On Saturday (7), the day the radical Islamic group Hamas attacked Israel, a kibbutz in the south of the country was invaded by armed extremists who killed and kidnapped a large number of local residents.
Argentinean Vivi Roytman, 73, and her husband, 72, were woken up by the sound of sirens at around 6:30 am and soon ran to the “safe room” they had inside their own home.
Upon entering the room, they locked the door and stayed there, listening to the sound of missiles and also many gunshots and shouts in Arabic outside. Unlike other times, they didn’t leave the room after 10 minutes. On his cell phone, a message in a WhatsApp group from neighbors said that the place had been invaded.
In an interview with CNN , Vivi says that around 10:30 am she heard a very loud noise outside, like glass breaking. It was Hamas members entering his house.
They tried to break down the door of the “safe room” several times, but were unable to do so, as a lock locked the place: “We were very lucky, but other people were not. I have a great friend who is missing, I haven’t heard from her until today, many others ended up dying.”
During the long hours they spent in the room, Vivi and her husband considered leaving a few times, but they feared they were still in danger, as happened after the first time they tried to break down the door. Furthermore, they received messages all the time saying that the danger was still nearby.
Her husband, after a while, decided that he would go out to investigate the situation outside and also help those in need. At that moment, the two said goodbye “I didn’t know if we would see each other again”. During the farewell he asked her not to blame herself if something happened to him.
He left, and Vivi says she felt very scared: “I started to accept that I was going to die, thinking about my children and grandchildren”. She stayed there for approximately two more hours. All the while, she was talking to her neighbors on a WhatsApp group, where requests for help came in.
The last knock on the door of the “safe room” where she was was from her husband, who said: “Vivi, open it, open it, the Army has arrived”. Apprehensive, the Argentine woman believed that her husband could have been kidnapped. When it opened, however, the Army had indeed arrived.
At this point, they had around 20 minutes to collect essential items, such as medicine and clothes, and leave the place. Since then, she has not returned home.
See also: Survivors of Hamas attack at rave party decide to fight in the war
The residence was completely destroyed, reports Vivi, and many personal and valuable belongings, such as inheritances from her mother and grandmother, were taken. To this day, she has not received news of several people who were abducted from the kibbutz, entire families, including children and the elderly.
Some colleagues died as a result of the explosion in their homes, others because of not wanting to leave their “safe room”, in addition to those who were murdered.
Leaving Israel is not in the plans
She and her husband left home and took shelter in another city, further north in the country. Vivi says she has no desire to leave Israel, as she has built a whole life there and, despite the danger, people “have come together a lot”. They, for example, have already received many donations of food, clothing and medicine.
For her, returning to normality has not been easy. To do this, she receives assistance from psychologists and psychiatrists and says she continues to keep in touch with her kibbutz neighbors, who are now spread across various regions of the country, in safer places.
“We want them to release the kidnapped innocents. I hope this ends soon because there are a lot of people on both sides who want to live a normal life, where you go to work, come home and meet your family”, he concludes.
*Interns under the supervision of Felipe Andrade
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
