The restoration work in one of the houses
In Ofakim, a city of about 40,000 inhabitants, on Black Saturday over fifty female civilians, civilians and members of the security and rescue forces were murdered by the Nuvaba terrorists who infiltrated the navel of the city full of hatred.
The signs from the battle waged that Saturday, early in the morning, by the residents of Ofakim and the local police forces, testify to the tremendous resourcefulness and bravery they showed, which contributed to preventing an even greater disaster.
The story of the old "Mishor Hegafen" neighborhood that suffered the worst blow and dozens of its residents were murdered, is a story of a neighborhood "of old" that woke up to hell and instantly became an army of lionesses and lions.
With great courage that will still be taught in history and battle heritage classes - the residents of Ofakim managed to save the house.
By mistake or on purpose, the terrorists damaged the old neighborhoods of Ofakim, including those whose apartments are devoid of street lights and are inhabited by people with daily hardships, single mothers, immigrants from the Soviet Union, the Caucasus, and Ethiopia, and elderly people. Anyone who tours the neighborhood 100 days after that Shabbat, will discover heroes And heroines who remain on the fringes of the news items, far from the spotlight on the surrounding kibbutzim, and still live among gunshot marks and more or less improvised commemorative corners, with a feeling that they were forgotten back then, and also the day after. Although the house of Rachel Edri ("Rachel and the Cookies") which was completely perforated, became a real brand and a focus of pilgrimage, but many other houses remained damaged and wounded, silent testimony to the horrors that took place in them.
"Since October 7, we have entered a mental state of Paris"
Here comes into the picture Yaholoma Zatot, the CEO of the "Hosan Kehilati Ofakim" association and her group of volunteers who operate the Hosan Center with determination through all the operations, rounds and crises as the "local tranquilizer" - with the aim of rehabilitating the houses and their residents, cleaning the gunshot wounds from the walls and giving the residents Resilience for a new path. "The Mishor Hagafen neighborhood was hit extremely hard.
In the past three months, the work around the residents of the neighborhood has been focused on the mental level, embracing and treating trauma," she emphasizes. "We launched the 'Embracing the Horizons' project, women from the center visited local residents to provide them with support, to hear their stories and to give hugs where the institutions did not Enter the picture and vacuum remains.
During these meetings, we carried out needs mapping, and found that there are many people who have not renovated the damaged houses."
The contractor is Nissim Khouri with Yaholoma Zeit/Relationship
"Some people have simply entered into a state of mind like Paris, the market, and stagnation since the seventh of October. They are still stuck in the trauma of that day and are not moving anything. Along with them, there are also situations of poverty and the inability to finance the necessary renovation, single mothers, people who have lost their place their work and livelihood since the outbreak of the war, etc.
Property tax does not always recognize the real needs and compensation is only given for very specific renovations that leave the surrounding trauma present," she explains. "So, for example, if a grenade is thrown and only the damaged pavement is renovated, the surrounding wall remains full of fragments, a reminder of what happened there.
Public buildings were also damaged, such as stairwells that were shot and need comprehensive rehabilitation." In addition, she elaborates, there are also specific sensitivities, such as Shush Hatuel, who lost her husband, the father of the family, in the terrorist attack, and is having difficulty recovering. In this case, it was difficult to bring in workers from the Arab sector, it was It is difficult for his widow and family members to hear the Arabic language around them, it was difficult to digest and flooded with traumas."
"to ensure that the wounds of the war will heal"
The movement to combat anti-Semitism CAM, led by Sasha Roitman-Dratva, opened a dedicated emergency fund at the beginning of the war with the aim of raising donations and helping the southern communities that were in distress.
This activity is carried out in parallel with the international advocacy work of the movement to fight the wave of hatred against Israel in the world.
After being exposed to the dismal condition of the residents of the neighborhood, Sasha located the perfect contractor for the complex and sensitive project of its rehabilitation, and according to him, "He cares about the work, but mostly about the people behind it. He does the work with all his heart. Since the war began, the CAM Philanthropy Fund has tried to reach those who fall between the cracks and invest most of our efforts in giving them hope and attention. At Ofakim, we were privileged to help families with special needs, welfare workers, small businesses, and more. Our duty is to help where others do not and to ensure that the wounds of the war heal. We are proud of our partnership with Yahaluma, the Ofakim Municipality and stakeholders There are more who support and help those who need assistance," he emphasizes.
