Residents near Gaza Strip beg for IDF help as they fight off terrorists
Speaking from safe rooms close to the infiltrated Gaza border, locals say there is little military presence in their communities as gunmen freely move house to house
Six hours into the mass infiltration of at least dozens of terrorists from Gaza, Israeli civilians living near the Gaza Strip continued to plead for help, reporting on shooting by terrorists inside kibbutzim and other residential areas while saying in some cases there was little or no IDF presence on the streets.
A resident of Kibbutz Be’eri told Channel 12 news that her father had been kidnapped from a southern border community by Hamas terrorists and taken to the Gaza Strip.
“He messaged me that they were in the house,” she said, through tears. “He told me they were taking him,” she said, adding that she saw pictures of him in Gaza.
The Israeli military reported it was fighting Hamas terrorists in a number of locations in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. The gun battles were taking place in and around the towns and kibbutzim of Kfar Aza, Sderot, Sufa, Nahal Oz, Nirim, Magen, Be’eri and the Re’im military base.
Speaking with Channel 12 from the entrance to his mother’s home near the Gaza Strip, another resident said kibbutzim and moshavim in the area were being infiltrated “one by one” and homes burned to the ground. He said the skies above the Gaza Strip were quiet: “We look on the horizon at Gaza and it is not burning, and that is terrible,” he said, apparently referring to a lack of prompt Israeli military response in the Hamas-run Strip.
Inside the home along with his three-year-old daughter, he said he was attempting to stay calm, but added, “I am just waiting for the terrorists… They are going from house to house and we are just waiting for them to come to us.”
He said a few armed residents were attempting to fight off the gunmen, but “no one is helping them, there is no soldier outside… My friends are being killed while fighting for their homes.”
A pregnant Kibbutz Sufa resident spoke to Channel 12 from a safe room with her two-year-old child and close family members, saying, “They are shooting at our house; they are trying to break down the door of the safe room.”
She reported that her husband and four other armed residents were fighting in the streets outside, again with no aid from the IDF. “I don’t understand how this is still going on. We’ve been in this situation since 6 in the morning,” she said, speaking several hours later. “Four people cannot fight them off alone. Send help, please,” she cried, saying she was sitting in the safe room holding a knife.
The Israel Defense Forces said in the late morning that it had launched “Operation Swords of Iron” in response to the Hamas attack on Israel, which the terror group called “Operation Al-Aqsa Deluge.”
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Hamas terrorists infiltrated from land, sea and air. There were at least seven sites of fighting between Hamas terrorists and IDF troops, he said in a statement issued at around noon.
At least 200 Israelis were confirmed killed and over 1,400 wounded by evening, with numbers expected to rise.
A resident of Kibbutz Be’eri told Channel 12 news that residents were barricaded in their homes, and believed they had been abandoned by the security forces as Hamas terrorists infiltrated their community.
“Please send troops,” Eli Messika said, using the television channel as a conduit in a desperate attempt to speak to the authorities. “There are wounded here,” he said. “There are burning houses.”
In an Instagram story timed at 9:55 a.m. cited by Ynet, a resident of Kfar Aza wrote: “I’m begging you!!! We can’t catch anyone! There are terrorists in Kfar Aza, send forces to Kibbutz Kfar Aza!!!”
A Channel 12 reporter in Beersheba described receiving dozens of requests for help from residents of the Gaza Strip.
“Knowing that terrorists are walking around communities is a different kind of fear [from that of the rockets],” said Mirjam Reijnen, a 42-year-old volunteer firefighter in Nahal Oz, adding that she and her three kids had been too scared to leave the shelter even for a moment to use the bathroom.
