Nikita Soumrov and his son Avi had been amongst 1000’s of Israelis attacked on the morning of October 7, after Hamas gunmen stormed into southern Israel from Gaza.
About 1,400 folks had been killed – of their houses, in bomb shelters, at an open-air rave.
Avi, 4, escaped by hiding in a closet.
He and lots of different survivors stay traumatized by the expertise.
These are their tales.
“By way of the window I noticed the terrorists burning the homes round us.” —Jossef Rozansky, 67
Yossef Rozansky and his spouse and daughter ran outdoors to avoid wasting a neighbor in Kibbutz Holit whose home was on hearth. Then they retreated to their very own protected room. A grenade exploded of their home. They held the door. One other explosion injured all eight members of the family inside. His daughter utilized a tourniquet to his leg. “I am damage,” he recalled, “I am sitting there hugging my granddaughter and everybody else sitting within the protected room, being very quiet and on a regular basis their wounded grandmother and the blood pooling within the room spreads.’
“It regarded like a capturing vary.” – Hila Fakliro, 26, who survived the Hamas assault on the Tribe of Nova music competition
Hila Fakliro, a health teacher, was tending bar on the Tribe of Nova music competition when she noticed what she thought had been fireworks. “I do not assume these are fireworks,” stated a fellow bartender. They had been Hamas rockets. Quickly, males with weapons appeared among the many eucalyptus bushes the place revelers had simply danced. “There have been loopy maniacs with weapons and other people falling one after the other,” Ms. Fakliro stated.
“It was the scariest day of my life.” – Stav Nitzan, 8, who hid in a protected room in Netiv Haasara for 12 hours
“My mom woke me up and simply stated ‘run to the protected room,’ and my father grabbed his gun and guarded our entrance door,” remembers Stav Nitzan, the youngest of three brothers. ‘I needed to sit quietly in order that the terrorists would not break into our protected room. Each time I needed to get out, there was one other rocket.”
In the end, the household was rescued with the assistance of their neighbor Benny, “who’s the bravest man on this planet, as a result of many terrorists chased him and he managed to avoid wasting us, along with different fathers,” Stav stated.
“I do know we are going to all want lots of psychological assist to outlive and get again to our lives.” – Tami Cohen Shapira, 55, along with her husband, Patrick Cohen, 58, and their sons Gil, 18, and Dan, 15. Her son Ziv, 26, was killed whereas making an attempt to flee the music competition.
“The final message I received from my mom that morning was that she had cracked the pangram on Spelling Bee.” – Keren Flash, 34, along with her husband, Avidor Schwartzman, 37, and their daughter, Saar, 1. Her mom and father, Cindy and Yigal, had been murdered close by at Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
“It was solely after we had been capable of board the bus that evacuated us that we discovered of the miracle our household had undergone.” – Avivit Gohn, 62, who lives in Kibbutz Be’eri. Fourteen of her kin escaped, together with a cousin who was hit within the neck with an ax.
“The lady sitting proper in entrance of me was out of the blue shot useless.” — Sheerel Gabay, 23, who escaped the music competition
Sheerel Gabay hid with pals and thirty or forty others in a roadside shelter close to Be’eri. For greater than seven hours, Hamas threw grenades and fired on the folks inside. She was shot within the knee and suffered two open fractures and a ruptured eardrum.
The lady shot in entrance of her fell backwards, trapping Ms. Gabay beneath her lifeless physique. “I could not transfer and could not cease pondering I used to be being coated by a useless lady,” she stated.
“I have been by way of lots of wars, however nothing like this has ever occurred earlier than.” – Lea Horowitz, 92, who was led to a protected room in her Kibbutz Nir Am residence by her helper, Jessica Noveno, 34
“We drove by way of the fields and noticed vehicles with damaged home windows with folks nonetheless inside, however we managed to flee.” – Ori Sobo, 10, who was awake and planning a good friend’s birthday when she fled in her pajamas along with her household within the automobile
“I used to be afraid the terrorists would hear her crying inside and rush in.” – Nir Sadan, 25, who tried to calm his mom after receiving information of her brother’s loss of life whereas they had been hiding of their protected room in Kibbutz Mefalsim
“I imagine now we have a proper to be right here, however I additionally perceive that this isn’t simply my place, however the place of one other folks.” – Roni Keidar, 79, along with her husband, Ovadia, 82
Roni Keidar, a longtime peace activist, acquired mobile phone messages from pals in Gaza involved about her throughout the assault as she took shelter of their protected room in Netiv Haasara, close to Gaza’s northern border, the place they’ve lived for many years.
