On Wednesday evening, I walked to my Hebrew class, like I usually do on Wednesday evenings, only to discover that it was canceled because there is going to be a war. So, I went home and continued writing my article on Norway rescinding an award it was supposed to give to an anti-Semite. Then, suddenly, around 8pm, as I was finishing off my article, I heard the alarm go off.
I quickly got up and went to the bomb shelter. Nearby, a woman was screaming. I could see fear and apprehension in my neighbors’ eyes, as this woman in the background would not stop shouting. Suddenly, I heard a big boom. It sounded very close to me. Evidently, two rockets landed in Be’ersheva from this attack, causing damage to a vehicle and stores. After hearing the qassam rocket land, we went home. However, we returned to the bomb shelter almost immediately after we got back into our apartments.
My husband and I were planning on going out that evening. However, Shachar didn’t think it was a good idea after there were two bomb sirens. So, I told him that I needed to stock up on groceries, since we didn’t have enough food in the house. However, while I was in the store, there was another alarm. I was faced with a dilemma. Do I abandon all of the food and run to a shelter, or do I continue shopping? I chose to take a risk and continue gathering food, so that we would have enough to eat. This caused my husband to alarmingly seek me out after the alarm was over.
Then, at 12:27pm, as I was taking a shower, there was another siren. I was forced to run to a bomb shelter, barefoot, with nothing but a bathrobe covering me. According to Haaretz, a barrage of rockets was fired towards Be’ersheva and Ashkelon at this hour. Unfortunately, the situation did not improve after I went to sleep. At 2:30am, my husband and I were awoken to run to a bomb shelter. At this time, two rockets were fired towards Be’ersheva. There were more alarms as well at 3:00am, 4:04am, 6:25am, and 7:54am. It was a nightmare! I slept horribly that night!
Around 9am, I started to get ready for work. My husband’s family and friends started to call us constantly, to express their worries. I wanted to take the train of 11:50pm, so that I would have time to pack a suitcase because we most likely wouldn’t come back to Be’ersheva for a while. Yet, since the funeral of Ahmed Jabari was rapidly approaching and my husband feared that I would struggle to get to Bet Shemesh for work if I waited longer, I took the train of 10:50am, while leaving behind almost all of my belongings in Be’ersheva.
While on the train, I noticed that many people were leaving Be’ersheva. A lady named Orna Levy asserted that three rockets landed near her in the past and that she feared that it would happen again. Her daughter couldn’t sleep under those conditions. She was heading to Caesarea to sit out the war. Bar Haim, a student at Ben-Gurion University who is originally from Ashkelon, claimed that his sleep was interrupted a lot as well and he was heading off for his reserve duty. Viola Hashoul was also living in fear and decided to leave because of the situation. Be’ersheva is becoming a ghost town!
See the video below to view one of the recent rocket attacks on Be’ersheva!
Reported by Rachel Avraham for United With Israel
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