Business owners on the return to normality in Sderot/Avi Pharmacist
Last week, schools officially opened in the city of Sderot.
With them, many of the businesses in the city also officially opened this week.
The business owners are excited to return to the shops and restaurants, which have remained empty for five months, but also worry about their future, with loans taken out and workers missing.
"Going back to work is a good feeling, the routine must continue in the city"
Moti Cohen, a resident of Sderot, has been serving in the reserves for five months.
Yesterday morning, he opened his restaurant, "The Passage", for the first time since the outbreak of the war.
"I have been in the reserves since that Saturday, my business has been closed for five months, yesterday morning I opened the place for the first time," he says.
"If I didn't take loans the business would collapse."
Moti Cohen, owner of the Passage restaurant/father of pharmacist
However, the joy of opening the restaurant is accompanied by heavy apprehension.
Since the outbreak of the war, according to Cohen, he has faced a number of financial difficulties, and now he is not sure that he will be able to restore his business.
"I'm now rolling from loan to loan, if I didn't take loans the business would collapse," he says, "on the one hand it's exciting to be back, I missed work, on the other hand half of my employees are still being laid off and I don't know if I'll be able to operate the business without them."
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"There is a different atmosphere, many people have returned."
Elidor Grabian and Amiel Levy, owners of La Brik restaurant/Avi Rokah
A few meters from Moti, there is the "Le Brique" restaurant.
Its owners, Elidor Grabian and Amiel Levy, opened it more than a month ago, and were among the first in the city to return to work.
"We were closed for more than three months, we don't live in Sderot, so we didn't evacuate and it was easier to come back," they say.
About two months ago, when most businesses in the city were still closed, they already reopened the restaurant.
"Since the beginning of this week, there is a different atmosphere, many people have returned," they say excitedly, but emphasize that the situation is not bright, "in the evenings it still looks deserted. Most of the businesses are still not working, they have no personnel. Most of the businesses on Sderot have gone through an economic crisis, being closed is It's not easy, it's hard to get the business going."
However, Grabian and Levy are still hopeful.
"After we were closed suddenly going back to work is a good feeling, the routine must continue in the city", they share.
"The municipality must support us".
Yohai Dahan, the owner of the Yodika store "Kodsheya", claims that the state's treatment of businesses is lacking.
"I was closed for about five months, before that the store was bustling with life and now it is deserted. Yesterday morning I made the first credit transaction," he says, "we are trying to recover, everything is about here, not all the residents have returned, not all the students."
Dahan continues and claims that the state makes it difficult for businesses to receive adequate compensation.
"We still don't know what the compensations are. Why do we have to go through an exhausting bureaucracy? The businesses have fallen into a major economic crisis and the state and the municipality must support us," he explains, "The businesses on Sderot have been experiencing crises for over years, the municipality should launch a campaign that only Sderot should be bought, to encourage The residents will only buy from the city. There is still no routine in the city, it's not like in the past, in the previous rounds. This time it will take a long time for the city to return to normal."
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