Before the horrors of October 7, Aya Shahar never considered leaving her busy life in the bustling metropolis of Tel Aviv and moving south to an agricultural life in a kibbutz near the Gaza border.
“It wasn’t the future I planned for myself,” Shahar told CNN.
But after Hamas-led militants stormed through border fence in 2023, killing more than 1,200 in Israel and taking more than 250 people hostage, Shahar felt a need to help rebuild the kibbutzim that were ravaged and subsequently emptied in the wake of the attacks.
A kibbutz is a type of Jewish agricultural commune built on socialist principles. Much of the area along Israel’s border with Gaza is made up of kibbutzim, and the communities have played an important part in the national psyche throughout the country’s existence.
“What happened there made me understand that I have no way of living my life without connecting (it) to what is going on here,” Shahar said.
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