"My dream is for my father to come home, along with my friends who were kidnapped. I will never forget how the terrorists took us out of the safe room at gunpoint and marched us on the kibbutz. They put my father in a car and drove at crazy speed. That's the last time I saw him."
Thus, when the difficult memories do not let go of her, Oren Sharabi (13), who survived the terrible massacre in Bari with her sisters Yuval and Ofir and her mother Nira, but was forced to watch her father, Yossi Sharabi, abducted to Gaza.
Oren and her friends, Gefen and Hadar, aged 13 and 14, have been friends since they were born on the beautiful kibbutz near Gaza. On Black Saturday, October 7, each of them found herself in a situation that no teenage girl should experience.
Right: Gefen Shabo, Oren Sharabi and Hadar Bahar, Photo: Yoni Rikner
Hadar, whose family members were injured in front of her eyes, gave them emergency initial treatment until they no longer showed signs of life. Geffen hid with her mother and brother in a closet while the terrorists set fire to their home, and later survived for hours in a small hiding place on the roof of their burning house - until rescuers arrived.
A month after the inferno, the three friends stay together in a hotel on the Dead Sea that took in evacuees from Bari, continuing to support each other. Every now and then they sneak a mutual smile, confident that they will overcome everything. "Right now we have nowhere to go back, because all our houses are burnt. We came here barefoot without clothes, but we have hope to return to Bari," they explain.
Here are their personal and chilling stories from the day that shook all of Israel.
"We realized we would burn on the roof or die downstairs."
Geffen Shabo (14) hid with her mother and three brothers in an alcove, while the soldier brother fought terrorists at home
"When the sirens started, we went into the safe room, and then WhatsApp messages started running about terrorist infiltration. We heard explosions near the house. My father, who was on a bicycle ride, heard the shots and wanted to go into Bari, but the terrorists chased him and injured him in the hand.
"When we realized that the terrorists were entering the houses, we went up to the second floor, where we have a large storage room in a closet. We went into hiding, including my brother, who serves in the army and has weapons. At 9 a.m., the terrorists entered the house and started breaking everything. They had a meal and looted our equipment.
Kibbutz Be'eri after the massacre, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"At some point, one of the terrorists noticed the warehouse door and tried to open it. He glanced at the viewfinder at the door, and then my brother shot him. The other terrorists realized there was someone upstairs, and a shootout started in the house between my brother and the terrorists. My brother told us, 'No matter what happens to me, you don't go outside.' He killed a few more terrorists, and then they started throwing grenades from below. They took a tire and burned it next to us, so the smoke would force us out."
When the smoke filled the room, the family decided to go out to a small balcony: "It's an alcove where the air conditioners are located, and it's located in a socket in the roof. We went down there and hid for hours, even though the floor was really boiling. All this time, we couldn't stop hearing gunshots and red alert sirens, but we couldn't call for help. Our roof started burning from the fire, everything exploded around us, and I was already sure we were dead.
"At a certain point, we realized that we had no other options – either we burn in the burning roof, or we go downstairs, to a place where there might still be terrorists. Then we heard IDF forces coming to rescue us.
"My whole house burned down, I don't think anything was left of my room. But a house is just a house, just objects. What is important to me is that all the abductees return safely."
"I tried to save, but slowly the breathing stopped."
Hadar Bachar (14) survived with her father, who lost his leg, but had to watch her mother and 16-year-old brother die before her eyes
It is hard to remain indifferent to the heroic story of Hadar Bachar (14), who, despite being wounded in the terrorist attack herself, took care of her mother and brother, who unfortunately did not survive. Hadar pretended to be dead, but did not stop trying to call for help.
"On Saturday we entered the safe room - me, my mother Dana, my father Avida and my brother Carmel. At some point, the terrorists entered the house and knocked on the safe room door. My father and brother held the door tightly, and then the terrorists fired at it and hit my brother, while my father kept holding on to prevent them from breaking in. The terrorists fired another burst, hitting my father as well. My mother and I immediately gave my brother a tourniquet."
A soldier standing inside a destroyed house in Kibbutz Be'eri, photo: AP.
The terrorists, who did not manage to break through the safe room door, began burning it from outside, which sent thick smoke inside. "I opened the window a little bit so that the smoke would come out, and they came from outside and threw three grenades at us, two exploded, and then I injured myself.
"They went on and fired a burst again. He hit my mother, who died a few minutes later. Despite all my attempts to help her, I felt that she wasn't moving. I put my finger under her nose, and then I realized she wasn't breathing. My father told me to take care of my brother. I tried to resuscitate him, but I couldn't.
"At one point, I hid in a suitcase, while talking to MDA. Slowly, Carmel's breathing stopped and he died. Every time, my father told me: 'They deal with those who live.' All this time no one came to help, we waited for the army to arrive."
Finally, after hours of inferno in the safe room, the soldiers arrived. "They couldn't open the burnt safe room door, so I had to go out the window. I didn't have the strength, I couldn't, but they said I had no choice. I fought to get my father rescued, because at first they thought he didn't stand a chance. Fortunately, he too was rescued and survived.
"Since the incident, I've been dealing with the pain with the help of social workers, and the fact that we, the companies, are together also helps me. I hope we will return to Bari in the near future. When we're all there together again, maybe it will give us some peace of mind."
"They broke in and Dad shouted: 'Leave my children alone.'"
Oren Sharabi (13) was in the safe room with her two sisters and mother, but her father, Yossi Sharabi, was eventually kidnapped to Gaza
"On Black Saturday morning, after the siren, we heard gunshots in the distance. At a certain point, the kibbutz's WhatsApp groups began to register that there were terrorists. Messages like 'My mom and dad were shot.' Suddenly, we heard people speaking Arabic outside the house and shots being fired nearby. My father was holding the safe room door from inside, and we heard the terrorists coming into the house.
Kibbutz Be'eri after the Hamas terrorist attack, photo: Reuters
"They tried to break through the safe room, but they couldn't, and then it became quiet. At some point they came back - and this time managed to open the door. My sisters and I were lying under the covers, and my parents were protecting us by the door. The terrorists entered the safe room and shot my dog, which was lying in a pool of blood. They asked who was under the covers, and my father shouted to let us go. The terrorists told us to get out and marched us out of the house, pointing weapons at us. Outside, we saw the terrorists tearing down an Israeli flag that was flying on our house, and they were shouting 'Death to Israel' and 'Massacre al-Yahud.'
"All this time, the terrorists pointed their weapons at us and led us to the lawn in another neighborhood on the kibbutz. They took us to the road, where a black vehicle was waiting. The terrorist told my father and my sister's partner to get in the car. I thought they'd let us in too, meaning they'd kidnap us too, but they left us standing on the road. They took only the men and drove away with a missile. We never saw my father or my sister's boyfriend again."
Oren, together with her mother Nira and her sisters Yuval and Ofir, decided to enter one of the houses in the area to hide from the gunfire and rockets. "We waited in that house until evening. After 12 hours, suddenly we heard Hebrew, soldiers saying, 'Medic, medic.' My mother came out to the window and shouted, 'We are Israelis.' They said they had come to rescue us."
Oren's uncle, Eli Sharabi, was also kidnapped to Gaza. His wife, Lian z"l, and his daughters, Yahel and Noya z"l, who are Oren's cousins, were murdered.
"The last few days have been very difficult for us, but there is always hope that all the abductees will return safely, including my father," Oren says painfully. "I try not to think about what happened. Sometimes I keep myself busy with activities, but the trauma will probably stay with me for the rest of my life. I hope that we can rejoice soon, and that we remain optimistic."
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