‘They’re shooting at our house’: Eyewitnesses recount horrors following Gazan infiltration
Israeli troops take position in the southern city of Beersheba following an unprecedented militant attack by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo by Getty Images
This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
Dozens of Palestinian terrorists crossed the border from Gaza into Israel on Saturday morning and infiltrated several communities in the south. Residents reported on Israeli radio and television that terrorists were passing from home to home and there were firefights with Israeli defense forces in some locations.
Some eight hours after the terrorists were first reported in the border communities, a resident of one of the area kibbutzim reported that the shooting was still going on.
“There are still clashes on the kibbutz. We’re hearing gunfire. Apparently there are lots of forces here,” he said. “In the meanwhile, people have their hands on their shelter doors, fearing that terrorists will try to enter the homes again. Homes are being torched. We’re waiting tensely, communicating with each other via phone and email. There are horrible rumors.”
The resident of another kibbutz on the Gaza border also reported that terrorists tried to break into her home. “The Israel Defense Forces isn’t here. I’m pregnant and have a baby, and they’re shooting at our house, at the window. They tried to break through our door. I don’t understand why the IDF isn’t here. I don’t understand where the IDF is. From 6 A.M. no one has been here,” she said.
Another kibbutz resident said that “no one came to help” as terrorists tried to break into her home.
“There are terrorists passing between the homes and shooting at the walls,” a resident said early on as the scale of the attacks became apparent. “They need to send forces, police, army, I don’t know what. Send people.” She said there were several wounded people on the kibbutz.
Another kibbutz resident said: “We’re locked in the safe room, occasionally hearing shots from outside. I don’t think there are enough army forces here and it’s very strange. This has been going on for four and a half hours already. How long does it take the army to get here?”
Eyewitnesses reported that terrorists also struck an outdoor rave being held next to Kibbutz Re’im.
Omer, who had been at the rave, said: “Suddenly shooting started from all directions and we saw people running at us with weapons. People ran in every direction, jumped into every vehicle they saw and fled. There are people hiding outside. There were hundreds of people here. We need people to come and help us.”
Omer said he hid by a boulder until he heard shouts of “Allah akbar” nearby. “That’s when we all piled into a car and fled, but the road was full of burnt-out cars and terrorists started shooting at us. There are terrorists on the side of the road. They’re standing with vests and M-16s and waiting for you. Some are out of ammunition because they shot at us but others were shooting, and the driver was swerving between the bullets. It was horrible. It was a battlefield.”
Another rave participant recalled: “It was a mess. They came from every direction. People were heading like sheep to the slaughter.”
One border resident reported that terrorists had entered her home. “My husband is holding the shelter door, they’re shooting at the door. There are lots of families here. They entered lots of homes. Would someone please get here already,” she pleaded.
Residents of one of the kibbutzim said they were under attack and not receiving any help from the IDF.
“People are holding on to their doors inside their homes so the terrorists won’t enter,” reported one woman.
A resident of one of the southern cities said she could hear shooting from the street.
“My aunt, who also lives in the neighborhood, said she has seen terrorists. We don’t know what’s going on. We’re not leaving the house, even though we don’t have a safe room. The police have said they’re on their way for half an hour already.”
Gaia, a Tel Aviv resident whose family lives in one of the kibbutzim bordering Gaza, said her sister told her that terrorists had infiltrated her home. “I asked her on chat where she is – and since then she hasn’t answered. I have no idea what’s going on with her. My 18-year-old brother is alone in the safe room right now. He’s holding the door because he heard the terrorists,” she said. “The army isn’t there, there’s no one helping them,” she said her brother told her.
Ran, who serves on one of the Gaza border community’s security groups, said: “There were very heavy exchanges of fire up until recently. We’re prepared for them to approach our perimeter.”
The security officer of one of the area communities said he was told the working assumption is that terrorists infiltrated nearly all the border communities.
According to police sources, slightly north of the border area, terrorists entered the Sderot police station on Saturday morning and firefights broke out. Yaron Sasson, spokesman for the Sderot municipality, said residents were locked inside their homes because terrorists had infiltrated the city. “Of course no one has gone to synagogue. The streets are empty until further notice,” he said.
Alongside the infiltration from Gaza, rocket fire from Gaza also continued intermittently. A woman aged about 60 was killed by a rocket strike in Kfar Aviv, near Ashdod, as she was running to a shelter near her home. Her neighbor recounted: “She’s a hero. She would always worry about the moshav. She was born here and she apparently was on her way here to unlock the shelter because she lives nearby. This is a total shock.”
Another neighbor called the deceased “one of the most active women in the community.”
Ori, a resident of Ashkelon, said she saw two vehicles sustain direct rocket hits in the southern city.
“People were heading to synagogue just then. Lucky no one was hurt. We heard explosions from the cars due to the fuel tanks.”
There were also reports of rockets hitting Bedouin towns in southern Israel, where public shelters are scarce and homes lack safe rooms. Taleb Alfarawna, who saw a rocket hit Segev Shalom, said several children were injured and taken to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva.
Younes Abu Salami, a resident of the village of Dahmash, said two of his relatives were lightly injured. “We want protection here. You can’t live like this. Two homes were destroyed. The police are telling us to wait a day or two for them to address everything, but we know nothing will happen, just like two years ago [when a father and his daughter were killed by rocket fire during the May 2021 fighting]. We don’t have safe rooms and there was no warning siren. We heard the siren that went off in [neighboring] Lod.”
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