More than a week after the murderous terrorist attack by Hamas, Lishai Miran-Levi, 38, from Nahal Oz relives the moments of hell that she and her family went through Oct. 7 when her husband, Omri, 46, was taken by Hamas terrorists in front of her and her daughter’s eyes.
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"The rockets shot at Nahal Oz began at 6 a.m.," Lishai recalls. "The girls, Roni, 2, and Alma, 6 months, were asleep in their rooms. Omri took them to the shelter and we waited for it to end. There was a moment of quiet, so I went to the bathroom; brought the girls bamba and yogurt and prepared a bottle."
But Lishai and Omri quickly realized that this attack was different from previous attacks.
"We started receiving WhatsApp messages, saying that there were terrorists inside people’s homes and calls for help. At first, we thought these people were just hysterical, but then we heard gunshots close by and realized it was serious. Around 10:30 a.m. there was suddenly silence, and we thought they had left, but then we heard the bathroom window shatter, and they entered."
In the following minutes, the Miran family tried to maintain calm, and the parents managed to keep their older daughter, Roni, asleep. Omri armed himself with two knives that he had taken inside the shelter.
"The terrorists began shouting for us to open the door and brought with them a 16-year-old boy from the kibbutz, Tomer Arbel-Eliaz. He asked us to open the door and said that if we didn't, they would harm him. We opened the door," Lishai said.
During the next stage, Lishai, Omri and Alma came out into the kitchen, while Roni remained asleep in the shelter. "We begged them to let us get her, and Tomer brought her. We sat in the living room. They almost killed us, but then decided to take us to another family living nearby. In their house, they sat us on the floor. The parents and two children were there. The terrorists murdered their 18-year-old daughter in the shelter," she recounted.
In the neighbors' kitchen, the two families sat on shattered glass, and around 1:00 p.m., the terrorists brought two more women, American citizens: "One of them spoke in English; she hoped that being an American would help her." Around 1:30 p.m., the terrorists demanded that Omri and the father of the second family get up and they handcuffed them. "They went out and took car keys, and after three minutes, we saw them driving away. I said four sentences to Omri: 'I love you, I am watching over the girls, we are waiting for you, and don't be a hero,'" she said.
Lishai said that Roni tried to run to her father, shouting, "I want my Daddy, I want my Daddy." The terrorists filmed the entire incident and broadcast it live on Facebook through the family's personal accounts. Lishai and her neighbor were left alone with four children for about four hours, and the military only arrived at 5:30 p.m.
Lishai and her daughters are now in Kibbutz Kramim, where they sought refuge, waiting for information about Omri's fate. “Roni recalls more and more details every night. She saw her father handcuffed and is slowly starting to talk about it. She woke up to shotguns in front of her face. In her sleep, she cries out, ‘Goodnight, Daddy.’ I want her to stop screaming, I want him to be here with us. I want to scream out for our captives. Don’t forget us," she cries.