Israel at war: A difficult day has passed for Israeli residents, especially residents of the Gaza envelope, many of whom were besieged for hours yesterday (Saturday) in their homes and feared for their lives.
A house in Ofakim after the fighting in the south, photo: Ilya Yegorov
Philip and Anya Platonov, residents of the city of Ofakim, were besieged in their home for 24 hours, and relate: "We were closed in the house because in the safe room it is dangerous - I saw them running down the street, five terrorists. The security forces took something like 40 minutes to arrive," says Philip, as his child stands with him next to the blood stains of the residents of Tamar Street, who were not lucky enough during the 24 hours of terror around Gaza. The incident that took place in a ground house opposite their building leaves no room for imagination, the great destruction, the blood stains, the bullets, the shattered windows. The curious neighbors are divided into two, those who feel very lucky, and those who are angry at the omission.
"It's a disgrace what's happening here," Philip's wife Anya recalls, "We were quiet in silence, the only thing we did was take pictures from the window and report to the neighbors as well, my neighbor here is still sitting at home with the children and refuses to open the door for me, I told her several times that everything was fine and she could go out into the yard. They killed her husband, we called on the phone several times, I sent her the video of her husband's evacuation, so she would know what was going on with him because she was inside."
Destruction in a house in Ofakim, photo: Ilya Yegorov
Philip continues, "There was a lot of shooting until 02 a.m., we haven't been able to fall asleep since, 00 hours I think, security personnel were here, so I went down to them with the dog because he had to go out for needs. But leave me alone, I only worried about the children. And most importantly they [the hostages] got out of it safely, from the exchange between them (terrorists) and the policemen we understood that they demanded to return to the Gaza Strip with the abductees and release them only near the fence, they let the elderly man walk around the house because he is sick and his wife knows a little Arabic, from what I understood, and they managed to communicate somehow."
Platonov adds, "We saw them at the moment of liberation how the mother ran to her son, who is also a policeman, the son shouted to her all the time, every fifteen minutes, demanding to hear and see if they were alive." Another neighbor on a bicycle turns around and emphasizes: "They had green car numbers, do you even get it? How did they let them drive 20 kilometers inside Israeli territory to here, their vans are still not far away."
The heavy destruction in Ofakim, the day after the fighting, photo: Ilya Yegorov
Malki and Shelly Shem Tov, whose son was abducted to Gaza, said: "We would expect them to contact all the parents whose children are in captivity and start treating us and explain to us what is going to happen and what steps the government is going to take."
Itai, a resident of Kfar Azza who was besieged in the safe room for hours following the infiltration of terrorists into the kibbutz, told Radio 103FM about the difficult moments: "The fact that I am alive now is a miracle. We spent 12 hours in the safe room, and at 11:00 A.M. I hear people starting to come in. They threw a grenade into the house, the children quietly cooperated. We kissed the mezuzah and said God is with us, I don't remember anything like that in my life. You don't know what to do, the army took a long time to understand what was going on. The army's intelligence failed. We lost a lot of friends in the village of Gaza, a lot of wounded. This is a total failure of the entire army, an operational intelligence failure, a defensive concept for which we will pay dearly. I think there are three culprits here: the chief of staff, the defense minister and the prime minister. Today I think there is a broad consensus to occupy the Gaza Strip."
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