The team of the movement for the fight against anti-Semitism in a meeting with the team of the Resilience Center in Ofakim/PR
The sensitive contractor is Nissim Khoury (58) from Ra'anana, married to an Irish woman and the father of three soldier sons: Amri, 28, of the Golani Brigade, who has not been home for 100 days, the middle son serves in the 7th Fleet and since Black Sabbath has been in ongoing operational activity, the youngest son, Eli, serves in the collection Karbi, an instructor in the military course and at the beginning of the war occupied the Tulkarm line.
Khoury, a lieutenant colonel in the reserves, led the 8173 Engineering Battalion in the Second Lebanon War, and served in the reserves until the age of 50. "When Sasha (Roitman-Dratva, CEO of the Movement to Combat Anti-Semitism) approached me with the story of the houses in Ofakim, it was clear to me that this was a complex project And after everything I've experienced so far," he says.
"I met with Yaholoma who is the head of the Community Resilience Association, which brought together the families whose homes were damaged in the 7/10 attack and experienced a brutal attack inside the homes. I bring with me to this project first and foremost empathy for the residents who experienced the attack - it is important for me to know and support each and every one of them there, to listen and help and make them go forward with hope. At the same time, we will help every family to erase the signs of the attack and we will do everything to significantly restore and modernize the houses," he notes.
"Wakes up like a clock in a vending machine at the time it is extracted"
Among the houses that receive "VIP treatment" as part of the renovation project, the houses of the members of the Elbaz family and the members of the Tofahi family.
During the heavy fighting that took place on the seventh of October in the neighborhood, the couple Ariela and Eliyahu Elbaz were held hostage for long hours, nervous and full of terror, as hostages in their home, which was invaded by three terrorists who barricaded themselves inside their housing unit, until they were rescued by brave policemen who tried to contact them.
The family of Faraj Tofahi woke up on Black Saturday to the sound of the color red and ran for shelter.
When the shootings started in the neighborhood, the family split up - his wife, his house and his granddaughter fled to a neighbor and he remained in the shelter.
In a moment's decision, he decided to run from the migonit to his house, which saved his life.
Farage's dog was shot, and a grenade was thrown in the foyer of the house while shooting at his living room.
Right at the entrance to the house there is a crater left behind by the grenade.
"I couldn't get a contractor to restore the damage left by the grenade," he says.
"I work very hard at the Chabad soup kitchen in the city, I come home in the evening, and there is no one to help me repair the damage.
I am very grateful to the team for the renovation.
Every time I passed through the gunshot marks the sights returned to me.
It's good people doing good," he added. His wife, who watched what was happening from the window of the neighbor's house, saw how armed terrorists penetrated her and thought that she had lost her husband forever. The members of the Tofahi family were besieged in the neighbor's house for almost a day, until she was rescued by the security forces at nightfall. Since that night, Faraj wakes up according to him "like a clock, automatically, at the time he was rescued" (2:20 am).
His wife, who hid in the neighbor's house, remained there another month after the incident, when she had difficulty returning to their home.
Gunshot wounds in the windows of the houses in the neighborhood
The Yosef family had bullet marks on the balcony blinds and exterior walls.
They requested renovation of the shower that had signs of leakage in the roof of the room.
As part of the project, the front door that was damaged by the leaf was also replaced.
Changing the door to a security door "will give them, according to them, "additional security to live on the first floor that was on the day the terrorists broke into a neighborhood exposed in a direct line to the incident."
Since October 7, the same day a shoulder-fired missile was thrown at their house, Michael's wife has left their house on the street The thresher. The missile hit the windows and shutters and cracked the walls of the house. The renovation in Michael's house included replacing the shutters, replacing the toilet that broke from a vessel that fell on it from the top, and painting the house. "Maybe this will bring my wife back home, it will give my wife security at home," he says hopefully. When the signs of trauma disappear, confidence will also return."
The first house in the neighborhood that terrorists broke into - signs of gunshots, broken windows and shrapnel from a missile in the yard
Galina Mashlanko, a sick woman and a single mother, who raises a cat and a dog in her home.
Gunshot marks are still in her living room.
"They murdered my neighbors from the upper floor. The neighbor next to my house was murdered. I know the neighbors, we had close and good relations because we have been living together for years," she says.
"People come to me, see the shooting and want me to tell them what happened on 7/10, but no one asks why my house hasn't been repaired until today."
Galina stayed with her son that day at home, they both survived, but inside the box she keeps in the living room she shows dozens of shrapnel and bullet pouches she kept from that Saturday.
Galina is a sick woman and there is no one to help her repair or even advise her where to start and who to contact to repair the damages, so the assistance of the rehabilitation and renovation project was the only way out that gave her hope.
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