Survivors of the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz have described the terrifying moment they realised the army was not coming to help. The kibbutz, home to about 400 people, lies just 600 metres from the Gaza Strip, and was one of 20 locations targeted in the assault that killed more than 700 Israelis.
Nadav Peretz and Eli Dudaei, both 42, moved to Nahal Oz from Tel Aviv seven years ago seeking a quieter life. On Saturday morning, after air raid sirens sounded, they heard gunfire and explosions. They retreated to their safe room with their dog, Mack, and stayed there for hours as Hamas militants broke into homes and set fires to force families out.
“We drill for this kind of thing, we practise, the whole community knows what to do; it was terrifying but I guess everyone went back into the safe rooms. As the time wore on though, we realised that the army hadn’t come to help,” said Dudaei, a primary school teacher. “These fences that go metres under the ground, that we spend millions on. They didn’t help.”
The couple are now safe at Peretz’s parents’ house in Beersheba. They believe at least two entire families from the kibbutz were killed, and two more kidnapped and taken to Gaza as hostages. In a video filmed by a Hamas gunman and livestreamed on social media, a little girl and boy from the kibbutz sobbed on the kitchen floor after their sister was killed.
Israel has retaliated with massive shelling and relentless strikes on Gaza, pledging to hit thousands of targets. About 500 people in the strip have died in the bombardments. The conflict is on a scale not seen since the Yom Kippur war of 1973.
