Nir Oz (Hebrew:נִיר עֹז,,lit.'Meadow of Strength') is akibbutz in southernIsrael. It is located in the northwesternNegev desert betweenMagen andNirim, and covers 20,000dunams. Nir Oz is under the jurisdiction ofEshkol Regional Council. In 2023 it had a population of 421.[1] The kibbutz developed a low-water intensity landscape, greening its relative region.
After theIsraeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, Nir Oz again became a "border settlement"[8] and frequently received rocket and sniper fire from Gaza.[7][12] In 2008 theIsrael Defense Forces (IDF) asked the kibbutz to harvest its potatoes at night to lower the risk of attack.[13][7] On 5 June 2008 a mortar bomb fired from theGaza Strip hit the Nirlat paint factory on the kibbutz, killing an employee and wounding four others. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.[14][15] In 2013, a tunnel from Gaza was found near Nir Oz.[16][17][7]James Fergusson reported in a 2023 book that the village had a number of "self-contained bomb shelters, each weighing 67 tons".[6]
In 2021, the kibbutz voted to privatize.[7] Residents were mostly liberal and did not vote for parties associated withBenjamin Netanyahu's coalition.[7] Prior to theGaza war, some residents volunteered to transport Palestinians from Gaza to receive medical care in Israel.[2][18]
Items of the kibbutz looted by Palestinians and discarded in a nearby fieldA home burnt by Hamas in October 7
By percent of population, Nir Oz had one of the highest death tolls in theOctober 7 attacks.[19][7] About one quarter of the 400 residents of Nir Oz were killed or abducted.[7][2][20] About a third of all hostages taken on October 7 were from Nir Oz,[21][12] including theBibas family[20] andOded Lifshitz.[18] The IDF did not arrive on the scene until at least 40 minutes after the attack was over, with militants entering all but six of the over 200 residences at the kibbutz.[22][23][7]
The surviving kibbutz members were evacuated toEilat.[24][25] In January 2024, many moved toKiryat Gal.[20][26][12] The authority responsible for the rehabilitation of Israeli communities affected by the Hamas attack has estimated that it will take two years to fully rebuild Nir Oz.[27][20] As of January 2025 Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, had not visited the kibbutz, and was questioned by reporters why he had not done so in November 2023.[28] As of March 2025, only eight residents had returned,[11] and the kibbutz did not yet have a reconstruction plan due to a lack of funding from the Israeli government.[29]
The effort to rebuild the kibbutz began about two years after the attacks, according to Neri Shotan who is the head of theKibbutz Movements rehabilitation fund. Reportedly the five-year plan for the reconstruction including a memorial wall, totalsNIS 19 billion ($5.7 billion USD) for all kibbutz with Nir Oz being designated NIS 350 million ($95 million USD).[30] Released Nir Oz hostageGadi Moses, spoke at a ceremony to mark the rebuilding and creating foundations. The National Planning and Building Council green lite fast tracking construction of about 200 new housing units and other public buildings in Nir Oz in September 2025.[31][32]
In October 2025, members of the kibbutz visited their homes and the area to commemorate the attack, those killed and those taken and still held hostage during the attack.[22]
Economy
Nir Oz has agricultural enterprises, a paint factory, and an engineering firm.[33] It is known as a major grower ofasparagus.[34][12][35] The kibbutz kept a flock of turkeys that escaped or were released during the 2023 Hamas attack and are now roaming freely.[36] The agricultural workers were at one time Gazan, but in recent years workers from Thailand have been employed instead.[6]
As of 2023, the kibbutz was beginning to market itself as anecotourism destination; agronomist Ran Pauker would provide information about the kibbutz's 900 species of desert-appropriate plantings.[37] Ran Pauker is one of the co-authors of one of the chapters of a 2001 book on combatingdesertification (sometimes described asoasification) with site-appropriate landscape design.[38][39][40]
In 1960, Nir Oz introduced a long-term water saving gardening project on 27 acres (110,000 m2) of kibbutz land. Some 750 drought-resistant plants have been tested. The garden, designed by landscape architect Hayyim Kahanovich, uses only 50 percent of the water used in the centre and north of the country. The project is conducted in cooperation withBen Gurion University of the Negev and serves as a study and observation site for researchers, gardeners, teachers and students from all over the country.[41]
In 2011 the site was part of a program designed to reduce thesight lines of possible assaults launched from Gaza, by way of an Israelieucalyptus-planting program designed to yield increased tree cover in the westernNegev Desert.[42] By 2023, the kibbutz had 65 species of eucalyptus "grown from seed imported from South Africa, South America, [and]Baja California."[6]
Notable people
Alex Dancyg (1948-2024), historian kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attacks and was killed in captivity during theSiege of Khan Yunis[43]
Hannah Katzir (1948–2024), kindergarten teacher and surviving October 7 Hamas hostage[44]
^abcdefFergusson, James (2023).In Search of the River Jordan: A Story of Palestine, Israel and the Struggle for Water. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. pp. 251 (eucalyptus, desalination, irrigation, bomb shelters), 253 (Thai agricultural workers).ISBN978-0-300-26270-4.LCCN2023930267.
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