The results of the direct hit to a residence in Kiryat Shmona/ Kiryat Shmona municipality spokeswoman
Sergeant Major Shlomi Hatuel arrived this morning (Tuesday) as a police officer at the scene of the rocket attack in Kiryat Shmona, but as the forces approached the house - he saw smoke coming from the window of his parents' house, where he grew up. ", he said. "This is the house where I grew up and where my parents live, it's hard to see the destruction in the house where I spent all my childhood and all my family memories," added Shlomi, who was also the one who informed his parents about the incident.
Shlomi also said that as part of his role, arriving at the arena after An alarm is routine, but this time the feelings were complex. "When I was a child, a Katyusha fell near the house, but then the impact was shrapnel," he said. "Today it is a serious impact.
The scouts who were with me know my parents and the house strengthened and supported me.
After all, this is my job now as a police officer in the area."
Shlomi Hatuel near his parents' home that was damaged/official website, spokeswoman for Kiryat Shmona
Damage to a residential apartment, Kiryat Shmona, March 5, 2024/Official website, Kiryat Shmona Municipality Spokesperson
Shlomi's mother, Shula Hatuel, planned to come home this morning - for the first time since she was forced to leave the city.
However, at the last minute, she decided to stay at the hotel in Jerusalem where she is renting with her husband.
"I had a bad feeling in the morning, that I shouldn't travel, and I told my husband that I would stay in a hotel in Jerusalem," she said.
"He insisted, but I managed to convince him to stay," she added about the gut feeling that may have saved her life, when a few hours later she received the difficult call from her son about the destruction of their home.
"He sent us pictures of the destroyed apartment," she said.
"It's hard to see her in this condition, but I take comfort in the fact that there were no casualties in the firing on the city today. We were very lucky that we didn't arrive."
Shula came to Kiryat Shmona with her family when she was a child, 61 years ago, and has never left since.
She married there, started a family and raised seven children.
until the current war.
"The day they said they were evacuating, I threw some clothes in a bag and we ran away. There are other families from the city at the hotel, and everyone's mental state is difficult. It's not easy to be evacuated from your home. People are powerless, they wake up in the morning depressed. That's it, we no longer have the strength," she added.
Damage to a residential apartment, Kiryat Shmona, March 5, 2024/Official website, Kiryat Shmona Municipality Spokesperson
Damage to a residential apartment, Kiryat Shmona, March 5, 2024/Official website, Kiryat Shmona Municipality Spokesperson
Shlomi Hatuel has been serving in the police for 29 years, when at the police station in Kiryat Shmona he serves as a detective.
He built his home in the nearby Moshav Kfar Yuval, where he lived with his wife and four daughters, when during the Sixth War they moved to a hotel in Kibbutz Eilat HaShahar.
They live in one room, a pair of parents and four daughters.
"It's not an easy reality of life, we moved from a comfortable life at home into a 20 square meter apartment," said Shlomi about the difficulty associated with the period.
"The girls' school days are short, but we understand that this is a period that needs to be passed and we are not complaining, we just want the soldiers to return home safely."
He also said that two months ago, Ayalon and his mother Mira were killed in Moshav Barak when an anti-tank missile hit their home. "Barak was my friend," said Shlomi. "The situation in Moshav is difficult, I don't come to our house, but Kiryat Shmona is also sad, the city is empty.
You don't see people on the streets."
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Kiryat Shmona
War of Iron Swords
Gaza war
Hezbollah
Lebanon