"It was the happiest place in the world, but the location was tragic"

Three years after October 7, the "Young Generation" neighborhood in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which suffered the hardest blow, is slowly recovering. The new neighborhood is being built in the center of the kibbutz, away from the border, but the grief is felt on every corner. Out of 37 residents, 11 were murdered, seven were kidnapped, and two were wounded. Only about 40 families out of hundreds have returned, and the kindergarten reopened for the first time since the massacre.

Three years after the October 7 massacre, the "Young Generation" neighborhood in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which suffered the hardest blow, is slowly recovering. The new neighborhood is being built in the center of the kibbutz, away from the western border that was close to Gaza, as a statement of rehabilitation and the future. Out of the 37 residents who were in the neighborhood that morning, 11 were murdered, seven were kidnapped, and two were wounded. Half of the neighborhood's residents were murdered or kidnapped. As of early September 2026, about 40 families out of hundreds have returned to Kfar Aza. On September 1, the kindergarten reopened for the first time since the massacre. Alon Poterman, the outgoing CEO of the Kfar Aza Rehabilitation Fund, describes the challenges: 50% of the kibbutz's office holders were murdered, creating a managerial vacuum. Families are grappling with the difficult decision of whether to return, sometimes creating hybrid models where one spouse returns and the other joins part-time. Out of 362 homes, only six did not need rehabilitation. The article quotes Poterman describing the original neighborhood as "the happiest place in the world" whose tragic location made it the hardest-hit area.

"It was the happiest place in the world, but the location was tragic"