'They keep taking people': Israeli family shelters in place during Hamas attack
Madeline Martin | 10/08/2023Moishe Cohen lives in Israel now, although he used to live in the US. He spoke to Human Events while using his wife's phone to dial a number over and over, dialing a friend who lives in Ofakim, a city a little over 12 miles from Gaza.
This comes after Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group, launched a surprise attack on Israel. Thousands of rockets were launched as soldiers moved across the border, killing and kidnapping Israelis. They attacked by land, air and sea.
“It goes to voice mail,” he said. Cohen lives in a place about 25 miles inward toward the center of Israel. Recently Ofakim has been taken over by Hamas terrorists holding civilians hostage.
“This is going to be bad," Cohen told Human Events. "This is going to be a big war. They are going to keep taking the women, the children. They shoot the men trying to make a deal with them.”
"They go into the towns, they are taking women and children, sometimes men. Women and children are easy to control," he said. “They use them to get whatever they want. They want the power to say ‘Give me this or we will shoot this little girl.’”
Rafi’s wife yelled “maspeek!” Hebrew for “enough." She was sitting with Rafi and their two daughters in their apartment while they shelter in place, or hide. The family of four has been through drills and emergency situations like this before.
“Never like this,” Cohen. “This is very bad. They are killing people.”
His friend, he said, sent him a very quick shaky video. “The video is from inside his house,” he said.
“He holds the phone out the window a little bit. And I can see people—6 of the men with the guns—not our police, not our military. This is like dirty clothing, crazy looking, pointing the guns. There was a woman, a little girl, a teenage girl and a boy. I could only see the face of the woman. I don’t think I know her. But my friend did. This is why he took the video. This is his neighbors. A family. I hear a man scream I think. But I don’t see him. They push the mother and kids towards the trucks . . .
https://humanevents.com/2023/10/08/they-keep-taking-people-israeli-family-shelters-in-place-during-hamas-attack