Nirim (, lit. plowed fields) is a kibbutz in the northwestern Negev in Israel. Located roughly 2 kms. (1.2 miles) east of the border with the Gaza Strip, about east of Khan Yunis, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. It was named after the Nir brigade of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement, some of whose members helped establish the kibbutz, and was originally established on a site called "Dangour", where kibbutz Sufa is now. One of the founders was , who became one of Israel's leading landscape architects.

thumb|Nirim 1 October 1946

thumb|Kibbutz Nirim. Aerial photograph from Palmach archive.

At the outbreak of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on 15 May 1948, the kibbutz was first Jewish settlement in Israel to be attacked by the Egyptian army, in the Battle of Nirim. During the battle, the Egyptians came within of the kibbutz perimeter and eight of the kibbutz defenders were killed, before the Egyptians withdrew.

After the war, the IDF wanted the original site of Nirim, because of its strategic location, while the kibbutzniks wanted to move north, to the line of of rain a year, so the kibbutz moved some northeast to its present location, next to the site of an ancient synagogue at Horvat Maon.

On 12 August 1949, the IDF troop at Nirim caught an Arab man and a 10-15 year old Bedouin girl. They shot the man, and, following a vote, gang-raped the girl before they killed her and buried her in a shallow grave.

During the Mapam split of 1952, Moshe Sneh's supporters were banished from the kibbutz. Until 1956, it was targeted by Fedayeen attacks from the Gaza Strip.. In 2011 Kibbutz Nirim transformed from being a totally socialistic model to one of the "renewing kibbutz", which preserves the reciprocal support and responsibility ideology.

On August 26, 2014, on the last day of Operation Protective Edge, the head of security, Ze'ev "Ze'evik" Etzion and the assistant head of security Shachar Melamed, were killed in a rocket attack. They were both working with a team of electricians and other kibbutz members, attempting to reinstate the electricity to the community after the high voltage tower that supplied electricity to the whole kibbutz was hit by a rocket earlier the same day. The same rocket attack that killed Ze'evik and Shachar, blew off the legs of Gadi Yarkoni, who was subsequently elected mayor of the Eshkol Regional Council.

October 2023 attack

Nirim was one of the Israeli villages attacked by Hamas forces in the October 7 attacks. At least five people were killed in the attack and many were injured. Some members of the kibbutz were kidnapped to Gaza. About seven hours after the forces entered the kibbutz, IDF soldiers killed nine Hamas fighters who were still there. The Hamas forces inflicted significant damage upon the kibbutz. In response, a crowdfunding initiative was initiated to support the kibbutz's restoration, raising over half a million shekels within just a few days.

Economy

Nirim produces organically grown peanuts, sweet potatoes, turnips, carrots, wheat, barley, avocado and other vegetables, and exports them to Europe. The farmers work the land right up to the Gaza Strip barrier.

References

  • Official website