I don’t even know how to start writing, how to get the words out.
But I’ll simply unload it all because it’s important to me.
Because if I don’t talk, or write, or yell about what happened, I might go insane.
We left for the party on Friday night, like every other time we had gone out – we had fun, we laughed, we loved, we danced, we hugged and took in the beautiful world we saw.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Just like that, all at once, everything turns into a big boom, where no one understands what is going on, other than – “there are rockets in the sky”.
So we start packing everything up into the cars as quickly as possible.
We began to drive towards the exit and then we got stuck in traffic. No one really understands what is happening to our left, to our right, in front of us or behind us and then we stop. Everyone is standing, some inside the cars, others outside, in order to try and understand what is going on. 20 minutes go by until a police officer runs and yells “Start running towards the fields, everyone run, there are terrorists”. And just like that, everyone starts running as fast as they can without knowing where to, simply running with no direction, no thought, just running. We are running, and we still don’t understand what exactly is going on, until we hear the whistle of bullets above our heads and next to our ears. Chaos ensues in every direction, and we run run run run, some of us stop, they can’t go on and they hide or freeze in place. We run and we can’t even think about the people around us or about what is happening behind us.
“We aren’t thinking about anything, we aren’t feeling anything, we’re simply running”
We stop for a few minutes and try to look for an answer, to understand our next steps.
We are running for our lives for half an hour, then stop and breathe for a minute and talk, not knowing where to go, without understanding where the army is, where the police are, who’s leading us, where are the security forces to help us.
Boom.
Another burst of gunfire, boom and we’re running again, into the unknown. Just running, running, running, running, walking, and running again. And throughout this whole time, we don’t understand what is really going on since we’re focused on saving ourselves. We’re filled with adrenaline, and we aren’t thinking about anything, we aren’t feeling anything, we’re simply running.
“I’m still not able to fully understand what we went through there”
After around 15km (9.3 miles) in the fields, we start getting closer to a safer place – Moshav Patish, and we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The only assistance we got at that point was from good-hearted citizens, who picked us up from the burning field, into their homes, into safety and cared for us like their own children. I want to thank you on behalf of us all.
It doesn’t begin to describe what we all went through, by all I mean everyone at the Nova festival and all the citizens of the surrounding Gaza area, of the kibbutzim and the surrounding area. At least from my point of view.
I’m okay, thank god, healthy and in one piece, I managed to get home safely.
But friends, acquaintances, loved ones and volunteers did not manage to get home safely… This is a day of mourning, a day of… I don’t have a word to describe it.
Only when I was on my way home on the bus from Patish to Be’er Sheva after everything we went through, I started to understand that this could have ended differently.
I’m still not able to fully understand what we went through there, what I went through there, it will take time I’m sure.
I want to express my condolences and sorrow to all those who did not make it back, who were killed and murdered in cold blood!!!
And to all the hostages, to anyone missing, may they come back home safely as fast as possible, amen!
I pray that we hear good news and have better days, amen!
This is from my point of view, of the horrors that unfolded on 7.10.23.
Of course, to all our soldiers, stay safe and take care of yourself!
Yarin H.