In central Sderot, there is a road that curves up over a low hill. It was here, some 17 months ago on October 7, that Hamas terrorists infiltrated and attacked the police station.
The battle for the Sderot police station was one of the major struggles of the attack. Eventually, the station was destroyed, leaving a ruined shell. However, since then, the site has been turned into a new memorial.
Each time I’ve come to Sderot since October 7, the city has changed. On Tuesday, Sderot felt relatively normal, several hours after Israel launched a new round of airstrikes on Hamas. These were the first major airstrikes since mid-January when the ceasefire began.
Sderot, like many cities, has recovered from the dark days after October 7. The tens of thousands of residents who were evacuated have returned.
There is a new digital center in the city, near the police station, where visitors can learn more about October 7 and the struggles the cities have faced. It can be accessed via stairs that have been made to look like a mock tunnel from Gaza. It is harrowing to descend and ascend them.
In other areas of the city, there was a sense on Tuesday of a quiet before a potential storm. At a lookout named Kobi’s Hill, there is a viewpoint over Gaza. One can see Beit Hanun in the distance.
It was a day filled with dust in the light wind. The dust gave the low-lying hills of Gaza a coating of grey. One can only barely make out the ruined hulks of buildings in Beit Hanun.
The northern Gaza neighborhood has been destroyed over the past year of fighting.
On Tuesday, there were no sounds of fighting in Gaza. Even though the reports said the IDF had told people to leave some border areas, there was a sense of calm. Schools were canceled along the Gaza border. However, there was still traffic and some people working in fields. A lone young man on a bicycle was plying the road near the Black Arrow site.
This is another area terrorists penetrated on October 7. This whole road was once littered with abandoned cars and bodies. Now things have changed. The fields are back in working order. Some trees are beginning to bloom as spring begins.
However, there are still indications that the war could escalate. On Tuesday, Hamas did not launch rockets at Israel. In fact, despite the overnight airstrikes, there didn’t seem to be a new operation truly looming.
War still seemed distant
The war still seemed distant. However, the hostages are on everyone’s mind near the border. Communities have put up empty yellow chairs, ribbons, and flags everywhere.
There are stickers of the fallen all over the bus shelters, commemorating those killed over the last year and a half. Even though much has been repaired, much remains broken in other ways. Roads and homes can be repaired, but society is not so easily healed.