Among the visionary ideas of Ofir Libstein, the late head of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, was a tourist trail that would tell the story of Jewish settlement in the Negev Desert, as well as the challenges of security and lack of water in the region close to the Gaza Strip.

Between 2021 and 2023, Libstein worked with architect Zvika Pasternak on 14 stations, telling stories of different sites, starting with the period before Israeli independence.

The trail runs along a pipeline that was laid in 1947 to bring water to the desert area.

On September 27, 2023, Libstein marked the trail’s opening with a celebration.

Ten days later, he was dead — murdered by Hamas terrorists as he tried to defend his community in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

His son, Nitzan Libstein, his mother-in-law, Bilha Epstein, and his wife’s nephew, Netta Epstein, were also slain.

They were among 64 Kfar Aza residents killed, as some 250 gunmen swarmed around the kibbutz. Throughout the border region, thousands of invading terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, the vast majority of whom were civilians. They abducted 251 to the Gaza Strip, including 19 from Kfar Aza.

According to Pasternak,........

© The Times of Israel