Wilfried Devillers // Photo credit: Amir Levy / GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / Getty Images via AFP
After a week of truce, hostilities resumed this Friday between Israel and Hamas. The Jewish State’s offensive continues, including in the south of the enclave now, where bombings took place this weekend. For its part, Hamas continues to send rockets towards Israel.
The IDF announces that it has counted more than 250 since Friday. On the front line, border towns like Sderot, where most residents preferred to flee to the center of the country. But others preferred to stay in this almost ghost town.
“A rocket fell right here”
In Sderot, the streets are deserted and businesses closed. Only a few soldiers are present here and there. Tikva admits: she had gotten used to the calm during the truce, but the warning sirens reminded her of reality. “I’m afraid because a rocket fell right here, on the third day of the war. We were at the supermarket, Terrorists entered. They destroyed the whole city. Everything is looted, ravaged”, explains- she at the microphone of Europe 1.
Most of the men in his family are fighting in the Palestinian enclave. “Even if my boyfriend is far away, my cousins are in Gaza, I understand that this war is essential. You must understand that terrorists came right here,” in the city, insists the Israeli.
“It’s impossible to live in these conditions any longer”
She extends her arm towards a wall riddled with bullet holes. Putting an end to Hamas is the only solution, Koby also explains, to ensure the security of the residents of Sderot. “If we do not resume the war, it will happen again in a few years. It is impossible to live in these conditions any longer,” he judges.
His wife and children left the city for safety, but for him, there was no question of giving in to fear. “Obviously, I am not reassured. But the desire to stay here surpasses the fear. This is where I was born, where I grew up. I will never leave the city,” he concludes, before quickly returning home and preparing for new alerts.