Over 90% of Gaza Envelope Residents Return Home Three Years After October 7
Over 90% of Gaza envelope residents have returned home, with the regional population growing by 5,000 since October 2023, according to Tkuma Administration official Nir Masika.
More than three years after the October 7 attacks, over 90% of residents in the Gaza envelope have returned to their homes, accompanied by a population growth of more than 5,000 residents compared to October 6, 2023. Nir Masika, head of the construction, housing, and infrastructure directorate at the Tkuma Administration, shared these figures in an interview with Globes, highlighting the remarkable recovery of the region.
"These are unimaginable numbers, especially when remembering what the residents went through on that cursed Saturday," Masika said with emotion. "If you had told me in the first weeks at the administration that these would be the numbers, I would have said 'I wish.' And here it is happening."
The Communities That Have Not Yet Returned
To date, about 92% of envelope residents have returned. The population in the Tkuma region now stands at approximately 65,400, and the administration has set a target to double the population within a decade to 120,000. While most towns have completed rehabilitation work, four communities that experienced the most severe damage on October 7 have not yet fully returned: Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, and Holit. All four communities are scheduled to return to their homes by the summer of 2027.
"We understood that the communities need to lead the rehabilitation, that it would not be right to send people to manage independently with the tax authority," Masika noted. "We acted according to the 'build back better' principle, ensuring residents return to better, larger, more spacious, and more advanced homes with much better infrastructure."
Expanding Success to the Northern Border
Drawing on his background growing up in Acre and working with northern confrontation line settlements, Masika emphasized that the challenges facing residents in border areas are remarkably similar. He expressed optimism that the Tkuma region's recovery could serve as a global model for disaster reconstruction and growth.
