My dog Kai saved me. Thanks to him, I survived 27 hours in the safe room. Every time terrorists came into the house to open the door to the safe room, Kai would warn me, and I would hold the door handle from the inside, preventing them from entering.
Credit: Bar K. (published on Maariv)
On Friday at noon, we were at the 29th birthday party of the late Yuval Solomon, who was among the murdered. In the evening, I sat with friends and continued to celebrate the birthday in the Dor Tza’ir [younger generation] neighborhood in the kibbutz, and then went to bed late. On Saturday morning at 6:30 am, I heard red alert sirens. I slept in the safe room, and the sirens continued non-stop for about half an hour. I'm used to red alert sirens and after they were finished, continued to sleep. At 9:15 am, my dog Kai woke me up. I got up, brushed my teeth, and started hearing shouts in Arabic.
“There were about 60 terrorists, and a mob of people aged about 14 to 60 who had broken into the kibbutz.”
My house is the one closest to the agricultural areas, and the window of my safe room was open. I looked out and saw motorcycles and cars coming in from the back gate of the kibbutz. There were about 60 terrorists, and a mob of people aged about 14 to 60 who had broken into the kibbutz. They were in the second wave of terrorists that broke in. In the first wave, I was sleeping and they passed by my house. Not fifteen minutes went by, and they burst through the gates of the kibbutz. There is a small grove behind my house, and they gathered there to organize. There was someone, probably their commander, who checked them. There were 14-year-old boys who took ammunition out of their school bags and distributed it. I thought, ‘Where is the army to stop them?’
“There were 14-year-old boys who took ammunition out of their school bags and distributed it.”
We talked on the kibbutz Whatsapp groups, the neighborhood and second-hand groups, where things are sold and bought, and realized that the terrorists had come to take over the kibbutz. A short time later, their commander shouted something in Arabic and they [the terrorists] all stormed out.
Terrorists came into my house. The safe room was locked, but the window was open. One of them shouted in Hebrew, with an Arabic accent, “Everyone out!” He tried to open the door of the safe room but failed. He called out and tried again, but I held the handle with all my strength. One of the terrorists fired 6 bullets into the door, and they went through the door just millimeters below where my hand was holding the handle. The shots made a hole in the door and through it, I saw the terrorist. My dog started to howl; he must have been hit by shrapnel. There was a wound, but it wasn’t bleeding. The terrorist heard the dog's howls and must have thought he had hit me. He tried to open the door again, and when he couldn’t, he left and went to other houses.
“One of the terrorists fired 6 bullets into the door, and they went through the door just millimeters below where my hand was holding the handle.”
I couldn't hold the door handle the whole time. Every time terrorists came into the house, the dog warned me, and that's how I realized that they would try again, and held the handle. The dog saved my life. There were terrorists in the apartment. I smelled the coffee they prepared in the Fingan [Turkish-style coffee maker] and their cigarettes. I heard my neighbor shout, “Don't shoot! I don't have a weapon!” and then they burned down his house. At night, I wanted to go out the window of the safe room to bring the dog water and take him out for a quick walk, but there were terrorists and I stayed inside.
“I heard my neighbor shout, “Don't shoot! I don't have a weapon!” and then they burned down his house.”
[On Sunday], I heard army forces at the door of my house, and shouted that the door of my safe room was stuck. I shouted to the soldiers, “I'm a citizen! The door is open!" At first, they didn't believe me. After about 10 seconds, when they saw the dog through the open window, they told me, “We'll get you out.” They were surprised that I had survived. There was a delay in the rescue from the area, because there were warnings about groups of terrorists. A terrorist tried to shoot in our direction, and was neutralized by the soldiers.
Later, I saw a charge [on my credit card] for about 6,000 shekels for online purchases. The charges included registration for an interior design school in Egypt and purchasing something in San Francisco. I called the credit company and explained that my credit card was in Gaza, and they immediately canceled the charges. I see no reason to go there [Kfar Gaza]. The sights of the corpses, the destruction I saw, they seemed to be taken from a war movie in a million-shekel Hollywood production.
Credit: Maariv