“We will certainly return, and if needed I’ll battle with my very own arms,” stated her husband, Ovadia Keidar. “We are going to restore the injury in order that our kids could have an instance of methods to shield the nation with out concern.”
“I coated their eyes with my hand so that they could not see the ugly sight of our bodies strewn about.” – Maayan Dotan, 47, along with her daughter Yuval, 9. They escaped from Netiv Haasara after her brother Eran, a soldier, guarded their door.
‘I do not see us returning to the kibbutz. I do not assume we are going to ever really feel protected in our residence once more.” – Lotus Lahav, 22, who took shelter in a protected room in Nir Ouncesalong with her mom, Irit
“You lie in a subject along with your spouse, and all is that you must survive in some way to be along with your youngsters.” – Lior Matzner, 32, together with his spouse Bar, 35, who each fled the music competition
“I’m conscious that folks in Gaza stay a life with out hope. To do issues like that, you must get to a spot the place you now not worth your life.” – Nadav Morag, 28, who fled the music competition
“I took our child and escaped.” – Shaylee Atary, 34, along with her one-month-old child, Shaya, whose father was murdered
Their protected room in Kfar Aza supplied no safety. Shaylee Atary’s husband, Yahav, “pressed the door as arduous as he might to maintain them from breaking in,” she stated. She remembers “working outdoors barefoot, holding my child as tight as she might,” hiding amongst bushes and bushes till she reached a neighbor’s shed. She pulled luggage of soil and fertilizer over it, she stated, in an try “to calm Shaya’s cries so the terrorists would not hear her and would not uncover us.”
Her husband, who had remained behind, was lacking for 4 days earlier than she lastly acquired the information that he was useless. She could not carry herself off the ground till she heard Shaya crying.
“When Dad lastly got here residence, I felt safer as a result of he has a gun.” – Noam Pelz, 10, whose father was working of their greenhouses when the assault occurred. The household took shelter of their protected room.
“Bullets hit the door and one hit my abdomen, and I held Avraham, however I used to be not afraid, not for me. I used to be afraid for my grandchildren.” — Simcha Shani along with her husband Avraham, each 79. Their grandson Amit Shani, 15, was kidnapped and brought to Gaza.
“The odor was horrible. The whole lot round us was burned.” – Michal Pinyan, 44, along with her husband, Lotan, 42, and their youngsters Aya, 13; Arbel, 11; and Adar, 9
As they sheltered of their protected room, the identical textual content from moms stored showing in a WhatsApp group in Be’eri: “Assist us!” It wasn’t lengthy earlier than a message got here from Michal Pinyan’s personal mom, who lived close by: “They’re throwing grenades. They attempt to shoot by way of the protected room door. Her final message additionally merely learn: ‘Assist.’
“They lived three minutes away from me, and I am going loopy as a result of I am unable to assist them and so they had been killed,” Ms. Pinyan stated of her mother and father. “They had been each 69.”
“I used to be in some way beneath the impression that that they had been discovered useless at residence, however a good friend who recognized them stated their our bodies had been thrown outdoors,” she added. “They’d each been shot within the head and their arms had been cuffed with black cable ties.”
“My household is in Gaza.” – Avichai Brodetz, 42, whose spouse, Hagar, 40, was kidnapped from Kfar Aza and brought hostage with their daughters Ophri, 10; Yuval, 8; and Uriya, 4. A neighbor’s 3-year-old daughter, Avigayil, was additionally taken.
“We had been trapped beneath loopy hearth for 4 hours.” – Ido Belkin, 21, an off-duty Israel Protection Drive soldier who was injured after responding to a misery name and speeding to a base in Zikim
