IDF soldier Yochai Vilozny: “I always knew I’d come back. We didn’t think it would look like this.”
By Shula Rosen
Twenty years after Israel’s disengagement from Gaza, former residents of Gush Katif, including many who were evacuated as children in 2005, are now returning as reserve soldiers.
The mission has stirred deep memories, blending the stark reality of war with the lingering sense of home.
Gal Cohen, 28, was seven when his family left Nisanit. Now patrolling the same beaches of his youth, he told fellow soldiers, “This is where I grew up. Back then, I was a kid playing in the sand. Now I’m here on a security mission.”
He paused at one familiar spot to take a photo for his mother, who asked when he would bring her back.
For Cohen, the return also brought back painful memories: mortar attacks on school buses, fears of infiltration, and the killing of his kindergarten teacher.
His family had been the last to leave Nisanit on August 14, 2005. “We stayed until the last moment,” he told Ynet.
Yochai Vilozny, 37, grew up in Moshav Katif, where his father was the rabbi. “I always knew I’d come back,” he said. “We didn’t think it would look like this.”
Once home to 70 families, the community was surrounded by greenhouses and open fields.
Vilozny recalls disbelief as the disengagement unfolded. “We left with a deep sense of betrayal,” he said. Returning now in uniform, he hopes one day to live there again,” he told Ynet.
For Shilo Biton, who left Kfar Darom at age seven after his father was killed in a terror attack, the memories are bittersweet.
On October 7, 2023, he was mobilized to Gaza, entering on the anniversary of his father’s death. “It was closure — emotional and frustrating, but filled with faith,” he said.
Yehuda Bartov, from Neve Dekalim, keeps Gush Katif sand in his home. Discovering the synagogue in Gadid still intact, he sent photos to his family. “We immediately started talking about preparing to return,” he said.
The 2005 withdrawal uprooted over 8,000 Israelis from 21 settlements.
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