Just a few hundred yards from the Gaza Strip, Nir Oz is a frozen snapshot of the Hamas assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. It is stuck in that day even as journalists troop around its deserted streets to be shown the destruction months later.

But there is a vision of a future for the settlement that has also been suspended in time, says one of Nir Oz's longtime residents.

"We will rebuild everything," says 57-year-old Irit Lahav, whose parents helped carve out the kibbutz decades earlier.

Nir Oz, a settlement of just over 400 people, was one of the hardest-hit Israeli border settlements when fighters from the Palestinian militant group Hamas struck.

Around 1,200 people in Israel were killed in the attacks, an unprecedented assault on Israel by the group that has controlled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades and is committed to destroying Israel. And 251 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage.

Israel's military then embarked on a full-scale war effort in Gaza, vowing to eradicate Hamas while also fending off attacks from Iran-backed Hezbollah from southern Lebanon in what the militia and powerful political party describes as solidarity with Hamas, which is also supported by Iran.

Nir Oz hasn't been touched since the attacks. Half-destroyed buildings are coated with thick films of ash. Keys and shoes are strewn across dark floors and shattered glass doors are shot through with bullet holes, but still cling on inside their frames. Open containers lie toppled over in the kibbutz's shared dining room, and children's toys sit out, beneath the unrelenting sun.

In the distance, clearly visible from Nir Oz, smoke from the Gazan city of Khan Younis curls up into the sky. Since October 7, Hamas-run authorities say around 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) make their way through the slip of territory. Israel ordered a partial evacuation of Khan Younis earlier this week, suggesting IDF troops could return to the southern Gazan city.

Sweeping through the debris on the Israeli side of the border, Lahav—who survived the Hamas attacks with her daughter—says there is a vision for a new Nir Oz. "We are going to rebuild it, that's for sure," she says.

Of the kibbutz's 416 residents, 360 were at home in the early hours of October 7, and just under a third—117—of those present were killed or kidnapped, according to Lahav. More than half the buildings were damaged, she adds, and each one that was burned will be demolished under the new plans. Adjacent buildings will also be torn down.

"There are only very few buildings that don't need renovation," Lahav says.

The kibbutz will have around 230 homes when it is fully reconstructed. It will be reborn, she said, recrafted to be environmentally friendly and dotted with sports facilities.

But it will be a different place. Many of the doors will likely be designed to only open from the inside, she suggests. Roofs will probably be heavily fortified to make an entire home, in essence, a shelter against incoming attacks.

The idea is for the residents to feel the place is attractive enough to come back to—and to pull in new prospective inhabitants—even if many will not be able to stomach heading back to settle down in Nir Oz.

"I am sure that not everybody will come back," Lahav reflects. "But I think there are others that want to come back," she comments, adding that her sister and her brother-in-law have plans to relocate the kibbutz.

Remodeling the kibbutz has not yet begun, but she says it is likely to take around three years to complete the overhaul.

Yet in 2027, she believes, there will still be a risk to the residents of Nir Oz from the Gaza border under a mile away. The IDF has conceded it failed to reach Israeli sites close to the border for many hours after Hamas launched its surprise attacks.

The IDF was "not able to protect us," Lahav says, recalling feeling "helpless" as Nir Oz's inhabitants waited "hours and hours" for the IDF to appear and the kibbutz's first responders scrambled to protect the community's homes.

"That is their fault, but the attack on that morning definitely started from the Palestinian side," Lahav tells reporters visiting the kibbutz.

Israeli officials have said they will not stop operations in Gaza until the threat of Hamas is gone. The IDF says it is committed to tearing apart Hamas' chain of command, its infrastructure—such as the tens of miles of underground tunnels snaking under each Gazan city—and killing Hamas operatives.

Approximately 90 percent of Gaza's residents have been displaced at least once since October, according to United Nations estimates from earlier this week. This amounts to around 1.9 million people.

Yet The New York Times reported earlier this week that Israeli military officials were increasingly leaning toward a ceasefire that would be the best bet for rescuing the more than 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, even if Hamas then retained at least temporary control of the strip.

"We can have hundreds of years of fighting, but now the most important thing is to get an agreement and get all the hostages back," Lahav says. Around a third of hostages still held in the Strip are feared dead. Families of those taken by Hamas have petitioned the Israeli government to free the captives before turning to operations against Hezbollah in the north.

Israeli media reported movement on a possible ceasefire in recent days, quoting a statement from the prime minister's office and Israel's Mossad intelligence agency saying Israel was "evaluating" comments from Hamas on a U.S.-backed deal.