Page 11 - TORCH Magazine #13 - April 2019

We can talk about rockets, terrorism and statistics, but without hearing first-hand accounts of how it affects individuals living on the ground it can be hard to fully appreciate what these Israelis are experiencing.
Earlier this year, Israeli mothers living near the Gaza border were asked questions about life there and what it's like to raise children whilst living under the threat of rocket fire. Here is what they had to say:
Mechi explains that as soon as the sirens go off there is a moment of panic. “You stop the car and you don’t know which baby to unbuckle first. You just grab them and run with the kids and just find the closest shelter.”
“It could be a bus stop. It could be the house. It could be just running into a neighbour’s house, and we’ve done it before. You know, you knock and you push the door open and you run in.”
Tal speaks of the first time she experienced a siren after becoming a mother. Her twin sons were two months old when the sirens sounded.
“I was alone in the house with them,” Tal explained. “We only have fifteen seconds to hide so I took one bed and just took it to the hallway because that is the safest place in the house. And then I didn’t have enough time, so I ran to the other one and covered him with my body. And I felt so stupid”, she said, knowing she could not protect her child if a rocket did land near them.
Noa speaks of the trauma experienced by her children that makes them fearful even in their own home. Whilst most children have a sense of security at home and happily play in their bedrooms, the reality is rather different for her own children.
“My kids will never go alone anywhere in the house - all the time,” Noa says.
Her family has learnt to adapt their walks
to school or the shops. Instead of walking the shortest distance, they walk between bomb shelters so they are always close to one if danger strikes.
“We always leave a crack open in the window so we can hear the sirens from outside. Because if you put on music and if you put on the air conditioning then sometimes you won’t hear the sirens,” says Noa.
Even when there are no sirens, the children are still nervous about noises. “The smallest
sound and they are asking, ‘Mum, what was that? Mum, what was that?’” says Maayan.
“To explain to a child that it is healthy to
be scared and good to be scared, just so that he knows how to deal with his body, never in my life did I think I would have to explain that to my children.”
“The body jumps into survival mode, which it already knows. A familiar feeling that returns. Very high adrenaline, fast heartbeat, the body shakes. And then you run to the bomb shelter.”
Mums do their best to comfort their children when the rockets are raining down.
Mechi says, “In our protected room we always have chocolate. So the first thing we do when everyone comes in is we count heads, make sure everyone is there, and then I hand out chocolate. After that, we say Psalms and pray to God that no one gets hurt.”
How do these Israeli mothers feel towards the Palestinians?
Karen explains that when she is in a bomb shelter in the middle of the night comforting her children, she still thinks of the mothers on the
“The smallest sound and they are asking, ‘Mum, what was that? Mum, what was that?”
other side who are also comforting their children who are also scared.
She starts to cry when speaking, “We are trying to raise our children not to hate, but you can’t love someone who is hurting you.”
Orna: “We probably have a lot more in common than it looks like because I’m sure she really cares about her kids and her grandkids
[ just like we do].”
Tal: “It’s not something that kids should experience in their daily life. Not here and not there. I want them to live their life peacefully and I hope that’s what is going to happen.”
Noa: “Many of the people in Gaza are captives of Hamas as much as we are. I’m a strong believer in peace and I am praying for it.”
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