Most residents have left Sderot, an Israeli town near Gaza, since war erupted with the Hamas attacks on 7 October, but a reopened Jewish seminary hopes to bring life there back on course.

With the sound of outgoing artillery fire in the background, the study hall at the Sderot yeshiva — less than five kilometers from the besieged Gaza Strip — is bustling with students.

"We want to be the guardians of the city, and we study the Torah here because that is the foundation of the Jewish nation," rabbi David Fendel, director of the institution, said.

The town of some 35,000 residents has remained largely deserted since the attack by Palestinian militants, which in Sderot killed at least 40 people including numerous officers who died in a battle over a police station.

'Jewish presence'

The yeshiva, established nearly 30 years ago, closed its doors immediately after the attack.

But not long after, its students and staff were among the first to return, even as many residents prefer to stay in other parts of the country for now, far from the violence.

Fendel told Agence France-Presse the seminary of about 600 students seeks to "strengthen the city with Torah and Zionism."

"When you have the force of hundreds of young idealists, life in Sderot takes a turn."