Located on the edge of Gaza, Sderot suffered heavily from the massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in Israeli territory. A year later, the residents are back and healing their wounds.
Turn the page without forgetting. On the site of the former Sderot police station, huge columns now occupy the space. On these stone blocks, which soberly commemorate the assault, inscriptions from the Bible, victims’ testimonies and references to Israeli identity have been engraved in Hebrew and English. We can read the words “ Am Israel Chai », a widespread expression of belonging to the Jewish people and its continuity.
“We are preparing the final installations for the commemoration of October 7,” says Duty Dror Leida, the project manager. “The place was not chosen by chance. Indeed, in this police station, a fierce battle broke out [ce jour-là] between our police officers and Hamas terrorists, he says. We used the ruins of the police station destroyed during the attack to make this installation, and we will present the story of each citizen of Sderot killed on October 7. »
Dror Leida says to himself “ proud to participate in such a project. “It’s crucial to preserve the memory of this terrible day.”
Traumatized city
One year ago today, in the morning, Palestinian armed groups acting under the leadership of Hamas carried out numerous coordinated attacks on several Gaza border communities. Sderot paid a heavy price. Several residents were killed and a deadly battle broke out between Palestinian fighters and city police officers. Israel, surprised, delays sending reinforcements to Sderot. Seventy residents lost their lives, including twenty police officers.
A stone’s throw from the old police station, the Animal-Assisted Therapy Center offers consultations, advice and training to children and families to enable them to continue their daily lives despite the security situation. This public institution was established in 2021, two years before October 7, because, for several years, Sderot has been the target of Hamas rockets. Naama, a psychologist in the center, assures that the population of Sderot “experienced a series of traumas for a long time, because of these rockets. The residents are resilient, but October 7 was a real shock. So we work to help people recover from this terrible injury. »
On a facade in the city center, a giant mural representing the police station on fire is drawn. “I remember it as if it were yesterday,” confides Marco, 65, a resident of Sderot. We heard gunshots, looked out the window and saw Hamas terrorists coming down the street. »
“They were heading towards the police station,” he said, his gaze unchanging. We barricaded ourselves in the house, and we waited. We stayed locked up for three days. Every minute seemed like an eternity. »
Return of residents
After the attack, Marco left Sderot with his family. “I was relocated to Tel Aviv, in a hotel paid for by the government. But Tel Aviv… he says, letting out a cynical laugh, it’s not a city for me. I didn’t feel at home. So, I came back in March. »
Like Marco, around 90% of Sderot’s approximately 27,000 residents left their town in the days following the October 7 massacre. Despite the psychological injuries, almost all of them have been back for five months. “We came back when Hamas stopped sending rockets,” says Mordecai, 45 years old.
Since last spring, Hamas has been reduced to a minimal threat. Its rockets, which frightened Sderot for years, stopped falling on the city. The warning system, Tzeva Adom (“red color”), which warns residents of the arrival of rockets ten to fifteen seconds before impact, is still functional in the event of new missiles. And nearly 7,000 armed men today ensure order in the city, police officers, but also IDF soldiers.
“There is a lot more security than before October 7,” assures Avichai, 51, manager of an ice cream parlor. Sitting on the terrace of his establishment, he claims to be “satisfied with the action of the Netanyahu government”. The city of Sderot is a historic Likud stronghold [droite]the party of Benjamin Netanyahu. Despite the security failures of October 7, the majority of residents continue to support the Prime Minister and his military action in Gaza, despite reports about the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave. For Avichai, “Bibi [Nétanyahou] restored order. People are confident in Sderot. The Hamas threat is almost eradicated. »
Relaunch the economy
The population is returning, but the economy is unstable. Already, before October 7, 2023, the city was struggling to attract investors and brains from the country. The massacre and the crossing of the desert for several months dealt a further blow to the dynamism of Sderot. Ben Friedman, director of the company Nature Growth, an incubator of start-ups Israeli, is trying to reverse this trend. “We launched Nature Growth to attract start-ups who work in agriculture. We were supposed to open in mid-October 2023. Obviously, the project was put on hold, but we will relaunch it by the end of the year,” he assures. Objective: “Attract foreign investors to this city which is known to be unstable because of the situation in Gaza. »
The premises are modern, with an open area and a café, with walls covered in fake plants, to attract educated youth. In the common area, pieces of missiles and a bulletproof vest dating from October 7 remind us of the day of horror. “They are there to remind us of what we have been through. »
For Ben Friedman, the return of dynamism to Sderot is “fundamental” to “recover from what happened”. “The Sderot region is the most important center of agricultural production in the country. This is colossal for Israel’s economy. »
But the entrepreneur is today “pessimistic” because of the outbreak of a new war in Lebanon. “The situation is calm in Sderot, but as long as Israel is at war anywhere, we will have difficulty attracting foreign investors, and Sderot will pay the price. »