Neta and Santiago’s Harrowing Story from Kibbutz Kfar Aza

October 7, 6:30 am Shabbat and Simchat Torah, Neta and Santiago of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, wake up to missile alert sirens. At 7:30 am they receive a message from the Kibbutz that there are suspected terrorists from Gaza infiltrating the Kibbutz.

An hour later they hear gunshots outside their bedroom window. In retrospect, it turns out that the breach in the fence was right behind their window.

Messages on the Kibbutz WhatsApp group scream out: There are terrorists in the Kibbutz “leave your bomb shelters”

Neta and Santiago race to their bomb shelter. Santiago holds the door closed while both of them remain silent, hardly daring to breathe.

The terrorists storm their apartment, talking, touching things, laughing. Suddenly, there is a rapid round of gunshots at the door of the shelter. Santiago and Neta are both shot in the leg, and bullets continue to fly all around them.

They don’t shout. They remain completely silent.
Neta sends her father a message: “Dad, I’ve been shot, save me”.She sends their exact location.

Shimon, Neta’s father, a deputy police intelligence officer in the southern district, answers: “I’m coming”.
That’s when they realize that the terrorists are about to open the shelter door. Santiago tells Neta to open the window and jump out. Neta opens the window and there are some 15 terrorists in front of her. She is afraid to jump.

Suddenly, they hear a grenade being thrown. Santiago realizes that this can save them. He jumps on Neta and pushes them both out the window. The grenade explodes inside the room, but both of them are outside, bruised, barefoot, without phones, wearing only pyjamas.
The terrorists opposite them open fire, but miraculously they manage to escape. Neta has seven bullets in her left leg and Santiago is shot in the back. She falls to the ground and Santiago drags her between the Kibbutz houses, looking for shelter.

He finds a hiding place under one of the buildings.

For three hours they remain hiding, surrounded by the screams of their Kibbutz friends and neighbors, gunshots, alarms and explosions.
Neta’s father manages to find Neta and Santiago. He carries the bleeding Neta on his shoulders and the three manage to escape from the inferno.

Neta and Santiago are being treated at Loewenstein Medical Center. They have a long recovery ahead.
They feel blessed to be alive.