Surviving the Hamas attack on Saturday. More stories are emerging of how Israeli citizens survived the border massacre early on Saturday when Hamas militants crossed into Israel and attacked small towns on the southern border, as well as military outposts.
One of the stories is that of a journalist, who lives in a kibbutz with his wife and 2 daughters. Amir Tibon, a diplomatic correspondent for the Haaretz newspaper spoke to BBC journalist Julian Worricker and told him how he and his family were rescued.
Survived the Hamas attack on their kibbutz on Saturday
Tibon says they were woken in the early hours of Saturday morning by an alarm, signalling an attack. His 2 young daughters (3 years and 1 year) were sleeping in the safe room in the house and so he and his wife also went to the safe room. They were quite used to this as they live on the border and must take cover from rockets fired from Gaza.
“We told them right from the start you have to be quiet. No noise, no speaking, because there are bad people outside. And they listened. They were so mature.”
“They couldn’t see us in the dark. And yet they understood from the energy that we exhibited that this was serious.”
Many stories of heroism
The journalist told the BBC that when he had cell reception in the morning, he texted his father, who is a retired Israel military general. The 62-year-old then told him, he was coming. As a weapon, his father brought along one pistol.
“We had no idea what this means. How is he going to come here? What is he going to do”.
He added, “I told myself, right now, I’m asking my two young daughters to put their faith in me and to believe me. And I told myself, just like I’m asking them to trust me, I need to trust my father.”
His mom and dad then set off on a trip from Tel Aviv to reach their child, a father with a family, who was barricaded in a safe room in his house on the border.
“We told them all the time that he (granddad) was coming because, toward the end, they just wanted to get out.”
Along the way, they rescued dozens of people, including barefoot people, who had been attending a music concert at an outside venue. Militants had fired and killed more than 200 concert-goers.
READ MORE: We are going to die here
His parents also witnessed an Israel Defence Force jeep being ambushed. 6 militants were killed and several soldiers were wounded. Tibon’s mother took the injured to a medical facility.
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At the same time, his father engaged some soldiers, who recognised him from his former military career and they set off for the kibbutz, where his son and several hundreds of people were still trapped.
After 10 hours
Tibon says after 10 hours, all his daughters wanted to do, was to leave their safe haven, as they had been cooped up there in the dark and without food, for so long.
“They couldn’t stand it anymore. And the one thing that kept them focused was our promise that their grandfather is on the way and he will open the door for us,” Tibon elaborated.
During their ordeal, barricaded inside the safe room, they could hear the militants try and gain access to their home. Several shots were fired at the dwelling.
READ MORE: There were terrorists inside
Some of Tibon’s neighbours in the kibbutz were killed, some were injured and others were kidnapped.
Proud of my daughters
Tibon explains how they were rescued: “We heard the exchange of fire. And that’s when I told my wife that he’s on his way, that he’s coming. At 4 pm, this is now 10 hours after we were locked, we heard a bang on the window of the safe room and my father’s voice.
”Then my daughter, Galia, who is 3 and a half years old, said, Grandfather is here. And we all just started crying.”
He concluded, “There are so many stories of heroism, and I’m very proud of what my father did for us, but also for so many other people. I’m most proud, more than anything in the world of my two daughters for how they dealt with this.”
