Majority of residents have not returned to Kibbutz Nir Oz after October 7, chairman says

"I didn't think it would take so much time to recover," he said. "We're not giving up. Kibbutz Nir Oz will prosper so that new families will come."

The majority of former residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz have not yet returned home, and many of them never will, Brig.-Gen. (res.)  Tzvi "Tzviki" Tessler, Chairman of Nir Oz, told KAN News on Thursday.

"I didn't think it would take so much time to recover," he said. "We're not giving up. Kibbutz Nir Oz will prosper so that new families will come."

Many of the individuals who used to live in Nir Oz would not return due to the trauma they'd experienced on October 7, Tessler added.

"Maybe they want to, but they aren't capable of it," he explained. "We have to accept this, and it has nothing to do with how quickly they build and how nicely they build and how green the grass will be. It's really about being able to go back to a place where you experienced an unbelievable hell."

Tessler also discussed the current security situation in Nir Oz with KAN, saying that threats from Gaza persisted.

"I think that anyone who treats the current situation as quiet is mistaken," he said.

Kites are sign of ongoing threat against settlements

One of the ongoing threats to the area is the influx of kites which have flown over from the Gaza Strip, Tessler said.

"It's not safe enough, no matter what the kite carries on it. It's the very fact that it's a passage, that the border is not closed and doesn't protect the settlements," he explained. "Settlement in the envelope protects the entire State of Israel."