Demolitions started on Sunday in the Olive neighborhood of Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza border, one of two neighborhoods worst affected by the Hamas invasion of October 7, 2023.

Be’eri was one of the hardest-hit communities during the attack. Of the over 1,200 people killed when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, 102 were residents of Be’eri — around a 10th of the community. Thirty more people were kidnapped from the kibbutz and taken to Gaza (all of whom have since been returned, whether alive or dead).

Residents long debated what to do with the houses. Ultimately, kibbutz members felt that demolishing and rebuilding the two neighborhoods — leaving just one house standing as a stark testament to the horrors of October 7 — rather than living in a perpetual monument to the devastating attack, was crucial in allowing them to move on.

In January, the kibbutz selected the house that would remain, a month after residents voted to demolish all but one of the homes destroyed during the Hamas onslaught.

The burned-out house belongs to Yogev and Yael Dvori, who were in Cyprus with their four children at the time of the attack. The........

© The Times of Israel