Kibbutz Be’eri has decided to keep as is one of the homes burned in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on southern Israel as a testimony to the horrors of the worst single-day attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
The move by the community, located five miles from the Gaza Strip, to move on and demolish the rest of the homes destroyed in the attack is opposed by some bereaved families, but is seen as an attempt to move on and rebuild.
The house selected is on the edge of the community and belongs to a family that was abroad at the time of the terrorist invasion.
“My position was that we should destroy everything and leave no trace, not turn the kibbutz into Auschwitz or a pilgrimage site for visitors,” owner Yogev Dvori told Ynet. “Simply erase everything and commemorate beloved people, not buildings.”
The Dvoris, who have not yet moved back to Be’eri, plan to return to a new house currently under construction.
After residents voted to demolish all but one of the destroyed homes, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said that he was considering designating some of them as national heritage sites.
The kibbutz was the hardest-hit community in Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught. One hundred one civilians—or nearly 10% of its residents—and 31 security personnel were murdered, and 32 hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip.
At least 100 Gazan terrorists were also killed and 18 were captured by the Israel Defense Forces and the kibbutz security force.
