English: The 9th Ofakim Street Theater Festival in the Negev, August 2024. The festival, which took place on Herzl Boulevard in the city (in the section between Operation Moses Street and Operation Kadesh Street), near the city hall – hosted theaters and artists from all over the country, who performed living statues, acrobatics, music, and circus acts. The festival took place in the shadow of the Israel–Hamas war, after on the city was attacked by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza during the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, carrying out battle of Ofakim. In the massacre in the city, 27 residents were murdered and 6 police officers were killed in the Battle of Ofakim, in addition to the city's residents who were killed in other places in the Gaza envelope. In total, 47 residents of the city were murdered in the surprise attack.