Avi’s Story of October 7
Now, please take a few moments and try to imagine what it was like for the members of this moshav on the Gaza border, surrounded by security walls and barbed wire fences as well as lush terrain growing beautiful roses, olives, and fruit trees. It was very sad to hear how their hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict with Gaza was crushed by the brutality of the attacks of October 7.
The Nir Press observation deck, which overlooks Gaza.
At 6:00 in the morning, like always, I woke up to take the dog for a walk. At around 6:20, I heard the sound of small firearms. There was also the sound of rocket fire, and not the typical ones you hear. It’s usually one rocket or two rockets, but now there were a lot of rockets.
I thought it was a reaction, maybe to an IDF operation where maybe we took out one of the leaders like Sinwar,4 and they’re upset, so they’re firing. But it was something very unusual, something unexpected, this amount of rocket attacks. It didn’t stop. It just kept coming and coming and coming. Normally, we have a rocket or two, or maybe four or five, and then it stops, but it was wave after wave after wave.
Then I understood. I heard the sound of a motor of some kind of aerial vehicle. The first thing I did is I called the security manager for the moshav, but he didn’t answer, so then I called the local IDF coordinator, but he also didn’t answer. And then I heard another motor from another aerial vehicle coming up. So I said to myself, “I have to do something. I’m going to film it.” And so, I started recording it.
A rocket shelter at the moshav.
So when I started filming the second glider, I realized the first terrorist had already landed and was walking around in the moshav. I wanted to see where the terrorist was going to land so that I could report it to the security squad protecting the moshav. But the terrorist saw me and changed his direction so that I wouldn’t be able to identify where he landed. He probably thought I had a weapon, but I didn’t have any weapons at the time.
I continued to try to call and inform people, and the only one I could reach by phone was my neighbor who said, “I’m not at home, I’m up at the Sea of Galilee.” So I came home and I told my wife and kids to stay home, to stay inside. I didn’t tell them that there were terrorists loose in the moshav. I didn’t want them to be stressed by the situation.
A room with bullet holes in the wall from October 7. The Israeli flag in the corner and candles on the table honor those killed here.
I continued to try to reach people unsuccessfully, and then suddenly there was no water or electricity. And of course, no internet either. The telephone was hardly working, but WhatsApp5 was somehow working. As soon as the terrorists landed, within a few minutes, there was constant gunfire. I heard the firing all around me and at houses nearby and at the house across the street.
I left the bomb shelter because I thought if they’re going to come toward me, I could interact better with them outside than inside the bomb shelter where I can’t do anything. So I left with a knife and a fishing spear gun, as that’s all I had. For some reason the terrorists didn’t come to my house.
The children of my landlord who lived nearby called me because their mom, my landlord, wasn’t answering the phone. They were concerned for her. So, I went to her house. I tried to hide because I wasn’t well armed. So, I was trying to get over there without being seen. The reason I was hiding was not because I was afraid of being seen by the terrorists. I was afraid of being misidentified by the army as a terrorist, so I was hiding. I totally expected the army to be here already, but they didn’t come for hours!
I arrived at my landlady’s house, but she wasn’t there. I didn’t find her in the house, and I didn’t think to look in the bomb shelter. I looked on the street because she’s an older woman. I thought maybe she had fallen or something, but I didn’t see her, and I didn’t want to cross the street. I didn’t want to be out exposed for too long. I was sure that the army was coming, and they would interact and engage these terrorists, but the army didn’t come so I came home.
When I got home, I was able to finally reach the IDF security coordinator for the area, but our connection was in and out. Sometimes the phone lines would drop, so I used a combination of phones and WhatsApp messages back and forth, and I finally got ahold of somebody. Then I started to relax a bit.
I knew or at least had some idea of what the terrorists were doing because first of all, you could not only hear it, but you could also smell it. But also on the WhatsApp messages, I was getting updates from the security squads about where the terrorists were going and what they were doing. And so I knew more or less what was going on around me as they burned a few houses, and you could smell the smoke.
At 9:00 or 10:00 am more terrorists arrived, in addition to the original thirty. They were armed. One of them even had a bulletproof vest; they came to steal and then to kill. The security team of the moshav captured them but didn’t kill them. They transferred them for interrogation.
Tactical units and the border patrol came in the afternoon, and I understood that the situation was more or less under control, but they didn’t leave because there was still fighting all around them in some of the other towns in the area. And we stayed in our bomb shelter until 5:30 or 6:00 at night, so for about twelve hours.
Avi (left) with one of our Israel staff members (right).
I heard (but can’t verify the authenticity of it) that the IDF listened to the recordings of the conversations between the terrorists and their leaders back in Gaza, and that they had originally planned to destroy the border wall and completely take over our moshav and kill all of us.
But when the terrorists came and started killing people, they found hardly anyone in their homes or walking the street and reported back that they killed everyone that was here, and that the village was now unoccupied. And so, they decided not to break the wall and completely invade. About 1,000 people were in their bomb shelters. So when the terrorists came, they didn’t see anyone, but whenever they found somebody in a safe room, or a bomb shelter, they threw grenades inside and kept going.
I found out the terrorists had all taken a particular drug (Captagon)6 that removed their fear. It also affected their reasoning and their logic, which is why they may have reported that the town was empty, when in fact, they did meet people, and they knew they were in bomb shelters, but they reported that the town was empty. This drug is big business for Hezbollah in Lebanon. They sell it all over the Middle East. It’s a cheap drug to make, and they make a lot of money on it, and it’s very popular in the West Bank. So it’s hard to know what really happened and why we seemed to be protected from additional murders.
All of this is very unfortunate as I worked regularly with Gazans, and they work really hard. One Gazan worker equaled three regular workers. I don’t know if there’s going to be peace or not, but I don’t hate them. Okay, those who committed atrocities, like murder and rape, there’s no question they just need to be eliminated. But at the end of the day, there’s still going to be two million Gazans.
I then asked Avi about his view of the future of the moshav. He continued,
First of all, we have to eliminate Hamas. That’s the first thing. And then whatever happens, it’s politics. We can’t know. But what we do know is we have to eliminate Hamas. They’re fanatics and they’re murderers, and they need to be removed.
I further asked Avi if he believed the moshav would return to normal and the hundreds of people who used to live there would return to their homes. He simply answered, “Yes, I hope so!” I was greatly moved by his hope and by his bravery. He is a hero and shows the determination of Israelis to survive and thrive even when facing seemingly unsolvable conflict.
