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Gaza border communities

Children arrive for their first day of the new school year at Shahar Eshkol Elementary School in the Eshkol Regional Council, near the Gaza border in southern Israel, September 1, 2026. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)
September 1, 2026, 1:04 pm
2.6 million students return to school amid teacher shortages, systemic challenges
Over 20,000 students head to class in Gaza border towns, 9% more than in Sept. 2023; police secure Jerusalem school targeted by Haredi extremists; East Jerusalem private schools strike over restrictions on teachers from West Bank
By ToI Staff, Sue Surkes, Nurit Yohanan and Diana Bletter
A kite, apparently flown from the Gaza Strip, seen flying over Kibbutz Nahal Oz, August 22, 2026. (Social media, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
August 25, 2026, 3:27 pm
‘Outrageous’: UN slams threats from Netanyahu, Katz to evacuate Gazans over ‘children’s kites’
Israel believes the kites are being organized by Hamas, which previously used them as incendiary devices carrying flammable materials and explosives
By AFP and ToI Staff
Soldiers seen inspecting a kite, flown from the Gaza Strip, in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, August 22, 2026. (Social media, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
August 23, 2026, 1:36 am
IDF says 4 kites apparently flown from Gaza found in Nahal Oz; residents demand response
Military said to believe kites were sent by Hamas to see if and how Israel would respond; community recalls incendiary kites from 2018 even as IDF says no danger to public
By Emanuel Fabian
Israeli soldiers look around the destruction caused by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, October 15, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
August 19, 2026, 2:20 pm
KKL-JNF to invest NIS 284 million in development of southern Israel
Sum includes NIS 110m for Gaza border area; NIS 15 million will help fund Kibbutz Kfar Aza memorial plan, where Heritage Ministry tried to condition a grant on approval and veto power
By Sue Surkes
On July 28, at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, Amit Tibon will receive the 2026 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for his memoir, 'The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel's Borderlands.' (©Ofir Berman/Courtesy Stribe via JTA)
July 24, 2026, 4:26 pm
Award-winning writer Amir Tibon readies to return to kibbutz where his family survived Oct. 7
As he accepts the Sami Rohr Prize for his memoir and prepares to move back home to Nahal Oz after three years as an evacuee, the Haaretz journalist talks about what still gives him hope
By Andrew Silow-Carroll
A new neighborhood in Kibbutz Be'eri, near the Gaza border, in southern Israel. (Kibbutz Be'eri)
July 1, 2026, 5:48 pm
Gaza border communities attract 5,000 new residents amid post-Oct. 7 rehabilitation
With 92% of Kibbutz Kissufim residents returning this week, Tekuma Directorate marks 1,000 days since deadly Hamas invasion, says over 1,000 projects completed across region
By Sue Surkes
Tending the sheep at the Lahav Farm. (Keshet Ben Muvchar)
May 28, 2026, 11:48 pm
Germinated by its founder’s trauma, growing farm network cultivates healing through work
Rimon Farms Association, which harnesses nature and agriculture to help PTSD sufferers and youth at risk, is now fundraising to seed two new programs to serve Gaza border area
By Sue Surkes
Defense Minister Israel Katz speaking during a ceremony returning a stone from the Western Wall that had been kept at HaKirya military base, to the Davidson Center in the Old City of Jerusalem, May 4, 2026. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
May 27, 2026, 12:37 am
Katz said to reverse security funding cuts for Gaza border communities, after backlash
Reported decision comes after local leaders and security coordinators warned the cuts would severely undermine safety of frontline towns
By Stav Levaton and ToI Staff
A new neighborhood in Kibbutz Be'eri, near the Gaza border, in southern Israel. (Kibbutz Be'eri)
May 4, 2026, 2:23 pm
Survey finds fewer than 25% of Gaza border residents feel safe, 40% don’t trust state
But progress report by Tekuma Directorate, at halfway mark of five-year term, finds rising life satisfaction, optimism about future
By Sue Surkes
An undated photo showing destruction caused by Hamas terrorists when they infiltrated Kibbutz Nirim on October 7, 2023, near the Israel-Gaza border, southern Israel. (Kibbutz Movement Rehabilitation Fund)
April 9, 2026, 7:30 pm
Gaza border kibbutz redirects donations to help war-torn north
‘We feel what our brothers and sisters in the north are going through,’ says Kibbutz Nirim, which lost seven residents on October 7
By Sue Surkes
Illustrative: An empty classroom at a school in Safed, northern Israel, on August 31, 2025. (David Cohen/Flash90)
March 15, 2026, 6:48 pm
Several cities keep schools shut despite revised guidelines allowing them to reopen
Ashkelon, Ariel and Dimona decide conditions are not yet suitable to reopen their education systems, though the Home Front Command designated them as areas at lower risk
By Rossella Tercatin
A reinforced door is seen in the safe room of Shlomo and Hanna’le Margalit in Kibbutz Nir Oz on September 26, 2024. The Margalits stayed in this room for 12 hours during the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on southern Israel. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
February 26, 2026, 7:36 pm
Not waiting for state okay, 2 kibbutzim buy lockable, bulletproof doors for safe rooms
Armor-plated doors haven’t yet been approved by army for home use, but opting for survival over protocol, Nahal Oz and Kerem Shalom install them behind existing blast-resistant doors
By Sue Surkes
Family and friends attend a funeral at Kibbutz Nir Oz, in southern Israel, on October 23, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
February 10, 2026, 6:27 pm
Red tape, lack of coordination, delaying Gaza border rehab, state comptroller finds
Audit says funds sitting unused or going to waste due to bureaucracy, failure to consult with locals; state also criticized for not helping those looking to start over elsewhere
By Sue Surkes
People walk past a poster by artist TVBOY depicting President Donald Trump wearing a construction worker outfit and holding a placard reading in Spanish: My Gaza is your Gaza, is posted on a street in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (Gregorio Borgia/AP PHOTO)
January 15, 2026, 3:17 pm
Daily Briefing Jan. 15: Day 832 – Trump wills Gaza plan forward, despite Hamas noncompliance
Zman Yisrael founding editor Biranit Goren discusses the US vis-a-vis Iran and Gaza; reporter Sue Surkes brings a Kibbutz Be’eri update, and looks at the use of feces as cattle feed
By Jessica Steinberg, Biranit Goren and Sue Surkes
The Dvori family home in Kibbutz Be'eri, southern Israel, January 13, 2026. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)
January 15, 2026, 10:17 am
Kibbutz Be’eri chooses single burned-out house to bear testimony to October 7
Home on community’s periphery belongs to the Dvori family, who were overseas when Hamas went on killing spree; other wrecked structures scheduled for demolition
By Sue Surkes
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