Plan to move October 7 roadside shelters sparks backlash over erasing massacre memory
אשכול Regional Council is weighing moving the concrete roadside shelters along Route 232 in the Gaza border area to a memorial site, likely the Re'im site where the Nova festival took place. The shelters, built to protect against rocket fire, became death traps on the morning of October 7, when terrorists murdered Israelis, mostly people fleeing the festival. Around 90 people were killed in those shelters and five were abducted, including nearly 40 partygoers who reached the shelter at the Be'eri junction, where 16 were murdered.
The shelters have since become places of pilgrimage, and that has created traffic and safety problems. Parking bays near the bus stops where they stand are often full, cars stop on the shoulder, traffic is disrupted, and pedestrians cross dangerously. Israel's National Road Safety Authority said this behavior increases the risk of crashes and suggested three responses, moving the shelters, stepped-up enforcement, or better access and parking arrangements.
Bereaved families and some of the victims' relatives strongly oppose relocation. Hila Avir, sister of Loten Avir, said the shelters are "a living reminder" of the massacre and heroism, and warned, "This is an attempt to erase the massacre." She argued they should remain in place as an open-air memorial, with new shelters added nearby and road changes or parking solutions used to improve safety. She also said the council head, Michal Uziyahu, told her about the plan and about a broader intention to create a centralized national memorial for October 7.
The matter comes as the Knesset advances a bill on commemorating the October 7 massacre, now before its second and third readings, which would establish a body under the Prime Minister's Office to handle memorialization. The IDF said the decision to remove the shelters lies with local authorities and that it would assist if they choose to move them and replace them with new shelters. The army said the existing shelters are still structurally usable despite damage and memorial items inside them. Ashkelon officials, however, said the army had presented them with different assessments stressing security and safety risks, and said no final decision has been made. Other councils said the shelter at Alumim will remain where it is, with a memorial planned nearby, while Sha'ar HaNegev gave no substantive position on the fate of the shelter at Mefalsim.
