(NewsNation) — NewsNation national correspondent Robert Sherman observed the devastation of Kibbutz Be’eri on Monday. The community in southern Israel sits close to the Gaza border.
Walking through the kibbutz, artillery blasts every few minutes reminded Sherman the area was still very much an active war zone.
The area is one of several epicenters of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. An estimated 1,200 people lived there at the time, and more than 100 of its residents were either killed or taken hostage.
“As you walk through the streets of the kibbutz, you can see and sense how beautiful it was and still is and the horrors and atrocities that took place here, even 66 days after, you see it, you feel it,” Maya, an IDF spokesperson, told Sherman.
Different writings appeared on each home in the kibbutz. Some included circles with a dot in the middle, signaling that a body was discovered there.
“This wasn’t military versus military. This was the militants of Hamas murdering in such brutal, inhumane (ways) innocent, peace-seeking civilians just here living their lives,” Maya said.
Sherman couldn’t help but notice that ash covered much of the ground.
“Houses were burned so severely that it took us weeks to identify because everything was ashes. Everything was inside the rooms; there was nothing left. We tried to find what we could,” Maya said.
The ash-covered area is where 9-year-old Emily Hand was taken captive. Soon after the Hamas attacks, officials told her father she was among the dead. Despite sifting through ashes to find remains, the Israeli military said on Oct. 31 her body had not been recovered.
After 50 days held hostage, Hand was reunited with her family. She was returned in the second batch of hostages during the Israel-Hamas truce deal.
Traces of blood and the stench of bodies are overwhelming in the kibbutz. Through all the destruction, Sherman said small family mementos were also left behind showing how people built their lives there before the attack.
Among kibbutz residents, emotions appear to be mixed. Some have told the IDF they are eager to return to their homes to rebuild, while others plan to move far away from the destruction.
NewsNation national correspondent Robert Sherman has found himself on the frontlines of some of the world’s biggest stories: from Ukraine to Israel and across the United States. He shares what he’s seeing on the ground in his newsletter. Sign up here.