October 7 > Security Forces > Then the fire alarm went off and I thought for sure now I’m going to die
At 6:30 a.m. my alarm went off, I had to wake up, and then ‘Code Red, Code Red’ alarms started to go off. We didn’t know what to do, because we were never in this type of situation, so we just ran outside into this cement cylinder. We entered it, but it wasn’t very secure. The loud booms were completely insane, and I thought I will die with every boom. Rackets were falling next to our dorms and the ricochets were flying at us and everyone started crying. Even the girls who were there for a long time said it was never this loud. That was just the beginning.
Reports started to come in that there was an infiltration, meaning terrorists entered Israel’s territory…not just in our command center, but also in Nahal Oz, Yiftach, Re’im and Kerem Shalom. In every location, hordes of terrorists came in, and someone from our base was able to send out an alert ahead of time but our forces didn’t manage to get there in time to stop them. The amount of terrorists was crazy. They started to shoot the radars, the cameras, and it came to a point we couldn’t observe any more.
They told us our only choice was to get up and run for our lives to the command center. Amid the sirens, rockets were falling around us, and I ran like I never ran in my life. We just ran, entered the command center and were told that everyone should leave their positions. There was this huge computer structure, and we were told to stand behind it and hide. Just hide.
"I was afraid to move, afraid to sit, your entire body collapses"
We crowded over there and hid when forces came to protect us. We had one door that couldn’t lock so the soldiers sat on it, which was already a terrible situation, but then they shut down the electricity. Ours were two electrical doors that open when the electricity is down.
At first there was a responding crew from Golani but they were all erased very quickly, just got killed one after the other. They started to bring wounded soldiers into our command center, and I started helping out as best I could because I was really scared to get out from the hideout. You are fearful fof your life in levels I can’t describe; it’s hard mentally. We didn’t eat for 26 hours. There was no food and hardly any water, so we rationed a few sips between us. We were like that from 6:30 a.m. until around 11 p.m. Because the electricity was cut off, there was no air conditioning, no air, the heat was unbearable. I peed into a cup twice, there was no place to pee. People soiled their pants from the stress, women peed in their pants, it’s indescribable. I cannot express how I feared for my life every second I was there. I was afraid to move, afraid to sit, your entire body collapses. We didn’t eat, didn’t drink, it was beyond. I hid inside a drawer, laid inside and feared for my life because the door opened, and the terrorists took control of the command center and there were many dead and wounded. People were yelling, ‘My friend got killed, my friend died in my arms,’ people arrived with grenade wounds on their face. It was like a big horror movie.
Then the fire alarm went off and I thought for sure now I’m going to die because there are terrorists outside, but if I stay in, I’ll burn to death. Luckily, they managed to put out the fire. Apparently in Nahal Oz they burned the command center, so the girls didn’t have any choice besides getting out or getting burned alive, so they got out and it’s unclear if they kidnapped some of them or what. Every time the terrorists knocked on the door, these were the scariest moments. There was nowhere to hide. We were in a fucking room they were trying to get into. The third time, we had to beg for forces to come. So many terrorists, so many dead and wounded, no one knew what to do, and everyone was crying hysterically and saying they want to go home. I don’t know how I survived.
"We saw people’s bodies, a lot of the female lookout soldier’s friends were killed"
They started shooting at us from the doors. Eventually our forces were able to neutralize them but in the second attempt they were standing on the roof of our command center. We begged the forces to bring a rocket that can take them out, and at some point, the generator started working but then it went down again. Then our forces started to kill many terrorists and others ran back and got blown up. We saw they stole our bags with our uniforms and other equipment.
Our forces tried to get us out of there, but we were too scared, and rockets were flying all the time. Finally, we lined up in pairs surrounded by our fighters on both sides to protect us, and there were gunshots as we left the command center. We were exposed as can be, crouching. I sat on fighters’ blood because there was no other place to sit. By the time we got to the bus, we saw people’s bodies, a lot of the female lookout soldier’s friends were killed, tanks stopped working, we weren’t ready in any way. They managed to evacuate the lookout female soldiers; I don’t think any of the welfare support female soldiers made it out alive.
Now every noise stresses me out and every bang or a door slamming or someone sneezing. I’m not going back there, I can’t. How do I go back to my life? No way I can sleep alone. I can’t do anything a normal person can do. It’s unfair that girls like us have to go through this. And this was my second day there.
Anonymous Female Lookout Soldier.