TRIBUNE editor visits sites of Hamas attack

Ground zero Scenes of destruction are still visible in the village of Kibbutz Re’Im, one of the sites of the deadly Hamas attack on 7 October 2023. PHOTOGRAPHS BYJULIUS MANICAD FOR THE DAILY TRIBUNE

(Editor’s note: DAILY TRIBUNE provides an exclusive look at ground zero of the deadly Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. It is one of only nine major newspapers worldwide granted this rare opportunity. For more photos and videos, visit https://tribune.net.ph/special-report).

KIBBUTZ RE’IM, Israel — The wounds have yet to heal nine months since the Hamas militant group attacked the small village of Kibbutz Be’eri here.

Community leader Rita Lifshitz gave international journalists a closer look at the deadly attack carried out by the terror organization on 7 October 2023.

The Daily Tribune was the sole Philippine newspaper invited among nine major broadsheets worldwide to visit the sites.

Also on the press tour were Paco Dominguez of Mexico, Vivek Prabhakar Singh of India, Momoko Amemiya of Japan, Jeu Chae of South Korea, Anita Efraim of Brazil, Dejan Stankovic of Serbia, and Diana Germany of Germany.

The village is 85 kilometers south of Tel Aviv by land, close to the Gaza border.

After the 7 October attack, the entire 453-member kibbutz community was temporarily relocated to two newly built apartment towers in the Florentine neighborhood of south Tel Aviv. They will eventually return to their home community.

The Israeli guide, Neta Zeevi, warned the journalists about the risk of the news coverage they were on, which Israel was hosting as part of its public-awareness campaign on the harrowing incident that sparked the Israeli-Palestinian war.

“Don’t worry about bombs that you’re hearing, they’re coming from us,” said Zeeva, a combat soldier who is working on his Business Administration degree at the Wingate Institute in Tel Aviv.

“But if you hear a siren, do not think but run for your lives. You have only 15 seconds to go to the nearest bomb shelter and pray that nothing bad would happen.”

Aside from Kibbutz Be’eri, the journalists visited the memorial dedicated to the victims of the Re’m music festival massacre where 364 civilians were killed, as well as the Tkuma car graveyard. (Due to the time difference — the Philippines is five hours ahead of Israel, more details could not be added.)