A 10-year-old girl begged neighbors to save her when Hamas terrorists shot her mother and set fire to their house in Kibbutz Be’eri last Saturday.
In a heartbreaking recording, the youngster whispers: ‘Help! They’re burning us down, please come now!’
The girl made the impassioned plea to members of the community’s close-knit WhatsApp group, where neighbors usually ask each other for information or help.
But this time the schoolgirl begged for her life after the marauding gunmen shot dead her mother and brother and wounded her father.
The family had retreated to their safe room after the rocket attack alarm sounded around 6:30 am last Saturday morning.
The pair were only rescued after the Israel Defense Force (IDF) bombed the house, their neighbor Golan Abitol revealed (photo from left to right: Hagit and Golan Abitol, with son Yoav and daughter Libi and twins Keren and Ziv in front)
The girl and her father were only rescued after the Israel Defense Force (IDF) bombed the house, their neighbor Golan Abitol (pictured right) revealed.
Hamas gunmen (pictured above) stormed the Be’eri kibbutz in southern Israel on October 7
But the bomb-proof shelter could not protect them from the fanatic’s bullets, who fired their automatic weapons through the walls, killing her mother and brother and wounding her father.
The pair were only rescued after the Israel Defense Force (IDF) bombed the house, their neighbor Golan Abitol revealed.
Recalling the terrible events of Saturday, October 7, he said: “The father told the IDF to bomb the house. The safe room was designed to protect (against) bombs and both the girl and her father survived.”
Hamas gunmen had set the house on fire as part of a ruthless plan to force residents of the 1,000-strong Be’eri kibbutz – including British mother Lianne Sharabi and her daughters Yahel, 13, and Noiya, 16 – from their homes to drive away. being shot or captured.
Golan remembers Somerset-born Lianne, who ran the kibbutz’s dental practice, as “cheerful” and “lovely.”
He said: ‘She made going to the dentist fun because she put on 80s music while you were at work.
‘She was a lovely lady. Her eldest daughter (Noiya) is a friend of my son and she had a heart of gold. They are a great family.’
Hamas terrorists shot Lianne and fatally wounded her youngest daughter Yahel when they entered their home.
The fanatics kidnapped Noiya and took her to Gaza along with dozens of other innocents. Their father is missing and is feared kidnapped.
Another Briton, Jonathan Rapaport, Golan’s best friend, was also killed in the attack that killed or captured one in 10 members of the kibbutz located three kilometers from Gaza.
In a heartbreaking recording, the girl whispers: ‘Help! They’re burning us down, please come now!’ (photo: a house being set on fire in the Be’eri kibbutz)
Hamas has shot or captured residents of the 1,000-strong Be’eri kibbutz — including British mother Lianne Sharabi (center) and her daughters Yahel (left), 13, and Noiya (right), 16
Hamas terrorists shot Lianne and fatally wounded her youngest daughter Yahel when they burst into their home (photo)
Hamas terrorists shot Lianne and fatally wounded her youngest daughter Yahel (left with her older sister Noiya) when they entered their home. The fanatics kidnapped Noiya and took her to Gaza along with dozens of other innocents. Their father (center) is missing and is feared kidnapped
Golan, 44, a consultant for pharmaceutical companies, had returned home from a business trip to Iceland just hours before Hamas’ devastating attack on Israel that shocked the world.
Like most kibbutzim, he was awakened by the sound of sirens and then rockets.
Soon, people on the kibbutz, located three kilometers from the Gaza border, realized that this was no ordinary rocket attack – something they are all too accustomed to.
Arab voices could be heard, followed by gunshots. His two youngest children – nine-year-old twins Keren and Ziv – use the family’s safe room as their bedroom.
His two older children – 16-year-old son Yoav, daughter Libi, 14, and kindergarten teacher Hagit, 42 – quickly joined them, while Golan, one of the few people in Kibbutz Be’eri who had a gun at home, grabbed his nine-gauge weapon and stood guard outside.
From a vantage point on his balcony, Golan had a view of his neighbors’ homes.
He saw dozens of terrorists and also a group who went out dressed as Israeli police officers and invited people to open the door for them, as if they could save them.
“It was so scary,” Golan says. ‘I was in the infantry in the army and I have seen terrorists before, but when you are at home with only a gun and they have RPGS (rocket-propelled grenades), machine guns and grenades, you feel helpless. I knew I had to do everything I could to stay quiet and not be involved; my priority was to keep my family safe.”
After a few hours, as it became clear how much danger the kibbutz was in and the terrorists were closing in, Golan convinced his brother – who lived next door with his wife and young children – to run to his house and join his family. join in prison. hiding room.
Hamas gunmen had set the house on fire (as pictured above) as part of a ruthless plan to force the residents of the Be’eri kibbutz from their homes to be shot or captured.
At some point during the 14 hours that Golan was on watch, he saw that his neighbor’s house had also been set on fire (similar to the house in the photo above) and warned them to get away; they managed to escape to another neighbor’s safe room
One kibbutz member – after his house was set on fire (as pictured above) – climbed out of the safe room window with his infant daughter in his arms; both were shot in cold blood while his wife and daughter were kidnapped
At some point during the 14 hours that Golan was on watch, he saw that his neighbor’s house had also been set on fire and warned them to get away; they managed to escape to another neighbor’s safe room.
The entire kibbutz – a community that eats almost all their meals together – still helped each other via WhatsApp.
As time passed, the situation became more and more dire. A kibbutz member – after his house was set on fire – climbed out of the window of the safe room with his daughter in his arms; both were shot in cold blood while his wife and daughter were kidnapped.
Even when the IDF finally arrived, they were not completely safe. After being taken to an exclusion zone, the battle survivors were shot at by a lone terrorist.
Most of the community now lives in a hotel near the Dead Sea as they try to come to terms with the unthinkable and so much that is still unknown.
The dead have begun to be buried; A funeral takes place for the community and then the victim and their family are driven to the kibbutz cemetery, which will be their final resting place.
There is no comfort for this broken community, but they are together and help each other.
Golan has since joined the IDF identification unit for which he was a reservist.
He now helps sort out the DNA from the broken and burned remains of the dead, including those of his closest friends.
“It’s the worst place for anyone to be, but it’s my way of contributing and it helps me be with my unit and take the workload off them,” he says.