Updated October 8, 2026 at 3:00 AM PDT
SDEROT, Israel — Shahar Goldenberg drives along a small road that circles Kibbutz Zikim, a cooperative farming community on Israel's southern border with Gaza.
He's lived here for nearly two decades, but he's never seen so many people clamoring to join their community of about 1,000 people.
"The demand is amazing — great, huge demand."
Zikim's waiting list is now two years long.
New houses are going up fast: the community is currently building 25, with plans to add 100 additional homes over the next decade.
Sales of existing homes are soaring.
"This was not like this before Oct. 7, of course not. It is an internal joke — if you want to sell your house you can do it in less than a week."
Three years ago, much of this region was practically cleared out after thousands of Hamas-led militants poured across the border on Oct. 7, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages.
Now, residents are returning — and new ones are joining them, driven by a sense of solidarity, but also by a growing sense of security as Israel maintains a heavy military presence across the border in Gaza.
Many people want to come and be part of southern Israel's rebirth, Goldenberg says. They feel safer now that Israel occupies more than 60% of Gaza.
Israeli troops have drawn what the military calls a border buffer zone — marked by a yellow line — extending deep into Gaza.
Before the war, hundreds of thousands of Gazans lived and farmed in that border area, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
On a hilltop in Zikim, Goldenberg shows off eight homes under construction, all with sweeping views of the Mediterranean.
"These new houses [have] a view of the beach and a view of northern Gaza. I hope that we will not see the north of Gaza in the next years."
There isn't much left of Gaza to see from here now. Just shells of blown-out buildings.
While there is mounting international pressure, including from the United States, for Israeli troops to ultimately leave Gaza, a large majority of Israelis support a permanent Israeli presence along the border in Gaza, according to a recent poll.
The Israeli government has repeatedly said it will not leave until Hamas is fully disarmed.
That's fine with Goldenberg.
"And this is the only plan, that we continue to live here. Without the yellow line it will be really difficult and challenging for us."
Subsidies and support for Israel's south
A new wave of arrivals is breathing life into this stretch of southern Israel known as the Gaza Envelope. For years, the region has been sparsely populated—a landscape of fertile farmland and close-knit kibbutz communities that stretched along Gaza's perimeter, reaching south toward the Egyptian border.
About half of the region's residents live in Sderot, the largest city on the border.
These days construction crews seem to be on every corner.
At one site, workers are putting the finishing touches on a brand-new kindergarten. It's one of several dozen schools and daycare centers included in the city's plans to double its population to more than 120,000 residents by 2040.
Robin Feldman is already part of that growth. She has just picked up her 6-month-old daughter, Nelli, from her first day at a childcare center. She then takes us to the family's new home, not far from the city center.
It's a small, three-room apartment, still largely empty. One bedroom has reinforced walls and a heavy security door.
"This is going to be Nelli's room — which is the bomb shelter. Hopefully we never have to use it."
The young family recently moved to Sderot from Paramus, New Jersey. Feldman's husband is a rabbi, and she teaches Jewish history. Her lessons include biblical prophecies that speak of the Jewish people's return to Israel — and of the prosperity that will follow.
"I teach these prophecies to my students, and I'm now living it, so it's very special."
Since Oct. 7 and amid rising antisemitism around the world, Feldman says she believes Israel is now the safest place for her family. Government incentives have helped with the move, too. The family receives 2,000 shekels a month toward its rent — about $650 — she says.
Sderot residents also receive substantial income and property tax breaks, according to the city spokesman, Yaron Sasson.
"We are working to convince people from all over Israel to come south," he says. "And from abroad too."
Returning to rebuild
For some residents, the decision to return south was made almost immediately after the Oct. 7 attack.
Galia Tzur says she and her husband made the decision to move back to Kibbutz Nir Oz "Oct. 7 on the dot." The kibbutz is about 30 miles south of Sderot, right next to the Gaza border.
The couple, now in their 50s, had lived in Nir Oz in the 1990s. The minute Tzur saw the news about the Hamas attack, she says they both knew they had to return.
"We were both were like — we need to go, we need to help, we can't stay here."
They had been living in New Zealand for more than a decade, but sold their house and moved back to Israel to help rebuild.
The kibbutz was hit hard in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. One-quarter of residents — 117 people — were either killed or taken hostage on that day. All but six of the kibbutz's more than 200 buildings were damaged or set on fire.
But the community is already rebuilding. Reconstruction manager Ron Bahat is overseeing the work. As we drive through the community, we pass many burnt-out homes that have remained standing since the attack.
The kibbutz is debating what to do with the damaged buildings. Some residents want them to remain as a reminder of what happened.
"The question is how to remember how to keep the legacy," Bahat says. "Some see it in a different way."
Others prefer to demolish the charred homes and focus on the future. Bahat — who was born here 60 years ago — says that's what he's focused on.
Bahat takes us to a busy construction site, where a large backhoe is excavating the site for 76 new homes. Another 106 will be built in the next two years, he says.
"The mission is to make this place bigger, better, strong and nicer." Bahat is confident they will.
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