Join our Community
Support ToI and remove all ads
Learn more

ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 532

Gaza border communities

A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli army tank stationed on a hill overlooking northern Gaza on February 12, 2025. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
February 23, 2025, 11:56 pm
IDF raises readiness along Gaza border, while ending civilian restrictions in north
Ramped-up preparedness on Gazan front comes amid talk of possible return to fighting, but not in response to concrete threat near border; no changes to instructions for civilians
By Emanuel Fabian
Marcelle Taljah, seen with her new granddaughter on October 6, a day before she was murdered. (Courtesy)
February 19, 2025, 5:42 pm
Government urged to recognize as orphans those who lost sole living parent on Oct. 7
Law currently grants significant compensation to people of all ages if both parents are victims of hostile act; group says for some 60 people, their only parent was killed by Hamas
By Sue Surkes
A newly renovated library at the Sdot Negev Regional Council in southern Israel. (Tekuma Directorate)
February 17, 2025, 6:43 am
Rebuilding, renewing: Directorate details billions in funds for Gaza border communities
Report marking 500 days since Hamas onslaught says residents of Kerem Shalom, Re’im, likely to go home by end of March, Nirim by end of April, Nahal Oz by end of July
By Sue Surkes
Haredi men protest and clash with police against the ultra-Orthodox draft on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
February 13, 2025, 2:50 pm
Daily Briefing Feb. 13: Day 496 – Likud lawmakers push toward Haredi draft
Political correspondent Sam Sokol reviews political shifts on Haredi military service; environment reporter Sue Surkes reports on Jewish Climate Trust and rebuilding in the south
By Jessica Steinberg, Sue Surkes and Sam Sokol
President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal pay their respects on October 9, 2024 at a memorial to five security team members who fell fighting Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, at Moshav Mivtachim, close to the Gaza border in southern Israel. (Maayan Toaf / GPO)
February 12, 2025, 7:02 am
Just 138 yards too far from the Gaza border, towns are denied post-Oct. 7 state support
As their immediate neighbors receive rehabilitation funds from the national Tekuma Directorate, four communities are suffering the same effects from the war, without the support
By Sue Surkes
Moira Dror looks out over Netiv Ha’asara, with northern Gaza just a few dozen yards behind her, January 30, 2025. (Jeremy Sharon / The Times of Israel)
January 31, 2025, 5:14 am
Trepidation and resilience in southern Israel as hostages, terrorists, Gazans go home
Residents of western Negev worry about security after ceasefire with Hamas but are defiant in their will to stay. ‘I’m not giving Hamas that victory,’ says Netiv Ha’asara resident
By Jeremy Sharon
Cafe Otef-Re’im is the flagship in a growing chain that honors and benefits communities ravaged by the October 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities. (Deborah Danan/ JTA)
December 16, 2024, 5:03 am
Cafe chain launched by and for Oct. 7 survivors is expanding to more cities
Named for the Gaza border region, Cafe Otef employs people affected by the massacre and sources products like cheeses, honey, jams and specialty cakes from devastated kibbutzim
By Deborah Danan
Model for building complex around Kibbutz Kfar Aza. (Courtesy of Elad Gutman)
November 13, 2024, 9:04 pm
Kibbutz Kfar Aza joins Reches Real Estate to build a new NIS 250m industrial site
The 42,000 square-meter industrial complex is expected to be rented out to offices, businesses and industry and will create jobs for returning residents of Gaza border communities
By Sharon Wrobel
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visits a home in Nir Oz destroyed in Hamas's October 7, 2023, onslaught, in an image from the visit provided jointly by Smotrich's office and Nir Oz, November 12, 2024. (Courtesy)
November 12, 2024, 11:39 pm
In first, Smotrich visits Oct. 7-ravaged Nir Oz, says he feels ‘responsibility, guilt’
Finance minister meets with former hostages, relatives of those still captive during tour of destroyed community; former Gush Katif rabbi urges him to speak up for the hostages
By Michael Bachner and ToI Staff
Volunteers work with donated building materials on November 5, 2024, as part of a Brothers and Sisters in Arms project to renovate 16 homes for young people damaged when Hamas terrorists invaded Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)
November 6, 2024, 4:32 pm
Outpacing state, Brothers in Arms becomes 1st to renovate homes damaged on October 7
Nonprofit takes on project initiated by grandson of murdered Kibbutz Kfar Aza co-founder, who says ‘no need to wait for the state’ with volunteers lining up to help
By Sue Surkes
Father Patrick Desbois visits site of Hamas massacre at Kibbutz Be'eri for the one-year commemoration of the October 7, 2023, attacks, October 2024 (B'nai B'rith International)
October 26, 2024, 4:17 am
Pioneering genocide researcher Father Desbois denounces mass murder charges against Israel
French-Catholic priest behind ‘Holocaust by Bullets’ investigations visits Gaza border communities, decries anti-Israel ‘propaganda’ and pushes for trials for Hamas terrorists
By Matt Lebovic
An undated picture of temporary housing being built at Kibbutz Hatzerim in southern Israel for residents of Kibbutz Be'eri. (Tekuma Authority)
October 11, 2024, 5:17 am
Tekuma Administration reports spending NIS 6.4b on Gaza border reconstruction this year
Authority waiting for government to release over NIS 2 billion of this sum as local mayors appeal to Finance Ministry and PM’s office, fearing program cuts in 2025 budget
By Sue Surkes
A ceremony at Netiv Ha'asara on October 6, 2024, commemorating the 20 residents who were slain by Hamas on October 7, 2023 (Shalom Yerushalmi / Times of Israel)
October 7, 2024, 1:09 pm
One year on, depths of despair and mountains of hope in the Gaza border communities
On the first anniversary of the October 7 massacre, residents of the ‘Gaza envelope’ mourn their dead while pledging to rebuild a better, safer home
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Batsheva Yahalomi in front of her Kibbutz Nir Oz home on September 30, 2024, where she, her husband and three children were grabbed by terrorists on October 7, 2023. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
October 6, 2024, 6:26 am
A year after Oct. 7, Kfar Aza and Nir Oz are mostly empty, with residents in anguish
Survivors return briefly to visit their homes, sift through wreckage and shake their heads in disbelief that loved ones are still held hostage in Gaza
By Jessica Steinberg
Emeritus Prof. Haim Rabinowitch with his potatoes at a Negev observation plot in southern Israel. (Ore Eldan, Rumafeed)
September 19, 2024, 9:58 pm
Kibbutz ravaged on Oct. 7 looks to renewal through gene-edited potatoes and tomatoes
As the southern community mourns its losses, Holit is set to trial a potato whose natural toxins have been gene-edited out and a tomato that grows semi-dried on the bush
By Sue Surkes
Load More
Sign in or Register
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Or Continue with
By registering you agree to the terms and conditions
Register to continue
Or Continue with
Log in to continue
Sign in or Register
I forgot my password / Send me a sign in link
Or Continue with
check your email
Check your email
We sent an email to you at .
It has a link that will sign you in.
Never miss breaking news on Israel
Get notifications to stay updated
You're subscribed
image
Register for free
and continue reading
Registering also lets you comment on articles and helps us improve your experience. It takes just a few seconds.
Already registered? Enter your email to sign in.
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Or Continue with
By registering you agree to the terms and conditions. Once registered, you’ll receive our Daily Edition email for free.
Register to continue
Or Continue with
Log in to continue
Sign in or Register
I forgot my password / Send me a sign in link
Or Continue with
check your email
Check your email
We sent an email to you at .
It has a link that will sign you in.