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SDEROT, Israel – The town of Sderot, just a mile from Gaza, is no stranger to being on the front lines of Israel’s war with Hamas.
The residents know the routine well: When the rockets hit here, they have 15 seconds to get to safe rooms before a possible hit occurs. Bus stops double as air raid shelters.
But this time everything is different. Border communities are still reeling from the Hamas-led attack that killed 1,400 Israelis, and amid the trauma there is now an unwillingness to return to the status quo.
“We want these terrorist attacks to stop,” said Maor Ben Haim, 34, as he loaded his six-months-pregnant wife and children onto an evacuation bus over the weekend. “This is it. We have been too patient, too gentle. I think the nation is now united to do what should have been done a long time ago.”
Israel has said it is ready to crush Hamas and residents here are being displaced as Gaza braces for the force of an all-out attack. Like other communities along the 40-mile fence with Israel, the streets of Sderot now lie largely empty, save for security forces, volunteers and a few residents who have chosen to stay. Nine out of ten people in the southern working-class city with 30,000 inhabitants have left the country.
Thousands who did not flee in the initial attack, like Ben Haim and his family, were taken to hotels on the Dead Sea and other parts of Israel.
Columns of soldiers and armored vehicles march past on the streets as hundreds of thousands of troops prepare for the expected ground invasion.
In recent days, much of Sderot and its surrounding area has been declared a closed security zone as the military prepares bases on the border. New concrete roadblocks have been erected to stop traffic as artillery fires shells into Gaza.
From a vantage point in the city, beyond the supposedly impenetrable border fence that Hamas easily breached in the Oct. 7 attack, the Gaza Strip towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia stretch out. Black clouds rise from the sky as shells from Israeli tanks hit their targets, and the sound of explosions is occasionally punctuated by the crackle of machine gun fire.
On the other side of the fence, 2,750 Palestinians have already died in air and artillery attacks in Gaza since last Saturday, according to Palestinian health authorities.
But that doesn’t bother Rahel Dahan, 85, one of only 4,000 residents who still live in Sderot.
“Shut the door, close the door!” She pleaded as a nurse checked in with her on Tuesday, still paranoid that gunmen were on the loose.
Having grown up in Morocco and then emigrating to Israel, she speaks Arabic and has fond memories of visiting Gaza to eat fish and attend weddings before the 40-mile-long separation fence was built to demarcate the Gaza Strip.
But now she would like to see it deleted. “If I could, I would kill them all,” she said, letting out an “Oy, Oy, Oy” as artillery roared at the end of a temporary humanitarian ceasefire.
Like many in this city, she was a die-hard supporter of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but now she curses his name.
It’s the first call of the day for Malka Stein, a nurse with Rescuers Without Borders who traveled from northern Israel to volunteer. But now she believes she may be needed more at home as the Israeli government has decided to evacuate 28 communities near the Lebanese border amid fears of a major conflagration with Hezbollah.
“It’s not good,” she said as she swept Dahan’s floor and made her lunch.
Israeli authorities have urged everyone to leave Sderot and other communities within a few kilometers of Gaza – although evacuation orders are not mandatory here.
At a makeshift aid distribution point, Veronica Odarchuk, 19, who fled the war in Ukraine to Israel a year and a half ago, sorted packages of coffee, instant noodles and sugar to deliver to the city’s last remaining residents.
Now she’s not sure her family made the right decision.
“I think Ukraine may be safer right now,” she said as she prepared for the distribution.
The last to accept offers of evacuation buses gathered at a school in the rocket-ravaged city and set off over the weekend, lugging suitcases and bags.
A 15-year-old clung to a pink doll. Volunteers helped the elderly with meals.
As a second group waited to be driven out, a rocket shot across the sky and people rushed toward the school shelter, reminding some of their reasons for leaving. Around 74 rockets have directly hit houses here in the past week.
But for some the decision is more difficult than for others. Yossi and Shmurit Edrich’s baby was born on October 6, just hours before Hamas invaded their city. Since the baby is premature and weighs just over 1.6 kilograms, he has to stay in the hospital for a week.
But the Edrichs were determined to get their other children to safety and left their newborn in the hands of the doctors for the time being.
“My heart breaks,” Shmurit said. “But I have four other children that I have to look after.”
The city has emptied before, but this time people are expecting a longer rush, said Ayelet Shmuel, director of the city’s resilience center. “The city knows how to run,” she said. “But this time we don’t know what will happen.”
Israeli troops are preparing for a bloody battle at a military base not far from the border fence. About 286 have already died.
“Now we are seeking revenge,” said Capt. Nadav Mizrahi, an armored brigade reserve officer. “To destroy everything from top to bottom,” he said. “I’m sure we can do it. It will take time and cost lives. But it’s our country, we will do anything.”
Israelis in the southern city of Sderot were given the option to evacuate on October 15 as the military is expected to launch a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip. (Video: AP)