Israel’s evacuation has made Sderot a ghost town, but its fight with Hamas is very much alive

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Moran Ganish was just buying two bottles of Coke Zero from the corner store near her home but quickly ran back to her car with her head down, like a soldier sprinting for a trench, fearful of being out in the open.

It was the first time Ms. Ganish had dared to return to her house since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, which saw militants briefly take over the centre of this city barely two kilometres from the edge of the Gaza Strip while she and her husband and three children huddled in a shelter, clutching knives and hammers for protection.

She came back to the city for just half an hour Monday, mostly to check on the family’s two pet parrots at the request of her kids, who have been living in a hotel in another city since the assault. The parrots were dead by the time Ms. Ganish got home.

“I don’t know what I will tell my children. They will be so sad. I just dropped the parrots in the garbage, cleaned the dishes and left again,” she said, looking anxiously at the sky as Israeli warplanes roared overhead and explosions could be heard somewhere in the distance.

“I was afraid to go into my own home. I didn’t know who or what would be waiting for me in there.”

Sderot was a ghost town on Monday, 24 hours after the Israeli military recommended that residents evacuate ahead of an expected ground invasion of Hamas-ruled Gaza. In all, the remaining residents of 25 towns and kibbutzim near the strip were advised to evacuate and move to subsidized hotel rooms in Jerusalem and the southern port of Eilat.

Ten days ago, 30,000 people lived in Sderot, and the city was preparing for municipal elections at the end of the month. On Monday, only a few hundred residents remained. Partially torn-down campaign posters fluttered in front of abandoned buildings.

In a city famous in Israel for its resilience through years of rocket attacks, the only things operating Monday were a fortified international press centre, set up by the Israeli military for journalists covering the conflict, and Sasson’s Corner, the store where Ms. Ganish bought her cola.

Mark Iziyayev, the gregarious owner of the shop, said he stayed open to provide food and drinks to the soldiers and journalists in town. Food and drinks are free for soldiers, he said. “I only charge for alcohol and tobacco – the things that aren’t healthy,” Mr. Iziyayev said with a laugh. “It used to be non-stop in here. We serve the best-tasting coffee in the city,” he added during one of the frequent long pauses between customers.

While he puts on a brave face for his clientele, Mr. Iziyayev admits he doesn’t feel safe remaining in Sderot. “If I said I wasn’t scared, I’d be lying. Of course I’m scared when rockets are flying at me. Look what’s landed in my parking lot. Look at the building across the street,” he said, pointing at an indentation in the pavement perhaps 20 metres from his front door, where a rocket recently landed. A pizzeria across the street had part of its roof blown in by another strike.

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There are worse scars. The city’s main police station, which was occupied by Hamas fighters for several hours on Oct. 7, is a pile of rubble, with only a few pieces of twisted metal and piping stretching toward the sky. Thirty Israeli police officers and civilians, as well as at least 10 Hamas militants, were killed in a battle that reportedly ended with Israeli bulldozers knocking the police station down with the remaining Hamas fighters still inside.

A few blocks away, past a deserted burger restaurant and an empty hair salon, a white Toyota Hilux pickup truck – with a pole in the bed for mounting a machine gun – sits abandoned in a parking lot. Videos posted on social media show the same truck driving through the streets on Oct. 7 with half a dozen Hamas gunmen in the back shooting civilians at random.

In the bed of the abandoned truck lay a black Adidas cap that presumably belonged to one of the Islamist militants, as well as an empty bottle of water. Under the vehicle, which had four flat tires, The Globe and Mail found a document, issued by the “House of the Nobel Quran and Sunnah” in Gaza, certifying that someone named Mohammad Salah al-Sahloub had successfully recited the entire Muslim holy book in July, 2021. The document is signed by Abdul Rahman Youssef al-Jamal, a Hamas politician and religious scholar.

The attacks on Sderot continue. Sirens sounded over the city Monday while The Globe was visiting, followed seconds later by several loud explosions. Deputy mayor Elad Kalimi told Israeli media Sunday that the city had taken 75 direct hits since the start of the war with Hamas.

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Amir Bubhat, a volunteer helping deliver donated supplies to Sderot’s remaining residents, said that between 400 and 500 people remained in the city despite the evacuation call. He stood still and chuckled as everyone around him sprinted to a nearby shelter when the alarm sounded. “I am not scared because I work directly for God,” the 51-year-old diamond trader said.

