Nir Oz begins long process of rebuilding from Oct. 7 attacks

Geoff Bennett:

There are many kibbutz communities that border Gaza, and many of them were attacked on October 7 by Hamas.

But one with among the highest death tolls and perhaps the greatest destruction was Nir Oz. Now, as some of its members were released just this past weekend after nearly 18 months in captivity, the community there is facing an existential question, how to rebuild and how to be reborn.

Producer Karl Bostic in Israel and Nick Schifrin have this report.

Nick Schifrin:

It must be torn down, some residents say, to rise up again.

Kibbutz Nir Oz is taking the first steps to regain what was lost, removing ruins to heal the hurt.

Ola Metzger, Nir Oz Resident:

We want to come back to Nir Oz, and we feel that you cannot start a life while living next to a cemetery, you know?

Nick Schifrin:

Ola Metzger has lived in Nir Oz for 30 years and raised her kids here. She says to give Nir Oz new life, it must be reborn.

Ola Metzger:

Something more beautiful needs to come raised from the ashes, needs to start from scratch. I think it will be more healthier for people who come back and who decide to build their lives here again.

Nick Schifrin:

On October the 7th, a tide of terror tore life here apart. No Israeli community paid a heavier price,of 400 residents, more than 40 killed, and 76 kidnapped to Gaza, including Ola Metzger's father and mother-in-law, Yoram and Tami.

She was released in 2023. He died in captivity.

Ola Metzger:

The shadow will stay in our lives forever, I think. I don't need any ruined house to remind me of that. I think my father-in-law would want that, to see this place flourishing and full of families again. I want to remember the life that was here before, and I want to celebrate that life.

And it's very hard to talk about it right now because we still have hostages in Gaza.

Nick Schifrin:

Nir Oz hostages are now part of each release just a mile-and-a-half from the kibbutz. Last Thursday, Gadi Moses with the white hair endured chaos and crowds to reach the International Committee of the Red Cross and his family after 482 days.

On Saturday, Hamas released Nir Oz residents Ofer Calderon and Yarden Bibas, but without his wife, Shiri, and their two children, Ariel and Kfir, kidnapped at just 9 months old, the youngest hostage, who spent the majority of his life in captivity. Israelis fear they have not survived.

Irit Lahav, Nir Oz Resident:

We remember the picture of her standing here under this bush with a blanket and crying.

Nick Schifrin:

Like everyone here, Irit Lahav remembers that moment like a flashbulb, the Bibas house frozen in time, Ariel and Kfir's ransacked playthings.

In the home still haunted by horror, the neighbor's house, where a woman was forced at gunpoint to watch her husband being murdered before being kidnapped herself.

Irit Lahav:

When I come out of the kibbutz, I always take a shower, a long, long, long shower, because I think about all these people who were murdered here and all the pain and sadness that was taking place here. I remember the fear I had here.

Nick Schifrin:

But she's on the other side of this community's debate. She wants to preserve the damage so the world cannot doubt or deny.

Irit Lahav:

I think some of the houses should be kept as they are, burned, because this is a very strong evidence. Nobody, nobody would be able to say that this has not happened. And what I'm worried is that if we demolish these buildings, and people will say, really? It didn't really happen. You're exaggerating. No, the house didn't burn down completely.

Nick Schifrin:

The community has yet to decide what to do with the houses that did burn to the studs with everything inside. This was once a piano.

Today, its mangled strings, its rusted frame once played by Oded Lifshitz. He was a gifted player, here performing a song that asks, will our house not be destroyed? Will our love survive?

He married Yocheved more than 60 years ago. They were abducted to Gaza together. He remains there, feared dead. She was released in November 2023 and attended the Nir Oz rebuilding ceremony with their son, Yizhar.

Yocheved Lifshitz, Released Hostage (through interpreter):

I want him to return. I hope that he returns and that everyone comes back and that he comes back healthy. And if he's not, we will take care of him.

Nick Schifrin:

The Lifshitzes were among Nir Oz's first residents. Back then, the story of Nir Oz was the story of Israel. In the mid-1950s, they considered themselves pioneers, hoping to transform uninhabited land near the Gaza Strip into an oasis and communal farm.

Ron Pauka, Nir Oz Resident:

We planted around 20,000 trees in the desert.

Nick Schifrin:

Ron Pauka is a landscape architect who helped create Nir Oz. He and the other residents held a ceremony to mark the demolition that will begin reconstruction.

They know that once again Nir Oz is the story of Israel, this time as a community whose country failed to protect them and must decide how to move on from October the 7th.

Ron Pauka:

I say it sad that we have to destroy the old houses. But it's a happy day that we're beginning the renewing of the kibbutz. I think it will be better than before.

Question:

Really?

Ron Pauka:

Yes.

Question:

Why?

Ron Pauka:

We have enough courage to rebuild it.

Ola Metzger:

It's really, really, really emotional and really mixed all together. What can we do? I don't want to be hating forever.

Nick Schifrin:

Hatred and hurt, but also hope to create a new future.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.