It was another seemingly quiet Saturday when most of the IDF soldiers stationed at a base near Kibbutz Kissufim were spending the Simchat Torah holiday in their homes – unaware that Hamas had launched a murderous offensive against Israel.
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An IDF lookout officer who was at the base’s operation room during the attack told Ynet about the moments of horror that began with incursions against IDF bases, a little after 6:30 a.m.
"I was sleeping when suddenly I heard loud explosions. I was sure I was dreaming," the soldier said. "We were hidden in a barricade for about 15 minutes, and we kept hearing explosions. I couldn’t hear, my head was spinning, my body was shaking, and I could barely speak. My mom called and heard me crying on the phone, I couldn’t stop weeping, saying rockets were being fired at us. I told her the situation was different than usual. The ground was shaking, thoughts raced through my head about what would happen now. Then, a call came from the base’s war room telling us the base was invaded, and we should all evacuate there.”
She continued: "We weren't sure what to do, whether to stay inside the barricade or run to the war room for the slim chance of survival, or whether a rocket would hit us on the way. We decided to run; we didn't believe this was really happening. We trained for a possible breach of the base, but no one thought it would actually happen. I hung up the call with my mom and started running, hoping that a rocket wouldn't land on us. The rockets came so close it sounded like it was falling right next to us. We reached the war room and all the girls screamed and cried. They realized terrorists had hit almost all of our observation points."
"I couldn't find one of my friends, and realized she was left behind in our barracks. She didn't answer her phone, and there was no way to reach her. We begged someone to tell us what was happening, and eventually, they told us the terrorists had reached the base. I was sure I was about to die. I couldn't breathe, my throat was dry, my stomach was churning, and my head was pounding. We heard shots, explosions, and screams. We prayed to God, and that was the only thing that kept us going. Our friends who were celebrating with us the evening before came in with shrapnel and grenade wounds, covered in blood," the soldier recalled.
"Wounded soldiers began entering one after the other. It was like a horror movie. The war room started filling up with wounded, and I couldn't comprehend it even as I watched it. It was complete chaos. There were screams, and there was a woman her a baby in the war room. IDF soldiers fought to save them with the last forces they had, after seeing their friends dying in front of them. They caught us by complete surprise," she added.
"We helped in every way we could. Our friends were killed in front of us and died as we held them against us. We slowly began to realize soldiers who headed outside to protect us didn’t return. Suddenly, our friend who stayed in the barracks came in and said the terrorists had broken into the barracks moments after we escaped. She heard everything - they were breaking into rooms, stealing and shooting, throwing explosives, and killing our friends. One of them even entered my room and locked himself inside. We hid under the tables, some of us in closets, and some helped the wounded. The electricity had failed entirely, and the generator was no longer working. The doors opened, and the terrorists were still outside. We divided the last liters of water among us all."
"They told us the terrorists were on the roof above us and that there were no more IDF forces outside. Only seven combat soldiers stayed with us, and we were sure we wouldn't get out of there alive. Soldiers entered one after the other and shouted that their entire team was killed, that there were no more soldiers, and no one to help us. We begged them to get us out, and then more IDF units began arriving, and could breathe again. Finally, they told us that they were coming to rescue us. I will never forget those long minutes until we got on the bus – bodies were strewn on the ground, we heard gunfire, and saw nothing but darkness. We had to stay quiet, close to each other, and keep running," she concluded.