As he spoke, the sounds of Israel’s furious retribution continued overhead as jets continued to pound nearby Gaza. More than 2,778 Palestinians have been killed in 10 days of relentless Israeli bombardment that began shortly after the surprise invasion by Hamas, which killed upwards of 1,400 Israelis.

“I hope that the day after this situation ends will be a different reality,” with Hamas gone from Gaza and the threat of Sderot being attacked eliminated, Ms. Ganish said. “If not, we will not be here. No more rockets. No more red alerts.”

“It’s sad to see it like this,” she added, looking around an empty Sderot before getting in her car and driving away.

Map: Sderot and the state of war

As of Oct. 16

Rocket strikes by Hamas

Israeli air strikes

Military base

Closed bordercrossings

3

4

WEST

BANK

Tel Aviv

Jerusalem

DEAD

INJURED

Israel

Gaza

1,400

2,670

3,500

9,714

1,500 Hamas militants killed

in Israel Oct. 7–8

Closed

military

zone

Mediterranean

Sea

Ashkelon

Israeli-ordered

evacuation zone

Zikim

Evacuation routes

Sderot

Wadi Gaza

Kfar Aza

1

Refugee

camps

Nahal Oz

Be’eri

Rahat

Re’im

ISRAEL

GAZA

STRIP

Ofakim

Magen

2

Sufa

EGYPT

8 KM

1

Gaza: Reports of truce denied by Hamas and Israel. Israel says Hamas is not allowing people to evacuate.

Four hospitals no longer functioning, 21 told to evacuate – WHO says this may breach humanitarian law.

2

Rafah: Situation remains unclear at border crossing.

3

Israel: Israeli Defense Forces confirm Hamas holding 199 hostages in Gaza.

Twenty-eight communities within 2 km of Lebanese border to be evacuated as Hezbollah attacks escalate.

4

West Bank: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Hamas does "not represent the Palestinian people."

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: GRAPHIC

NEWS; OPENSTREETMAP; REUTERS

As of Oct. 16

Rocket strikes by Hamas

Israeli air strikes

Closed border crossings

Military base

3

4

WEST

BANK

Tel Aviv

Jerusalem

DEAD

INJURED

Israel

Gaza

1,400

2,670

3,500

9,714

1,500 Hamas militants killed

in Israel Oct. 7–8

Closed

military

zone

Mediterranean

Sea

Ashkelon

Zikim

Israeli-ordered

evacuation zone

Evacuation routes

Sderot

Wadi Gaza

Kfar Aza

1

Refugee

camps

Nahal Oz

Be’eri

Rahat

Re’im

ISRAEL

Ofakim

GAZA

STRIP

Magen

2

Sufa

EGYPT

8 KM

1

Gaza: Reports of truce denied by Hamas and Israel. Israel says Hamas is not allowing people to evacuate.

Four hospitals no longer functioning, 21 told to evacuate – WHO says this may breach humanitarian law.

2

Rafah: Situation remains unclear at border crossing.

3

Israel: Israeli Defense Forces confirm Hamas holding 199 hostages in Gaza.

Twenty-eight communities within 2 km of Lebanese border to be evacuated as Hezbollah attacks escalate.

4

West Bank: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Hamas does "not represent the Palestinian people."

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: GRAPHIC NEWS;

OPENSTREETMAP; REUTERS

As of Oct. 16

Rocket strikes by Hamas

Israeli air strikes

Military base

Closed border crossings

3

Mediterranean

Sea

ISRAEL

Ashkelon

Closed military zone

4

Tel Aviv

WEST

BANK

Israeli-ordered

evacuation zone

Zikim

Jerusalem

Evacuation routes

Sderot

Kfar Aza

Wadi Gaza

1

Nahal Oz

Be’eri

Refugee

camps

Netivot

Rahat

Re’im

Kisufim

GAZA

STRIP

Ofakim

Magen

2

DEAD

INJURED

Sufa

1,400

2,670

3,500

9,714

Israel

Gaza

EGYPT

1,500 Hamas militants killed

in Israel Oct. 7–8

8 KM

1

3

Gaza: Reports of truce denied by Hamas and Israel. Israel says Hamas is not allowing people to evacuate.

Israel: Israeli Defense Forces confirm Hamas holding 199 hostages in Gaza.

Twenty-eight communities within 2 km of Lebanese border to be evacuated as Hezbollah attacks escalate.

Four hospitals no longer functioning, 21 told to evacuate – WHO says this may breach humanitarian law.

4

West Bank: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Hamas does "not represent the Palestinian people."

2

Rafah: Situation remains unclear at border crossing.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: GRAPHIC NEWS; OPENSTREETMAP; REUTERS