, all of whom, both alive and murdered, have since been returned.

Aerial view of Kibbutz Be’eri after the Hamas massacre, October 14, 2023. (Arik Marmor/Flash90)

A kibbutz spokeswoman told The Times of Israel that most of the 62 homes in the two neighborhoods slated for demolition were burned or damaged and that all would be pulled down, except the one to be left for testimony. There were no plans to rebuild on the site.

New construction is underway on the other, eastern side of the community, where 80 houses are being built with funding from the Tekuma Directorate, the state agency tasked with rehabilitating the Gaza border area.

Around 80 Be’eri residents have returned to the kibbutz, while most are in temporary accommodation at Kibbutz Hatzerim, also in the Negev region of southern Israel. They expect to return home next summer.

“We rebuild, remember, commemorate — and continue to live,” said Gitai.