{"id":453560,"date":"2026-05-21T22:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/453560\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T22:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:09:11","slug":"life-returns-to-gaza-border-area-as-communities-record-dozens-of-newborns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/453560\/","title":{"rendered":"Life returns to Gaza border area as communities record dozens of newborns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The community of Shlomit<\/a> is located in the southern Gaza border region, a short distance from the Strip and about a kilometer from the Egyptian border.<\/a> According to the Tkuma Directorate, 20 babies were born in the community of around 600 residents during 2025.<\/p>\n

One of the families that joined the community is the Amar family. Oshrit and Nissim Amar, parents of baby Ari, moved to Shlomit over the past year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05d7\u05d2\u05d9\u05d2\u05d5\u05ea<\/a>\"\u05d7\u05d2\u05d9\u05d2\u05d5\u05ea<\/p>\n

Shavuot celebrations at Kibbutz Shlomit <\/p>\n

(Photo: Herzl Yosef)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we passed through the entrance gate to the community, I told Nissim, \u2018This is where I want to live,\u2019\u201d Oshrit said. \u201cThere was something special about the atmosphere and the place, even before we met the residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe completed the acceptance process, bought a plot of land in 2023 and were supposed to begin construction right after Simchat Torah, but then October 7<\/a> happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attack did not deter you?<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter October 7, family and friends tried to talk us out of it. They said we were crazy. I won\u2019t lie and say there wasn\u2019t fear, but then suddenly we felt even more committed to this place and to our country. Nissim always says that if everyone says they are afraid, in the end there will be no army and no state here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their fifth son was born on March 25, 2026. \u201cWho would have believed we\u2019d return to the Gaza border region and bring children into the world in a time like this? We are strong. We will build homes here, bring children into the world and make the bleeding land flourish. The people of Israel live on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Gaza border communities also recorded significant birth rates<\/a> in 2025, a total of 107 babies were born in small communities nearby Gaza.<\/p>\n

3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05d7\u05d2\u05d9\u05d2\u05d4<\/a>\"\u05d7\u05d2\u05d9\u05d2\u05d4<\/p>\n

‘Milk and honey’ festival in the Jezreel Valley<\/p>\n

(Photo: Jezreel Valley Regional Council)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, dozens of new immigrants who arrived in Israel over the past year and were absorbed at the absorption center in Kibbutz Merhavia in the Jezreel Valley were set to celebrate their first Shavuot in the country on Thursday. In recent days, the immigrants learned about the agricultural traditions of the pioneers, practiced in the valley for more than 100 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cShavuot is the holiday of the valley. A holiday of land, fields and a living, growing community,\u201d said Shlomit Shihor-Reichman, head of the Jezreel Valley Regional Council. \u201cTo see new immigrant families choosing to build their homes in the valley is a moving reminder of the power of an embracing community and the hope that continues to grow here every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The community of Shlomit is located in the southern Gaza border region, a short distance from the Strip…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-453560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}