Elyakim Arava Family
At first, the terrorists tried to break through the door of the Cherry family's MDA, and then a combined force of the emergency squad and the IDF arrived and fierce battles began inside their house. Then came a wave of Aztec looters who emptied the rooms. At one point, the bombers tried to set fire to the house and were unsuccessful. All this was heard by Adi and Oren, along with their three children, through the door of the MDA, when they were in complete darkness and silence for 11 hours
The Cherry family in the European Parliament, holding the symbol of 70 years of the Creek of Oz
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As the barrages begin, Adi and Oren Cherry run to the safe room with their three children: 9-year-old Yahav, 12-year-old Shani and 15-year-old Guy. Only four days earlier, Adi was interviewed for the “At Midday” program on KAN BET radio station and told of how the riots near the border fence with Gaza had worsened recently: “You smell the tension in the air, in the last two weeks there was a sense of rushing into another combat round. A war film on the fence with gunshots, burned tires, thick smoke, explosions”
Between the alarms, family members get out of the safe room. Oren hears gunfire, looks out of the kitchen window and sees three terrorists dressed in black, green Hamas bands on their heads, advancing toward his house, armed with RPGs, grenades and Kalashnikov rifles. He shouts to his family: "Hamas is in the kibbutz, hurry to safe room!". Adi and Oren lock the safe room door behind them and block the entrance with a chair and a nightstand. In the WhatsApp group of the kibbutz, Adi informs: “There is a Hamas raid.” Soon after, the power goes out and the family members sit in complete darkness
Family members hear gunshots and shouts in Arabic around their home: “Itbah al Yahud” (Massacre the Jews). They keep quiet, hug their children and ask them to be silent
Terrorists break into Adi and Oren's home screaming and rampaging. They break the display case at the entrance that contained bottles of alcohol. Adi whispers to Oren with a laugh: “They are both terrorists and without alcohol? It's too much.” According to the unusual vibrations in the terrorists' voices, Adi recognizes that they are under the influence of drugs and tells Oren: “They're on drugs, we're done for”
In total darkness and silence, the family members continue to hear how the terrorists destroy their home. In the community WhatsApp group, Adi tries to direct forces to their home. More neighbours report in the group that their homes are also broken into
Thinking that in a moment the terrorists will break through the safe room's door, Adi and Oren hide Shani and Yahav next to the closet. Their eldest son Guy refuses to hide. He stands alert in the doorway, with a 7.5 Kg dumbbell, and says to his mother: “Listen, we may die today, but one of them will die, too. The first to enter, I'll crack his head open. I may die, but so will he.”
The terrorists try to open the door of the safe room. Oren holds the handle forcefully. The terrorists almost manage to open it and then a combined force of security squad members and Yamas (Border Police Unit) fighters enters the house and a battle begins. The battle distracts the terrorists from opening the safe room door, but they throw grenades at it and one of the explosions causes little Yahav to fly out of Adi's hands. The family members continue to maintain silence. At one point, the terrorists tear off the water dispenser in the kitchen, and the spilled water causes flooding in the house
The gunbattle between the fighters and the terrorists continues inside Adi and Oren's home. Several terrorists are injured and at least one is neutralized. The family members hear screams and then a man's fall to the floor. There is then silence for several minutes - the terrorists have been driven out of the house
The relative calm in the house is broken, as dozens of looters from Gaza enter, taking everything they can lay their hands on and also try to open the door of the safe room. Through the door, the family members hear voices of joy and jubilation, also of mothers with toddlers and children. All the toys and belongings of 9-year-old Yahav's are taken from his room
Gazan residents and terrorists continue to enter and leave Adi and Oren's destroyed house all the time. At one point they try to set it on fire, but thanks to the water flooding and the presence of security squad members nearby, they are unsuccessful
After 11 hours inside the dark room, a force of Maglan unit arrives to clear the Cherry family house. Oren gets out of the safe room to fetch water, and the force commander warns him that the scene in the house is hard to watch. The family members are requested to stay in the safe room because there are still terrorists in the kibbutz
A force of Givati Patrol evacuates the family members. As they get out of the house, the fighters surround the three children and engage them in talking, so that they do not see the surrounding sights
Along with most members of the kibbutz who were saved from Hamas' attack, the Cherry family is evacuated to Mishmar HaEmek
Although all flights were canceled, with the help of a pilot named Dror Gorelik and his wife Michal - Adi, Oren and the children manage to board a flight to France, on their way to Adi's family in Belgium. Even when they were still besieged in safe room, Adi promised Oren and the children that when it was all over they would travel to visit the family
המתחם האינטראקטיבי של מפת העוטף ב-7 באוקטובר 2023 נועד לתעד ולהנציח את האירועים שהתרחשו ביישובי עוטף עזה באמצעות תיעודים מזמן אמת, דקה אחר דקה.
הפרויקט בהליכי בנייה ותחקיר, בשלבים הבאים יתווספו נקודות רבות על המפה, לרבות בסיסי צה”ל, הרחבת אזורי המסיבות והדרכים המובילות לעוטף.
לפרטים נוספים וליצירת קשר לחצו כאן
אזהרה: התוכן מכיל תיאורים ותיעודים קשים לצפייה
