'Evacuating was a mistake': Israelis push to return to border homes - BBC News

Israel's government is under pressure to let people return to communities in the north and south.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsIsrael-Gaza warImage source, ReutersImage caption, Ayelet Kohn and Shachar Shnurman are the first to return to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which was destroyed in the Hamas attackBy Lucy WilliamsonMiddle East correspondent. reporting across IsraelAyelet Kohn and Shachar Shnurman harvested the grapefruits this month - a defiant act of normality amid the burnt-out remains of their neighbours' homes.

The juice, sharp and vivid, is stored in plastic bottles for the weekly barbecues at their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Soldiers are their only guests.

Kfar Aza - only 2km (1.2 miles) from Gaza - was one of the first places targeted by Hamas gunmen on 7 October, in co-ordinated attacks that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel, and saw more than 240 others taken hostage.

In the days that followed, the community was evacuated to hotels and apartments in other parts of Israel.

Ayelet and Shachar are the first to move back.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68338551

---