Rony Sfedj spent 12 years safeguarding Kibbutz Kissufim, first as deputy security coordinator and later as head of the alert squad. On October 7, he faced his greatest test, defending his home and family from Hamas terrorists for hours in a brutal, close-range standoff.
Now, two years later, the 54-year-old has chosen a different kind of frontline: a peaceful roadside coffee cart named Bis BaTzad (A Bite on the Side), set up at the Re'im Junction near the Gaza border. “I wanted to do something that would help the region,” he said. “This is a meeting point for soldiers returning from Gaza and for bereaved families. It’s a space of quiet and strength.”
Sefdj recalled the harrowing morning of the Hamas massacre. “At 6:20 a.m. I was about to head to the chicken coop when the rocket alert sounded,” he said. “Seconds later I heard gunfire and shouting. I grabbed my weapon and started shooting from the doorway. They shot back.”
As terrorists approached his home, he gathered his family into the saferoom, continued returning fire from the kitchen window, and later narrowly escaped injury when a grenade was thrown into the house. “I was hit by shrapnel. I knew they were coming to clear the house. I crawled into the shelter and shut the door just as they entered,” he said.
For hours, Sefdj fought to keep the door closed while terrorists tried to force their way in. “They fired through the door. A bullet hit the ceiling and landed on my child’s bed,” he said. One of the attackers even sat outside the safe room for hours, testing their alertness.
His close friend Saar Margolis and another responder, Adam Agmon, were killed trying to rescue him. “They took the best of us,” Sefdj said.
Now evacuated to the town of Omer with his community, Sefdj is focused on rebuilding. “We’ll return to the kibbutz. That’s the spirit here—people plowing fields even during war. That’s our DNA.”
Bis BaTzad serves hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, pastries and more, and is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.