Several residents of Holit, a Gaza border kibbutz devastated on October 7, 2023, have returned before the community’s official comeback planned for August. The article follows people who say the decision was not whether to come back, but when, as reconstruction work advances across the kibbutz and new families also move in.
Roni Levy, who was alone in her home when militants broke in, described waking at 6:30 a.m. on October 7 to gunfire near her house. She locked herself in the reinforced room, hid under a bed, heard attackers enter at 7:16 a.m., and texted her sisters, “I love you, bye.” After explosions, destruction and arson in her home, a neighbor rescued her around 9 a.m. and the IDF evacuated her later that afternoon. She said she saw bodies on the road and burned cars and motorcycles outside the kibbutz. Levy returned in January and is waiting for a new house to be built, saying, “I survived. I came home. Joy wins.”
Tanya Reitsin, widow of police officer Michael Reitsin, said he fought to help others during the attack, drawing militants away from the residential area and later helping near their home. She said the psychological wounds worsened over time, and Michael died by suicide at their Holit home on February 12, 2025, 16 months after the massacre. On June 9, 2026, after 976 days, she returned with her sons, saying they needed to rebuild together in their own house after nearly three years of uncertainty.
Elie Kabuli, who runs the kibbutz juicing factory, said returning was only a matter of timing, not principle. After moving among several temporary locations, he came back in December 2025 and said the factory resumed partial work by the end of 2023 and full activity in early 2024, helped by a major German customer who increased orders. The kibbutz is also expanding and renovating its dining hall, cattle barn, cultural buildings, community spaces and children’s areas. Kibbutz manager Yoav Bukai said Holit is “a home, a community and a way of life,” and that its return is part of the recovery of the entire Gaza border region and the country.
