Five communities on the Gaza border bore the brunt of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacres, and surviving residents face wrenching choices about whether and when to return.
RUHAMA, Israel — As hundreds of Hamas militants rampaged through her community two years ago, Noa hid in the safe room of her home and opened a map of Israel, scanning it for a place to relocate if her young family came out of the massacre alive.
“Where do we live if we survive this?” she recalled asking her husband, his body pushed against the door of their anti-rocket safe room while she kept their 3-year-old son watching cartoons on her phone, hoping it would drown out the noise of constant gunfire and gunmen shouting.
