“After the attack, it became clear that we could only rely on the local emergency squads. The communities that survived did so because of their teams’ determination,” Doron Kadosh, project manager for the rehabilitation of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, and a resident of nearby Kibbutz Nir Am told The Press Service of Israel.

“When residents returned to their homes after four months, the war was still very close. They could hear fighting at night, and children needed therapy to cope with the trauma,” Kadosh explained. “Security starts with seeing an organized team training to protect them and guards patrolling the area.”

Lessons were learned the hard way. The volunteer security teams, known in Hebrew as kitot konenut, were not adequately armed and were outnumbered by terrorists on October 7. More than 60 soldiers and 12 civilians were killed and another eight people were taken hostage.