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A year after Pillar of Defense some families have yet to return home

On last day of Operation Pillar of Defense, two rockets destroyed two houses. A year after, two families struggle to return to routine as they wait for houses to be reconstructed

A year after Operation Pillar of Defense, the Hachmon family, whose Beersheba house was devastated by a Grad rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, has yet to return to their home.  

 

"It's been a very tough year, and end seems nowhere in sight," said Ronit, the matriarch of the family from her rented home a few blocks from her original house. "Every noise makes us jump." 

 

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The fateful rocket hit took place hours before an armistice deal was reached between Israel and Hamas – on November 20, 2012. "I actually recall feeling sort of happy," the family's father Aharon recalls. "All of us were in the shelter together, so I knew everyone (of my five children) was safe and sound. I was the first to exit the shelter. Then, after the rocket fell, we just dealt with all the people arriving.  

 

Hachmon's daughter outside ruined home (Photo: Gil Yochanan)
Hachmon's daughter outside ruined home (Photo: Gil Yochanan)

 

"The kids had a different experience. They were in shock and were crying. I was also in shock. I took them aside and said 'listen, we always hear in the news that a rocket hit a house, but they never tell you what happens next. We need to prepare for that.' At that day I knew I was entering a world of bureaucracy, but I had no idea to what extent."  

 

The children had a particularly hard time dealing with the situation. "It's not easy, suddenly being moved around again and again," the father stressed. According to him, it takes seven months until the State reaches a decision regarding the amount the family will receive for renovating the house.  

 

Hachmon home (Photo: Herzl Yosef)
Hachmon home (Photo: Herzl Yosef)

 

"After they kept delaying, the manager (of the reimbursement process) saw my wife and told her 'I'm sorry your case got lost in the process.' I felt I couldn’t forgive them for something like this. They were suspicious of us, as if we are working some angle. We ended up receiving a ridiculous sum." 

 

According to the mother, "We had to pay out of our own pockets for an appraisal that would give us what we deserve. We learnt a lot of valuable lessons this year. Our family went through a serious crisis. Our kids preferred sleeping at their friend's house and not in our home. But there were so many supportive people; even strangers were kind to us."  

 

In response, the Israeli Tax Authority, which handels reimbursements, said "the Hachmon family opted to renovate their house through a private contractor and not through one employed by the Tax Authority. There were disagreements between the family's construction engineer and that of the State, which delayed the process' completion. The family received 11 months of rent, five of which after the date of payment."  

 

Bizarre experience

On the same fateful day, Shiran and Koby Mordechai were sitting in their home in Rishon Lezion together with their twins Liam and Liel, 4, and their youngest child Amit, who was 2-years-old at the time. As in the previous days, sirens sounded and the family would run to their shelter, where they would anxiously wait.  

 

However, on that day, instead of a faint and muffled boom, the family heard a deafening blast. A rocket launched by Hamas had slammed directly into their building, the northern most hit registered by the terror group during the November operation.  

 

"We exited the shelter and there was no house. Everything was in ruins. Everything was destroyed," Koby recalls. "At the time I didn't know that the rocket had literally penetrated the ceiling and the floor had collapsed. If we had taken a wrong step we could have fallen to a lower story."  

 

It was the operation's seventh day, and even though rockets were fired at central Israel before, this Fajr rocket was the first to register a direct hit in a residential area. Two people were lightly wounded in the incident and an additional four people suffered traumatic shock.  

 

A year has since passed, and this week Ynet accompanied the Mordechai family to their newly reconstructed home. Electricity is still not running and hence they are forced to climb six flights of stairs to reach their apartment.  

 

Renovated house (Photo: Yaron Brenner)
Renovated house (Photo: Yaron Brenner)

 

For the month and half following the hit; the family lived in a hotel, afterwards they rented an apartment not far from the one destroyed by the rocket.  

 

"The State paid for everything: For the hotel and our current rent. Our rent budget was decided according to our previous home and we were allowed to live anywhere we wanted. Obviously we chose to live in the same area, so our kids could preserve as much of their current routine as possible."  

 

Despite the hardship, the couple seem at peace with their situation, despite the fact that a year has passed and the renovation of their home has yet to be completed.  

 

"They gave us a year's rent in advance, on the assumption we would move back in September. September has come and gone and we have yet to return, but its not that they threw us out into the street."  

 

Shiran summarized the passing year, calling it a "bizarre experience." Smiling she says "I am sure that if you would have asked me a year ago if I would be standing here talking to you smiling then I would have said 'no.' I assumed I would be traumatized and scarred, but we choose to take this as an experience, as a positive journey, which will come full circle once we return home."

 

 

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פרסום ראשון: 11.09.13, 22:11
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