Nahal Oz
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Nahal Oz (, ''lit.'' "Mighty
Stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...
") is a
kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
in southern
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. Located in the northwestern part of the Negev desert close to the border with the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
and near the development towns of Sderot and Netivot, it is under the jurisdiction of Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council. In , it had a population of . A nearby IDF military base is known by the same name.


History


Establishment

The kibbutz was founded in 1951 as the country's first Nahal settlement. It was initially referred to as ''Nahlayim Mul Aza'' (, lit. Nahal soldiers across from Gaza). In 1953 it became a civilian community. Most members came from Israeli cities and were close to Mapai.


Murder of Ro'i Rothberg and Moshe Dayan's eulogy

In April 1956, the kibbutz security officer Ro'i Rothberg was ambushed and killed by infiltrators from Gaza. Rutenberg's funeral was attended by Moshe Dayan, then
Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...
, who gave a widely acclaimed eulogy which called upon Israel to search its soul and probe the national mindset. :"Early yesterday morning Roi was murdered. The quiet of the spring morning dazzled him and he did not see those waiting in ambush for him, at the edge of the furrow. Let us not cast the blame on the murderers today. Why should we declare their burning hatred for us? For eight years they have been sitting in the refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we have been transforming the lands and the villages, where they and their fathers dwelt, into our estate. It is not among the
Arabs Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...
in Gaza, but in our own midst that we must seek Roi's blood. How did we shut our eyes and refuse to look squarely at our fate, and see, in all its brutality, the destiny of our generation? Have we forgotten that this group of young people dwelling at Nahal Oz is bearing the heavy gates of Gaza on its shoulders? Beyond the furrow of the border, a sea of hatred and desire for revenge is swelling, awaiting the day when serenity will dull our path, for the day when we will heed the ambassadors of malevolent hypocrisy who call upon us to lay down our arms. Roi's blood is crying out to us and only to us from his torn body. Although we have sworn a thousandfold that our blood shall not flow in vain, yesterday again we were tempted, we listened, we believed. :We will make our reckoning with ourselves today; we are a generation that settles the land and without the steel helmet and the cannon's maw, we will not be able to plant a tree and build a home. Let us not be deterred from seeing the loathing that is inflaming and filling the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who live around us. Let us not avert our eyes lest our arms weaken. This is the fate of our generation. This is our life's choice—to be prepared and armed, strong and determined, lest the sword be stricken from our fist and our lives cut down. The young Roi who left Tel Aviv to build his home at the gates of Gaza to be a wall for us was blinded by the light in his heart and he did not see the flash of the sword. The yearning for peace deafened his ears and he did not hear the voice of murder waiting in ambush. The gates of Gaza weighed too heavily on his shoulders and overcame him."


1997-2023 events

Privatization of the kibbutz began in 1997. After the
2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...
, Israeli novelist David Grossman, who lost his son in the war, delivered a eulogy that was compared to Dayan's eulogy for Ro'i Rothberg. On 22 August 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, four-year-old resident of the kibbutz Daniel Tregerman was killed by mortar fire from the Gaza Strip.


2023 Hamas-led attack

In October 2023, dozens of
Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
militants entered Nahal Oz during the
2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinians, Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 ...
. The militants attacked the nearby military post, killing 41 members of the
Golani Brigade The 1st "Golani" Brigade (, ''Hativat Golani'') is an Israeli military infantry brigade. It is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigades of the regular Is ...
and 20 soldiers in the
Combat Intelligence Collection Corps The Israeli Combat Intelligence Collection Corps (previously known as ''Field Intelligence Corps'') is the newest of the Israel Defense Forces GOC Army Headquarters' five corps, created in April 2000 and tasked with gathering military intelligence ...
. The militants deployed a flammable substance against the soldiers at the base, which also released toxic gases that caused suffocation.Hamas used toxic substance to kill Nahal Oz troops on Oct. 7, IDF probe said to show
For
Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...
by TOI staff, 13 Dec 2023 (posted & accessed).
Some of the militants also broke into the kibbutz, killing 15 civilians and taking 8 others hostage.https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/07/28/exclusive-new-details-of-hamas-attack-on-nahal-oz/ The kibbutz was held by Hamas for 12 hours, until the
Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...
(IDF) killed the militants and took back control of the kibbutz. Hamas also took hostage a family of five, both parents and their three children, and retreated with them to Gaza. The kidnapping was livestreamed by terrorists using the mother's phone, alerting the rest of the family of the kidnapping. Arson and vandalism carried out by Hamas militants left a significant number of homes destroyed or uninhabitable, leading to the displacement of the residents of the kibbutz.


Economy

The kibbutz grows carrots, cotton and wheat, and operates a dairy with 600 cows. Past sources of income include a metal works factory that produced industrial-sized ratchet bits and a high tech firm, OzVision, that links security cameras to the Web. In February 2023, a team from Israel's National Infrastructure Committee came to inspect the area in preparation for building a solar panel field along the border.Turmoil and tears: A gritty glimpse into Gaza border riots
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Notable residents

* Amir Tibon, journalist


Gallery

NahalOz-DiningRoom.jpg, Dining Room NahalOz-Memorial.jpg, Memorial site NahalOz-Memorial23.jpg, Memorial site


See also

* Nahal Oz Observers Memorial Monument


Notes


References


External links


Nahal Oz
Negev Information Centre
Nahal Oz Facebook page
{{Authority control Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council Populated places established in 1951 Nahal settlements Gaza envelope Populated places in Southern District (Israel) 1951 establishments in Israel