Only after Yom Kippur ended, more than 24 hours after the attack, did Shmuel and Nehemia fully grasp how close they had come to being killed at Ein Re’iya spring in the West Bank on Sunday morning.
The two men were sitting near the spring when terrorist Kadri Samara opened fire at the vehicle of Netanel “Nati” Shukrun, who was killed in the attack. Had the gunman not encountered Shukrun first, they believe he would have reached them within moments.
‘There was nowhere to run’: footage captures panic during deadly Yom Kippur terror attack
(Video: Nehemia Hazan)
Shmuel and Nehemia, residents of the West Bank settlement of Beit Aryeh, are not armed. They frequently visit the spring, particularly on weekends, and said they had never previously felt unsafe there.
“The spring is close to a main road where there is traffic all the time,” Nehemia told ynet. “I’ve come here with my child and with my family and I never worried.”
‘There was nowhere to run’
The two arrived at the spring at about 11 a.m. and sat beneath a shelter about 1.5 meters from the water.
“We sat, ate, drank and played guitar,” Shmuel said. “At one point I even told Nehemia, ‘Look how many people with guns are here.’”
He said four armed people were at the spring at the time, including two female soldiers.
“It is very unusual for there not to be at least one weapon here,” he said. “In our view, the terrorist waited for the soldiers to leave before beginning the attack.”
At 11:36 a.m., they heard gunfire.
“We were still sitting under the shelter, which is slightly elevated,” Shmuel said. “If the terrorist hadn’t fired at Nati Shukrun, he would have come straight to us. We heard the shots very close, less than 20 meters away, and there was nowhere to run.”
The pair crawled beneath a ramp, the only place near the spring where they could hide. As they waited, Nehemia began filming what was happening around them.
“We were simply waiting for the terrorist to arrive,” he said. “I understood I had nowhere to run and that any attempt to move would expose me.”
In the footage, Nehemia can be heard asking, “What about the army? What about the police?”
“In retrospect, I’m glad I filmed it because it shows people what we went through in the attack and the panic that was there,” he said. “It reminded people of October 7.”
‘Only later did we understand what happened’
Police initially struggled to determine exactly where the attack was taking place because of poor reception and confusion over the location.
During those minutes, Shmuel and Nehemia still did not understand what was unfolding around the spring. They heard continued gunfire but could not tell who was shooting.
“We saw an IDF jeep slam on the brakes and a soldier get out with his weapon drawn, but we didn’t understand what was happening because the shots sounded the same, as if they were coming from the same weapon,” Shmuel said. “Only after several long minutes, when the shooting stopped, did we come out.”
Netanel 'Nati' Shukrun and the terrorist who was captured
(Photo: Courtesy of the family)
“When we saw many military jeeps on the road, we realized we could leave,” Nehemia recalled.
“At first we thought he was wounded or suffering from shock,” Nehemia said. “Only afterward did he tell the soldiers that he had seen his father being shot, and then we understood he had been murdered. It was very difficult to understand what had happened there. Only after I read the investigation did I grasp what a miracle had happened to us.”
Nehemia said the attack would not stop him from returning to the spring.
“I grew up in Jerusalem and there were many attacks in the area, and I was never afraid,” he said.
Shmuel said he felt the same.
“Only yesterday did we understand that the tracker and Nati saved 15 people,” he said. “If they hadn’t been there, the terrorist would have reached us. My first conclusion is to get a firearms license. We are not afraid. We will continue going there and walking around there.”
In the coming days, Shmuel and Nehemia plan to visit the Shukrun family at their home in the settlement of Alei Zahav to offer condolences.
Nehemia already knows what he intends to tell them.
“We will emphasize to them that because of their father, we are alive, and we will thank them,” he said. “Because unequivocally, if he had not shot at the terrorist, the terrorist would have shot us. We hope this will be the last case.”