Gaza Envelope Devastation Mapped

The Oct. 7 terror attack wrecked entire Israeli villages bordering the Gaza Strip, creating unfathomable damage to their populations and infrastructure.

On October 7, Israelis woke up to their worst nightmare and faced a massive terror attack that Hamas had launched against the Jewish state. As a result, entire communities were ravaged. 

Aside from the over 2,200 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel that day, which targeted civilians in southern and central Israel, at 6:30 am, thousands of heavily armed terrorists from Hamas and other organizations tore down large parts of the Gaza security fence and infiltrated into Israeli territory. Their goal was to indiscriminately kill, rape, torture, massacre, and kidnap as many Israelis as they could. Currently, the Israeli death toll stands at 1,400.

Naturally, the Israeli communities in the Gaza envelope received the greatest hit and suffered unimaginable losses. During the assault, Hamas terrorists, who crossed the border via land, sea, and air, attacked dozens of communities and managed to take over 10 of them while murdering, torturing, and kidnapping any of its citizens that came into sight.

Simultaneously, the terror organization’s gunmen sieged a large music festival, the Nova Festival, with over 3,000 attendees, which was being held on the outskirts of one of the Israeli border towns, Kibbutz Reim. Terrifying stories of violence were reported by the survivors of this massacre in which at least 260 youngsters who had gathered to enjoy music, tragically lost their lives. Dozens of others were kidnapped from this festival and taken into Gaza, where they are still being held by Hamas.

Map of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The names of communities mentioned in this article are framed in red, Oct. 8, 2023. (Ecrusized, influenced by Rr016/Wikimedia Commons).

Most of the Israeli communities that were attacked were kibbutzim and agricultural towns, many with only a few hundred people living in each. What characterizes these traditionally collective towns is the sense of community and importance attributed to human values.

Following the terror attack and with the eruption of the resultant war, about 60,000 people were evacuated from the Gaza envelope towns, which are now under heavy rocket fire and have become a closed military area until further notice.

Note: The following report shows the figures according to the data available as of October 23. The Israeli authorities are still scanning the area, dissecting what took place, finding additional bodies, and making efforts to identify them. The data will be updated as it becomes available. As mentioned, to date, the death toll stands at 1,400 people, and the Israeli government has notified the families of the 222 kidnapped. Hundreds are still missing, and their whereabouts are unknown.

Kibbutz Be’eri

This kibbutz is the biggest in its regional council with about 1,200 citizens. It is located less than 3 miles from the border with the Gaza Strip. Over 100 Hamas gunmen entered the kibbutz on Saturday morning, claiming the lives of at least 130 of the Be’eri residents, more than 10% of its population. The terrorists took over this kibbutz by forcing 50 of its residents into the communal dining room, where they were kept as hostages during the battle against Israeli security forces that persisted for over 18 hours. The kibbutz is totally destroyed, with most of its houses burned and torn down.

Kibbutz Kfar Aza

Kfar Aza is also an agricultural community with at least 800 residents. It lies about one mile away from the Gaza border. The dozens of heavily armed terrorists who intruded into this community murdered at least 70 of its citizens. Kfar Aza was the site that the foreign press was able to visit before the Israeli rescue team had concluded clearing the bodies. The reporters’ testimonies from here are heart-wrenching.

Kibbutz Nir Oz

This small community with a population of 400 people was one of the most affected by the terrorist attack. Nearly half of its population was killed, kidnapped, or are currently missing. According to The New York Times, 180 of its citizens were killed, and there are about 80 abducted. This was the home of the youngest child kidnapped by Hamas, a 9-month-old baby named Kfir Bibas, who was taken hostage with other five members of his family. Nir Oz is completely devastated; the houses were all burned and torn down.

Sderot

Sderot is one of the largest cities in the Gaza envelope area. It is located less than a mile from the border of the Gaza Strip and is home to a little over 30,000 people. Over 30 people were killed, and now 60% of the city’s residents have evacuated their homes and have moved to government-sponsored housing in other areas of the country.

Ofakim

This is a small city of about 36,000 residents, and it lies about 14 miles from the border with Gaza. On October 7, terrorists also reached this city and murdered at least 50 residents. During the assault, the terrorists took civilians hostages in their own homes.

Kibbutz Nahal Oz

This is a small farming community with some 450 residents of whom at least 35 of them are reported to have been murdered.

Kibbutz Kissufim

Kissufim has nearly 300 citizens. During the October 7 assaults, at least 16 people were murdered. Among the murdered were six foreign workers.

Kibbutz Reim

This is the closest community to the Nova Music Festival, which was attacked by the terrorists. Of the close to 400 kibbutz residents, five are reported to have been murdered, and another five were kidnapped by Hamas.

Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak

In this village of close to 650 people, four were killed and dozens are still missing.

Kibbutz Alumim

Alumim is a religious farming community of about 500 people. During the Hamas terror attack, over 20 farm workers from Thailand were murdered.

Additional affected towns

The kibbutz communities of Nirim, Nir Am, Ein HaShlosha, Sufa, Erez, Magen, Kerem Shalom, and Shlomit were also invaded by Hamas terrorists, leaving fatal casualties in all of them.