franceinfo met some of the former inhabitants of the regions near the Gaza Strip, attacked by Hamas on October 7. Since then, they have been accommodated in luxury hotels on the shores of the Dead Sea.
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The war between Israel and Hamas has entered its third month. The conflict is taking hold for a duration never before reached in the region. For these tens of thousands of inhabitants of the regions close to the Gaza Strip attacked by Hamas on October 7 who were urgently rehoused, in entire villages, in luxury hotels on the shores of the Dead Sea, the time seems long. This is the case, for example, in the seaside resort of Ein Bokek.
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“The dead sea? No I do not like“, Louis slices. Despite theluxury hotel in one of Israel’s most popular vacation destinations, he will always prefer his kibbutz of Be’eri. “First it’s too hot, and then the hotel is very good for three nights and four days, but there, two months, it’s like a prison !” Louis comes from one of the villages most damaged by the attacks of October 7. He explains that everyone here, on the ocher sand and in the oily water of the Dead Sea, carries a terrible and traumatized history. Shoshie, for example, had to flee, without her husband but with two children, the town of Sderot, very close to Gaza. “It’s really not a vacation here”she confirms, but she “don’t know[t] not“if she will be able to return home:”For the moment no. If they really clean Gaza properly, then yes…”
“It’s very scary to go back now, after the trauma we suffered. They killed a lot there, a lot…”
Soshie, Israeli refugee from Sderotfranceinfo
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Shoshie speaks to franceinfo on the way to school where she is picking up her son. An improvised establishment in a few days, on land next to the beach, for 170 children from CP to 4th grade, and led by Eyal. “No, this is definitely not a normal schoolhe believes. We have students who have lost brothers, parents, friends. Even in the teaching team.” And then there are the children taken hostage by Hamas. “Their classmates are our students here. It was very difficult for some to study while their friends were hostages in Gaza. Now we hope that former hostages will come to study here, but it will take a little time“, breathes Eyal.
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“We’re waiting, we’re waiting…”
“We are preparing to welcome the children until next summer”, concludes the director. However, this is not really what the displaced people of the Dead Sea are hoping for: “We wait, we wait…”sighs Baruch, sitting on a bench in front of his hotel. “We don’t feel like we’re in a hotel, we feel like refugees all the time. The 1er November, they said it would be finished on the 15th, now they say end of December. I hope the war will end.” For the future, Baruch has already made his decision: “Fear has entered my house, we no longer want to return to live in Sderot.” After the Dead Sea, he and his wife will take an apartment near Tel Aviv.