Occupied Jerusalem – The achievement of the Martyr Iss al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in its surprise attack on southern “Gaza enclave” settlements and Israeli cities has entered collective memory. Israelis, and the “national shock” will be remembered forever.
By the eighth day of the war, the effects of this shock began to emerge, with the voices of many Jewish families rejecting the possibility of a return to cover.
In light of the Israeli warplane bombings and the preparations of the Israeli army for ground infiltration wars that are destroying the Gaza Strip, Israeli newspapers, in their magazines published last weekend, devoted their headlines and pages to the effects of “Al”. -Axa Flood” war on enclave residents.
The evacuation of 60,000 people from 22 settlements became known among Israelis as the “Black Saturday” events.
Leave the country
Journalist Shlomit Tzur headlined his report in the weekend edition of the “Tamar Ker” newspaper, “The idea is not to leave the Gaza Strip, but to leave the country.” Interviews he conducted with Israeli families in “Gaza enclave” settlements. .
Dahlia and Baruch Bacher, who lived in Kibbutz Bari in the “Gaza enclave” since 1956 and were evacuated from there to a hotel in the Dead Sea after being rescued from the wars, did not take long for the answers of the “Tamar Ker” newspaper. The question is whether they will do so – stay in The Kibbutz – and they say, “We will not return to the enclave at this point until we recover from the shock.”
Al-Aqsa recounted the first moments of the flood war in the newspaper, “We have been in all of Israel’s wars, but we have never seen anything like this before. Our lives were in immediate danger. We feel like we are left. Displaced. From now on we will be residents of another town.
Loss of security
“But it is doubtful that the couple’s determination to return to the Bari settlement in the near future reflects the feelings of most residents of the Gaza Strip,” says a resident of the agricultural settlement, “Sde Nitzan,” who is currently in Eilat. Must be anonymous.
And, “We live 7 kilometers from the border fence with Gaza, and yet the terrorists were able to enter. There is no sense of security in the Gaza Strip.”
He continued, “It took a long time for the army to arrive, which caused us this war and its devastating consequences. We felt that the government and its institutions had abandoned us. Our city did not receive a budget. We were building shelters to protect against rocket bombs, but we built them ourselves and with our money, which in the city Helped feel safe.” previous rounds. “Hamas going in and succeeding in doing that is incomprehensible,” he insisted.
She continued, “We all dreaded the sight of armed groups breaking in, and we knew it would come one day, but not this way. We knew that as soon as the gunman stepped over the fence, the army would jump. If not within 5 minutes, within half an hour, but 10 hours.” Time? We defended ourselves, not the army.
Summarize
Asked if this was the first time she thought about leaving Sde Nitzan, she replied, “The idea is not to leave the settlement, but to leave Israel. The government has abandoned me, I feel if the government allows this. , this will never end, I have no way to protect my children, they are broken.” “Something is here, we have been in wars, we have cried for the dead. But something else happened here.”
The desire not to return to the settlements around the Gaza Strip is not limited to families and residents, but also to some local leaders there.
Tamir Idan, head of the Sdot Negev Regional Council, who had been adamant throughout the previous round of fighting about the Home Front’s tenacity in the southern settlements, heard differently this time after the Al-Aqsa flood battle.
According to him, although the desire for the prosperity of the wasteland has always overcome all obstacles, the inhabitants of the settlements have internal limitations and obstacles.
“The shooters killed 16 workers in a few minutes. Normally, every small animal that approaches the security fence alerts the entire system. In this case, the intruder was not 4 gunmen, but hundreds.”
“Black Saturday”
Idan attributed his reluctance to return to the cover to the events of “Black Saturday,” when the head of the Shaar Hanekev Regional Council, Obir Lipstein, was killed, and his body was thrown for more than 24 hours due to incapacitation. Security forces collected and recovered it due to clashes.
The idea that the residents of the agricultural settlement “Bari” will never return was described by Haim Yellen, one of the founders of the settlement and a former Knesset member of the “Future Has” party.
He explained, “This is the price you pay when the Zionist settlement in the Gaza Strip loses safety and security and feels that you are living in a circle of danger, in light of the state’s inability and failure to provide security.”
After what happened on “Black Saturday” – events completely different from the previous round of fighting – many families and young couples, after the evacuation, openly said that they would not return to the “Gaza envelope”.
He continued, “They justified this by saying that they could not bring up their children in the atmosphere and environment that they had lived in for the past decade, and its inhabitants had no safety or security.”
Horror movie
The same thoughts and testimonies were collected and documented by the reporter of “Haaretz” newspaper, Noah Spiegel, who reported that even the people who were evacuated from the Gaza Strip and whose houses are still standing are not sure if they have a place. With the marks of terror still etched on people’s faces, they discover… It’s hard to imagine returning to the cover zone.
Spiegel recounts her experience documenting the testimonies of families there when the events began, many repeatedly asking, “Where do I turn? Why do I turn? I need a millionaire to build me a house? Who will build me? A house? No one tells us if we really have a place to return to.” .” Where do we go back?
Yael Statin tries to describe what happened to her on Saturday, “a horror movie,” she said at her home in the Ein Hashlolasha neighborhood with her 7-year-old grandson, 21-year-old daughter and The. Daughter’s 22-year-old partner.
He added, “The calls started from relatives. They said the gunmen were inside. I didn’t understand. I thought they were making things up again. Then a farmer connected with a military correspondent spoke to me. Yale, they’re at your house.”
After the incident, Staten decided not to return to “Ain Hashlolsha”, saying, “I won’t go back there. I lived there for 40 years. We went through things and I’m not afraid because I know I’m protected. The army but this time it was different, The shelter saved us, I am brave and strong, but the fear is more than me, I have no home to return to, I am not mentally or physically capable of returning there.”
“Creator. Award-winning problem solver. Music evangelist. Incurable introvert.”
