October 7 > Nova Festival > Testimony of Bar M
It was 6:00 am, the dance floor was kicking and full of beautiful and happy people were waiting for the sunrise. There is absolutely nothing like sunrise at a party, the best part.
The sunrise is replaced by lights. full of lights. The music stopped and sounds of a “red alert” siren were in the background. Heavy barrages, the kind that are shown on the news, that only the residents of the south know and know about. The body went into a state of shock, but we understood that we must get away right now. That decision we made within seconds probably saved our lives.
“Suddenly there were vehicles in front of us in every direction of the road, some were flipped upside down, people were bleeding"
We got in the car, drove to the exit, crazy panic all around. People were running and I thought to myself that with the red alert sirens it's clear there would be panic, one must seek a protected area. We reached a T intersection with options to turn either right or left. We decided to take a left turn. Not a minute passed and suddenly there were vehicles in front of us in every direction of the road, some were flipped upside down, people were bleeding, bodies inside the cars and sounds of gunfire. My body went into a state of shock, I felt my jaw and teeth lock from fear.We understood that if we continued on this road, we would probably be next in line.
We turned around. And the views on the other side? Only God and I know what I saw. A white van was standing on the side of the road right in front of us and from there we knew there was no way back. Lior and I lowered our heads, and he squeezed the gas pedal. My ears heard bursts upon bursts, gunshots sounds that will never leave me. The car was punctured yet we understood we can’t stop driving.
Not a minute goes by and the car started making beeping sounds and stopped. My heart stopped as well. This was the end of us. This can't be happening to us please God it can't be, we have two children waiting at home. Every decision made was in a split of a second. The car was gone. There was no car. We decided to run for our lives, away from the car to the side of the road, and look for a place to hide.
The first thing that came to my mind was that they were there, and not only that they were there, they would also see the empty vehicle and understand that we were there in order to look for us. There was nowhere to run, everything was exposed. If we stood we would have been seen. There was a fence In front of us, but even if we wanted to jump over it we couldn't. We understood that we had to stay there and we must not get detected. We began to dig in the ground and cover ourselves with leaves. So many leaves around and I was just thinking how to put more and more on every part of the body, on my face, hair, everything! Just so they won’t even see a single hair.
We were in absolute silence, holding our breaths, and in the background non-stop gunfire, vehicles just like ours getting hit, one after another. We knew there was no way for us to help, we couldn’t move even for a second.
I tried calling the police, but they didn’t answer. I tried the fire department, an ambulance, but no one answered. I was texting with my friend Mai, that at the moment everything happened each of us went in a different direction and we then realized she was in the same situation as us. My breathing became fast, my heart was pounding like crazy. For the first time I felt what it was like to pee out of fear, and inside I already understood that that was it, there was no going back. My parents kept calling and I couldn't answer. I texted my brother explaining what was going on and begging him to come and rescue us, just not to tell my parents what was happening.
"We suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a shootout between the policemen, soldiers and the terrorist"
After a few hours we heard an ambulance siren. And then car sounds. We immediately decided it was time to leave quickly and run towards the road. It was like a scene taken out of a movie, with us as the main actors. We stood in the middle of the road, exhausted, bursting into tears and signaling with both hands for the driver to stop. It was an ambulance and with it a police car and a military vehicle. We entered the military vehicle and sat in the back, when we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a shootout between the policemen, soldiers and the terrorists. We realized that it wasn’t over yet.
Out of nowhere, a car arrived with a couple of parents who were frighteningly telling us that their sons were not answering them and no one knew what was going on. The IDF knew it would be safe for us to go with that couple and transferred us to them. The same couple drove us to a safe place, where my brother was already waiting for us in his car.
We continued to drive home, not understanding what had happened to us. We arrived at my parents’ and only then I began to realize what a miracle had happened to us, as my mother fell to the floor and started screaming in tears.
The tears didn’t stop, even 100 tranquilizers would not be able to calm my thoughts, the voices, the shots, the shouts. Day by day it will become more difficult, The thought of what would have happened to us if we had waited a little longer by the car and not driven. What would have happened if the bullets had hit one of us and not the car. The thought of all those people who were with us and were now gone. The thought that we could have been the ones to get abducted.
"Thinking of all those kidnapped children, being a mother myself, tears me down and breaks me into pieces"
Thinking of all those kidnapped children, being a mother myself, tears me down and breaks me into pieces. Thoughts like these and many more that just won’t stop. Two days without sleep. Two days of us walking like ghosts. Two days that my eyes are swollen and sore from crying. Two days in which my stomach is turning. Two days that I am in a crazy fear, from any noise and any sound. Two days in which I look at my children and can't believe it. Two days that I am surrounded by family and friends, and by messages of concern and desire to help from people I haven't spoken to in years.
I still have trouble digesting. I don't know how to continue from here. My heart is broken. What I do know is that the scariest thing that had ever happened to me- happened! and it will take us a long time to recover.
We were part of something that was never seen in Israel. I guess God heard us and was with us. We experienced supreme providence and a great miracle. We have two children at home who need their father and mother and they are our strength. Thank God nothing happened to my husband because I don't know how I would have dealt with this alone. Thank you for your decisions that helped save our lives. I am so grateful we were together,
Bar M.
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