Kibbutz attacked by Hamas is now a base for Israeli troops massing along the Gaza border

The roads around Re’im in southern Israel, 5km from the Gaza border, are mostly deserted except for military vehicles and press cars with “TV” taped on their sides. The kibbutzim and towns in the surrounding area bore the brunt of the devastating attack orchestrated by the militant Islamist group Hamas on October 7th, which killed an estimated 1,400 people.

At an air-raid shelter by a bus stop, Moshe Malaya is combing through the blackened clothes and belongings of people who took cover there during the attack. “The body has holiness,” says Malaya, a volunteer with Zaka, a network of Jewish faith-based rescue units in Israel.

“When a person dies we are obligated to keep the body dignified and handled with respect,” he says. “So, if there are any body parts – hair, or even clothes with blood on them – we collect everything.” DNA tests will then be run to identify who the parts belong to and if there is a match, they will be buried with the body.

Nearby, in Kibbutz Be’eri, 10 per cent of the 1,100-strong community are estimated to have been killed by Hamas militants. The survivors, along with other residents living near the Gaza border, have been moved to safer parts of Israel. One resident, Thomas Hand, who is originally from Dún Laoghaire told The Irish Times this week that he had not yet been able to bury the body of his eight-year-old daughter Emily, who was killed by Hamas while on a sleepover at Kibbutz Be’eri.

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Before the October 7th attack, Kibbutz Be’eri was a liberal enclave with residents including peace activist Vivian Silver. Now, Silver remains unaccounted for and is believed to have been either killed or taken to Gaza; meanwhile, inside the kibbutz, the focus has shifted to an anticipated ground invasion of Gaza, the Palestinian enclave controlled by Hamas. Tens of armoured vehicles and hundreds of troops have amassed at the kibbutz as it becomes a staging point for a possible land strike.

Lt Col Amnon Shelfler, a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces, tells journalists that Hamas has launched 6,000 rockets at Israel since the outbreak of the war; rockets have killed people, and one that hits a home puts a family in great danger, he says.

“We will fight against Hamas and bring about their destruction because that is the way to protect civilians – both Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” he adds. “Hamas for many years has deliberately put its arms and its command and control centres within the civilian population ... We have told the Palestinian people to move to the south of Gaza so thatthey can be safe when we need to act against these horrific terrorists.”

Major Diamond, another IDF spokesman, who did not provide his first name, says the Israeli troops stationed along the Gaza border are ready for a ground invasion if they get “the green light” from the government.

Although the Israeli public seems primed for a ground invasion, not all citizens support a continuation of the bloody conflict.

Dvora Rozkin (65) and Amir Rozkin (66), from the Kabbalah centre in Tel Aviv, are distributing copies of Zohar, a foundational text for the mystical offshoot of Judaism, to soldiers at Kibbutz Be’eri. Dvora explains that the book is full of “ancient spiritual wisdom” and that its most important lesson is “love your neighbour”.

The Israeli couple is “against violence, in whatever form”, and started distributing Kabbalah texts in frontline areas during the first major Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation in 1987. Amir says some Israelis reject their message: “Some people say: we don’t believe in this thing, we believe in guns.”