After October 7, Gaza border kibbutzim turn to swimming pools to rebuild community

Nearly three years after October 7, as entire communities continue making their way home, a striking pattern is emerging across the Gaza border region: kibbutzim devastated in the massacre are choosing to invest part of their rehabilitation budgets in swimming pools, sometimes even before residents have permanently returned. The money comes from the Tkuma Directorate’s flexible community fund, an 800 million shekel rehabilitation program that allows communities to decide how to spend part of their reconstruction budgets. Although the funding can be used for housing and infrastructure, swimming pools repeatedly appear in local rehabilitation plans. The choice reflects something larger than recreation. For these communities, the pool has become a form of social infrastructure, a place where residents can gradually rebuild the habits and relationships of communal life.