BEERI, Israel — The overwhelming smell of death still lingers in the air in Be’eri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border where Hamas gunmen ambushed the small community Saturday morning, leaving in their wake destruction and dozens of dead.
Days later, body bags are still lying in the streets. The ruined homes and vehicles with their doors wide open tell the story of not just one community, but of an entire country, caught by surprise.
“They have come to kill, kill, kill,” Israeli Major General Itai Veroff said as he led reporters through the now unrecognizable streets of Be’eri.
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“There is no kibbutz there anymore,” said Lil Fishbein, 25, who survived the attack after spending 22 hours hiding with his grandmother in her home in Be’eri and later fleeing to safety. “Everything has been demolished.”
While Fishbein managed to escape, about 100 people were killed, according to Israeli emergency services, and others are believed to have been taken hostage — including Fishbein’s younger sister, Chilit Fishbein, 18, and her boyfriend, whom she recently started dating.
“Be careful and stay calm”
Fishbein said he and his grandmother had been in contact with his sister, who works at a kindergarten, after taking cover when they heard what sounded like missiles shortly after 6:30 a.m. Saturday, but they lost contact around 11:30 a.m.
The last thing she said was: “Be careful and calm.” “They’re in your neighborhood,” he said.
Fishbein, a musician who lives in Jerusalem and teaches drum lessons and works as a technician at the Tower of David, said before Saturday he was planning to go to Japan next year to study music. He also hoped to study Buddhism and visit a monastery.
“Right now,” he said, “we don’t have a plan.” “We just survive this.”
“They left us to die”
Fishbein said he felt the Israeli government had failed his family and hundreds of other people who lost loved ones in the attack.
“They left us to die. That’s exactly what happened,” he said, adding that he “doesn’t identify as left or right.”
He said he felt “saddened that innocent people are being harmed,” both in Israel, where at least 1,200 people were killed, including 189 soldiers, and in Gaza, where at least 1,120 people were killed and more than 260,000 were displaced. .
Fishbein said he also saw the faces of some of the Hamas fighters who attacked his community, saying some of them looked like “14-year-olds.”
He added: “Children should not go to places where they kill people.” “They should have a better life.”
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