Two months on, residents dream of return to kibbutz

STORY: In Be'eri as in other communities along the Israel-Gaza border, the gunmen shot at families taking refuge in their safe rooms and set houses alight. Now roofless houses and homes gutted by fire and pierced with bullets are standing still in the farming community, evacuated by all its residents. Be'eri member Neta Barak was not in the kibbutz when Hamas gunmen burst through the Israel-Gaza border on Oct. 7. But since then, she and her family have been evacuated from their home, along with some 120,000 residents of southern Israel. She said returning home was her dream, but "it's going to take a while."Another kibbutz member, Rommy Gold, was one of a few residents who fought Hamas gunmen on the day of the attack. He lost his sister-in-law in the onslaught. He hoped Israel's military campaign against Hamas would restore security for Israeli communities.