2023-10-18 20:03:00
Residents of Israeli towns near the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip are organizing in the face of a war once morest the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas that risks prolonging, hoping that their government will not forget them.
“It’s the devil who is attacking us,” says Gil, a reservist stationed in the town of Sderot.
Like other localities in the area, Sderot has for years been accustomed to “Tzeva Adom” (“Red Color”, in Hebrew), the warning sirens triggered by rocket fire from Gaza.
“But this is different,” says Gil, who does not wish to give his name.
On October 7, a horde of several thousand terrorists from the Islamist Hamas in power in the Gaza Strip burst into several localities in the area, including Sderot, and massacred or captured residents before confronting Israeli forces from a police station. who was devastated.
This carnage has since left more than 1,400 people dead on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians.
Peter, a 70-year-old retiree who did not wish to give his name, drives around the deserted streets in a pick-up, rifle in his hands: “We came from Tel Aviv to monitor, protect, help as best we can” .
With large bags of children’s clothes at the end of her arms, Miriam Shmailov, a 29-year-old housewife, says she is “too scared, I just want to leave here.”
Israelis loading their belongings onto a bus during their evacuation from the southern Israeli town of Sderot, October 15, 2023. (Ariel Schalit/AP)
” BLA bla ”
An evacuation plan was put in place on Sunday for the 30,000 residents of Sderot, with buses transporting them to other towns and lodging them in hotels.
But Ms. Shmailov, whose building was torn apart by the rockets, was then taking refuge with relatives outside the city.
Damage caused to a house in Sderot by a rocket impact on October 17, 2023. (Credit: Sderot Municipality)
On her return to Sderot, she was unable to join those evacuated by bus to hotels because she had failed to collect the necessary documents.
“I said to myself: ‘we can’t wait any longer,’” she explains, preparing to leave the city with her family in a volunteer’s car.
“It’s volunteers like me who help people leave, in our cars,” says Ravit Naor. The government is talking “blah-blah” when “it is time to act”.
And the financial aid for the displaced (around 1,000 shekels or 235 euros for a single person and more for families) is “far from sufficient”, she adds.
MPs and members of the government have visited the residents of Sderot in recent days.
MK Boaz Bismuth during a committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 13, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Like MP Boaz Bismuth, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, who promised Tuesday: “we will find the necessary budget for security (…) it will be long, this war, this time, it must be the total victory.
READ: Israel needs an emergency budget
“We need a lot of support,” says Ayelet Shmuel, director of the “International Resilience Center”, an organization that helps the residents of Sderot.
In front of a municipal building, volunteers dressed in black or khaki, without weapons but with all the paraphernalia of soldiers, are having coffee.
Israeli security forces patrol the southern Israeli town of Sderot on October 11, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
“They arrived at the start of the war to offer to join city protection groups,” says Ms. Shmuel.
The municipality is demanding resources to set up a citizen intervention unit, supplementing the police.
Police announced Monday that they would begin arming civilians to speed up response to attacks or crisis situations in cities across the country.
If Sderot is dotted with shelters, some with improbable silhouettes of unicorns or tropical beach decorations on the walls, Ashkelon, around ten kilometers to the north, has much fewer.
“We just want shelter,” shouts an exasperated woman in front of journalists in the city center of the seaside town.
With a shaky voice but a big smile on his lips, Vadim Kravitz recounts how, that very morning, he had to lie down on the road, hands on his head, “praying to God that nothing hits me” while a loud sound rang out. alert and no shelter was in sight.
Security forces help a journalist take cover during a rocket scare, in Sderot, October 12, 2023. (Credit: Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
“Danger can come from anywhere,” notes Liber, 47, who also wants more secure places.
“It will take the time it takes but here, everything must change,” says the Ashkelon native. “We can’t continue like this, (but) we are ready for months or more. Let’s put an end to Hamas.”
READ: Ashkelon mayor accuses Smotrich of leaving residents unprotected
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