The southernmost beach on Israel’s Mediterranean coast, Zikim, is expected to reopen next week to the public for the first time since the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, subject to security conditions.
Currently designated a closed military zone, the beach’s scheduled reopening was postponed due to the resumption of the war in the Gaza Strip.
“The renewal of the beach is part of our commitment to restoring the area to a thriving life,” said Aviad Friedman, the head of Israel’s Tekuma Directorate, according to Ynet. “Its reopening embodies our clear statement: We are here—to recover and grow. We will work to rebuild the area, with the belief that precisely in the places that have suffered the most severe blows, we will build a new, safer and much better future,” he added.
The Tekuma Directorate was established in the wake of Hamas’s devastating assault, with the aim of rehabilitating the region.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists murdered 19 beachgoers at Zikim, 10 at the beach and nine others in a nearby shelter.
According to the Israel Defense Forces all 16 terrorists involved in the killings at the beach were later eliminated, including two who managed to return to the Palestinian enclave.