Hundreds of people have died. Many more have been injured. Silvia Oren lives in southern Israel, just a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip. She experiences the conflict first hand. An eyewitness report.
SRF News: How did you experience the first moments of the attack?
Silvia Oren: It was a terrible racket. We all thought it was a thunderstorm. But it couldn’t be a thunderstorm because the weather was good. The walls were shaking. It wasn’t the usual noise of rockets, it was other missiles that we hadn’t heard before.
Suddenly you heard gunshots outside.
We have our behaviors and methods: We went into the security room and lowered the security shutters. Suddenly we heard gunshots outside, in our village, on the paths. It was terrible.
How are people dealing with the situation?
Most are disciplined. You have already internalized the process. But it’s certainly not easy with small children. We have a psychological service in our area when such a stressful situation arises. This then works online and helps the population. We also have people on the kibbutz you can turn to.
Have you spent the whole day in the shelter?
More or less. We left him to go to the bathroom or get water. In the end I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything. But we have good contact over the phone. There is also an information app from the kibbutz. Communication is going wonderfully and that obviously helps.
They took hostages in other nearby villages.
We also have some kind of security guards. These are men who are responsible for security in the kibbutz. They are always very efficient and calm. And they drove out or killed all the terrorists today. They saved us. In other villages nearby, they took hostages and locked them in a room. Absolutely horrible.
Officially, Israel is at war. What does that make you feel?
Actually, I feel a lot of anger. I am convinced that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians could have been resolved decades ago if both sides were not obsessed with power and greed. So there is no solution.
We have already experienced many such wars.
At the moment of the attack I am usually calm. But afterwards, the brain continues to work. We have already experienced many such wars. Something like this always sinks one level deeper. It’s not a good feeling.
Hamas has said this is just the beginning. How do you deal with this threat?
I do not know exactly. These are often empty threats that may not be entirely serious. But yes, unless you sit down at the table and start negotiating to find a way, it will continue like this. It’s very sad.
The interview was conducted by Anna-Lisa Achtermann.