No rockets, but anxiety persists in southern Israel

[ALARM SOUNDING] [EXPLOSION] “When you hear this red alert, your heart goes from 0 to 100.” [NON ENGLISH LOUDSPEAKER ANNOUNCEMENT] “We have 15 seconds from the time we hear the alarm until we need to be inside the air raid shelter. But because we’re closest to the Gaza Strip, we don’t even have the benefit of a full 15 seconds. [BOMBS AND ALARM] “Rockets were falling. Children were running everywhere. “It was 11 days of battle. 11 days when my house turned into a battlefield. [ALARM] [EXPLOSION] “I think about leaving every day—” [EXPLOSION] “… But I’m not going anywhere. [MUSIC PLAYING] “It’s Gaza. We are a little less than two kilometers away. And if you look at a map, we’re actually a little belly in Gaza. So we have rocket fire in three possible directions. What is happening in Gaza is always horrible, but it is not a picnic here either. We have bomb shelters here every few hundred yards because it’s going on, because it can happen any minute. It could happen now. 20 rockets or mortars exploded in the kibbutz in this latest round of fighting, and 25 houses like this one were hit and damaged to one degree or another. So there are a lot of constructions around us. Our kibbutz was evacuated, but I chose to stay here because I think it is important to bear witness. These are people who live here. These are not soldiers running around in bulletproof vests, with Uzis. They are grandmothers, children, parents and just normal people trying to live their lives. “I was actually in the north, but it’s still tense. Every alert you receive on your phone, you check immediately. Maybe he fell or hit a house, a child or someone. It is really scary. “We have had rocket attacks from Gaza for the past 20 years. But last month it was more intense. We spent most of the time in an air raid shelter. [SOUNDS OF DISTRESS] “The Iron Dome and the rocket meet and explode in the air, then we have parts and pieces of Iron Dome and rocket landing all around us. A missile just landed on the road and jumped off the road directly into the greenhouse. And he was just laying there alongside my peppers. [MUSIC PLAYING] “I saw something that I wish I hadn’t seen. Hamas fired a missile at a military jeep right in front of my house. They killed a soldier there. Mortars started falling everywhere. And because it was so intense, the army brought in a tank to protect the houses. We have had people in our community who have lost their lives. But if you ask me how many people were injured, well, everyone. The wounds are inside. It’s in people’s heads. [EXPLOSION] ” Yes ! “” If I leave my house for the war, it means that I have lost the war. My mom, I think she’s stronger than me. I’m glad there are people like her who are willing to live in a place like this. They are, like, the physical wall between Gaza and Israel to keep us apart. And it makes me feel safe, and I’m happy that she is like that. I think the first chance I get, I’m going to go not as far as I can, but somewhere I don’t need to be afraid. I don’t want other children to have the same childhood as me. You can’t get used to it, ever. [SLOW MUSIC]