2023-11-30 04:00:07
“They destroyed everything… It’s a very difficult time for me.”
Be’eri kibbutz member Alon Pauker stands between the wreckage of his home and the destruction of his community, wondering how to rebuild his shattered home and life.
One hundred residents were murdered by Hamas terrorists in Be’eri in October 7 attack — almost one in every ten kibbutz members — and at least 30 have disappeared, presumably kidnapped.
Nearly two months after the attack, the empty remains of homes and the burned wreckage of cars littered the community. Bloodstains covered the floors and walls of some houses; others were half destroyed, devastated by fire. Safe room doors were pierced by gunfire.
More than 40 residential buildings — almost a quarter of those on the kibbutz — have substantial structural damage.
The psychological damage to Alon Pauker and the surviving residents is much deeper. They are still at the beginning of processing the nightmare they faced.
Many had spouses, children or grandparents killed by Hamas snipers who invaded their homes. In some homes, entire families were massacred or kidnapped.
Anyone who visited the kibbutz before October 7 would have found scenes reminiscent of an adventure park: toys, bicycles and balls left by children throughout a maze of gardens and paths that crisscrossed the kibbutz.
There were many places where children could have played hide and seek—under terraces, in dense bushes. As the attack unfolded, these hiding places would save lives.
“It was a green paradise before this October 7th. It became a dark hell on that Saturday. And we will rebuild it as a green paradise, but we need time and the condition [mental]Pauker said.
Be’eri is about 2 km from Gaza. The kibbutz is now empty of residents. They were evacuated, many to hotels on the Dead Sea coast.
“I try to remember this place as it was. […] But of course every point here reminds us of what happened. We feel the guilt. We see the houses. We know each house. Every member who died. So, for me… It’s tearing me apart”, he says.
Like many Israelis, whose sense of security has been shattered by the attacks, Pauker wanted to know how Hamas terrorists were able to so completely breach Israel’s border defenses and how this can be prevented from happening again.
The shelters in the kibbutz homes, as in other communities attacked on October 7, were built to protect residents from rockets from Gaza — not from a ground attack by dozens of heavily armed extremists. But Pauker still wants to return.
“Physically, we can easily restore. As a community, we are strong enough to be here. We will come back, but we will need a very secure border to do so.”
Regarding Israel’s ground and air attack on Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ terrorist acts last month, in which some 1,200 people were killed and another 240 taken hostage, Pauker, while lamenting the loss of civilians, saw no other choice .
“Hamas doesn’t care about civilians… It doesn’t care about human beings. So we have no choice. I’m not happy, but we have no choice.”
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