GEOFF BENNETT: The Israeli communities attacked on October 7 were scenes of extreme horror and inhumanity.

Now, one month later, Leila Molana-Allen and her team were granted access to a kibbutz that perhaps suffered the most grievously.

A warning that some images and accounts in this story are disturbing.

(LAUGHTER) VIVIAN SILVER, Peace Activist: I'm on kibbutz Be'eri, which is my home.

I am sitting in my backyard.

My home is three minutes from the Gaza Strip.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: On October 7, a 74-year-old Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from kibbutz Be'eri.

along with her neighbors, young and old.

Many more were slaughtered in their homes.

This once-peaceful agricultural commune has now become a makeshift military base.

You still see bullets all over the floor here.

Combat officer Ronnie Weiner used to work at Tel Aviv's art museum.

For the past month, he has been running the operation to clear the devastation here.

RONNIE WEINER, Combat Officer, Israeli Defense Forces: We are still finding burnt bodies around the house.

Two days ago, we just found, like, a hand of a person.

We found the jaw of a person here.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: First, the rampaging militants attacked homes with hand grenades, RPGs and gunfire.

Then, they set them ablaze, hoping to smoke out families hiding inside.

Many were burned alive.

RONNIE WEINER: This is one house, but there is 30 like it only in this neighborhood.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: In homes that weren't set ablaze, the full horror remains.

An entire family was murdered in this house, in this bedroom, bullet holes across the walls and the mattress covered in blood, where one member was killed in their bed.

By the front door, everyday tools that became weapons of slaughter, behind it, signs of a struggle, a desperate attempt to escape.

Dark red footprints lead from a pool of blood, the knife lying where it fell.

Hamas brought some of its worst destruction here in Be'eri, the largest village along the Gaza border, more than 100 people killed, dozens kidnapped, some of their fates still unknown.

It's almost unimaginable that people could still want to live here after the horrors they endured, but a small group are determined to try.

A dozen young residents have returned, armed and assisted by the soldiers stationed here.

They're here to try to rebuild, to help grieving families retrieve mementos, to protect what's left of the streets they grew up on.

Roe moved to Tel Aviv six months ago.

On October 7, he watched in disbelief as his childhood home was destroyed.

ROEE MAJZNER, Kibbutz Be'eri Resident: It was terrifying, above all my nightmares as a child living next to the Gaza Strip.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: No army came to help, no police.

A few locals did their best with the weapons they had.

And, hours away, Roee could do nothing.

ROEE MAJZNER: There was like 12, 11 guys.

They fought against 300 terrorists.

I was useless.

I felt useless.

You see in the news and in the WhatsApp groups and the phones, in the local group, like, people are saying, we're - - they're killing us.

They're burning us alive.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Roee lost his faith in humanity that day.

He's given up his job.

His only mission for now, he says, is to be here.

Roee's friend Sa'ar was here that morning.

At 7:00 a.m., Sa'ar was taking shelter from incoming Hamas rocket fire, not unusual so close to Gaza, but a sudden call from his parents away on holiday told him something was very wrong.

And his 18-year-old sister, Shaqqad (ph), was all alone.

Then Shaqqad messaged: "Sa'ar, I'm afraid.

Terrorists have got in."

SA'AR ROHUM, Kibbutz Be'eri Resident (through translator): So I grabbed my bike and rode to my parents' house nearby.

There were already terrorists roaming around the kibbutz.

I didn't know that at the time.

All I wanted was to save my sister.

I take the gun from here from my sister in this room.

(through translator): The army didn't come.

Nobody came.

We heard gunshots.

It was chaos across the whole kibbutz.

There were hundreds of terrorists here.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Over and over again, the terrorists came back.

Sa'ar held the door for nearly 12 hours.

SA'AR ROHUM: I think my life is, you know... LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Over.

SA'AR ROHUM: Over, yes.

(through translator): My little sister started crying, trembling.

She said to me: "Sa'ar, do something."

They were very close to opening the shelter door.

At the last second, I managed to pull it closed again.

At last, they fled, apparently due to the gunfire from the IDF that surrounded them.

And around 7:00 in the evening, the army arrived and rescued us.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Now Shaqqad, like most of the survivors here, has been evacuated to relative safety on the border with Jordan.

But Sa'ar isn't going anywhere.

SA'AR ROHUM (through translator): Our vision, together with the young members of the kibbutz, is to rebuild it.

We want to live here.

We don't feel fear.

We heal ourselves by being here, by fighting for our home.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: A way of life has been shattered here.

Many survivors say they can never go home again.

But for those who do, life in these once-tranquil farming communities will never be the same.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen in kibbutz Be'eri on the Israel-Gaza border.