Holit residents are returning to the kibbutz, even as rebuilding efforts remain far from complete.By World Israel News StaffResidents of a Gaza-adjacent kibbutz devastated in Hamas’s October 7 massacre are returning home, even as their community remains under reconstruction nearly three years later.Kibbutz Holit, an agricultural community near the Gaza border, was invaded by terrorists during the October 7 attack. Thirteen Israelis were murdered, including three members of the kibbutz security squad who were killed while confronting the attackers. Three foreign workers employed by the community were also slain.Nine people were taken hostage, including four members of a Bedouin-Israeli family who worked in agriculture at the kibbutz. Members of Holit’s security squad killed 20 terrorists during the battle.Beyond the killings and abductions, the attack left homes and infrastructure across the kibbutz badly damaged. Survivors were evacuated immediately after the massacre, but some have now chosen to return despite the fact that repairs are still ongoing.Roni Levy, who survived the massacre, told Hebrew-language outlet Ynet that she returned even though the kibbutz still resembles an active construction site, saying she wanted to make sure the community was rebuilt properly.“I simply wanted to stop being an evacuee,” Levy said.Levy recalled waking to gunfire on the morning of the attack and hiding under a bed in her bomb shelter after locking the door. At around 7:15 a.m., terrorists broke into her home, smashing property and setting fires.As she heard them drawing closer to her hiding place, she sent a farewell message to her sisters: “I love you, goodbye.”Miraculously, Levy said, the terrorists then left and moved on to another house. Hours later, she was rescued by the IDF.“When I left the kibbutz, I saw bodies lying on the road, burned cars and motorcycles. This is where I understood the magnitude of the disaster that had befallen Holit,” she told Ynet.Despite the trauma, Levy spoke optimistically about returning home.“Everyone is looking for great stories of resilience, but I look at things a little differently. I survived. I came home. Joy prevails,” she said.Levy is one of seven families who have returned to Holit so far, despite the ongoing reconstruction.Eli Kabuli, manager of a factory at the kibbutz, told Ynet he had wanted to come back sooner.“If they had allowed me, I would have returned much earlier, even within a week” of the massacre, he said. “For me, [returning to the kibbutz] was never a question. This is my home.”Kabuli added that he built his house in the kibbutz for his late wife, and that being there keeps her memory close.“I don’t see myself anywhere else,” he added.The post ‘Joy prevails’ — Oct. 7 evacuees return home to kibbutz appeared first on World Israel News.