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Eden Gefner stated it should have been a miracle she survived the Oct. 7 assault — she heard Hamas gunfire break via their entrance door as she and others hid of their secure room, listening intently as Hamas terrorists prowled their dwelling .
Gefner stated: “Because the minutes handed, we started to grasp that there have been so many terrorists within the kibbutz, since you (may) see… folks writing within the WhatsApp neighborhood.”
Folks stated, “I hear them shouting, ‘Kill the Jews!'” she stated.
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Her thoughts continues to be reeling from it to today, she stated.
“I preserve considering that I did not do something on Saturday morning. I simply awakened as a Jew. So I actually felt like we have been within the Holocaust.”
Edna Gefner, 28, was born and raised on Kibbutz Re’im in Israel, 5 kilometers from the Gaza border – a stone’s throw from the positioning of the Supernova Sukkot music competition and the place Hamas killed 364 civilians on October 7. She virtually died. on the terrorist assault – and just lately spoke about her experiences. (Eden Gefner)
Gefner, 28, was born and raised in Kibbutz Re’im, Israel.
That is simply 5 kilometers from the Gaza border – a stone’s throw from the place the Supernova Sukkot music competition passed off. It’s the place the place Hamas killed 364 civilians on October 7.
That day, within the blink of a watch, she went from being a traditional millennial considering her future to believing that she was now within the Holocaust – that she and her household would die simply because they have been Jewish.
She went from being a traditional millennial excited about her future to believing she was now within the Holocaust.
She stated she now thought, “I did not graduate. I’m not married. I did not obtain all my desires. That is it.’
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In a current episode of Podcast “Lighthouse Religion”. recorded in East Hampton, New York, Gefner spoke to a small group at Chabad of the Hamptons simply earlier than telling her survival story.
It’s a part of the Faces of seven October Mission, which goals to “humanize the results of terrorism and problem the assist that terrorist organizations like Hamas have garnered, particularly amongst younger folks.”
Gefner talked about how her mom at all times talked about the fantastic thing about Gaza.
Rudy Glazer, whose brother Ranani Glazer (age 23) was killed within the October 7 assault, hugs a photograph of his brother at a photograph monument on the Tremendous Nova music competition web site on December 18, 2023, on the Nova competition venue in Re’im, Israel. The music competition was one of many first venues attacked by Hamas militants on October 7, sparking the present struggle between Israel and Hamas. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Pictures)
“My mother and father have nice, nostalgic tales about once they went to Gaza, and so they have been out there there, they went to the seaside in Gaza… which is tremendous lovely.”
For years her mom advised her that nothing would occur, that they’d be at peace. Gefner lived with the honest perception that Jews and Palestinians may coexist.
Gefner and her mother and father and boyfriend woke as much as the sound of civil protection sirens… common. Then the sirens sounded a second time after which a 3rd time.
Gefner, who research administration and psychology at Reichman College in Herzliya close to Tel Aviv, stated over time there was an escalation of aggression by Hamas.
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“I bear in mind in 2014, I might say, Hamas emerged from these tunnels in some kibbutz.”
Nonetheless, she thought-about these items to be regular circumstances of microaggressions — till the morning of October 7, 2023.
Gefner and her mother and father and boyfriend woke as much as the sound of civil protection sirens… common. However then the sirens sounded a second time… after which a 3rd time.
This picture from undated bodycam video footage taken by a downed Hamas terrorist and launched by the Israeli navy exhibits a Hamas terrorist strolling round a residential space at a location in southern Israel. (Israeli Armed Forces through AP)
The group turned on the TV and heard that Hamas had launched a serious assault on the world, taking pictures civilians and taking hostages.
The household fled to the secure room. However the rooms do not need particular locks in case of fireside.
It was determined that in the event that they have been to die, they’d die collectively.
Gefner stated she remembers her grandmother, who survived the Holocaust in Europe, at all times telling them that the attic was their secure place from the Nazis.
The household went to the attic, however her father determined he would not.
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So it was determined that in the event that they have been to die, they’d die collectively. They returned to the secure room.
They quickly heard gunfire close to their dwelling. Gefner recorded on her cellphone the rapid-fire sounds of an automated rifle close by. Due to her stint within the Israeli military, she knew these have been Hamas weapons – and never the IDF.
Household and pals of hostage Yarden Roman-Gat stroll barefoot between contours throughout a march via Tel Aviv in solidarity after she was kidnapped barefoot from a kibbutz through the October 7 Hamas assaults. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Pictures)
There was a knock on their glass entrance door, then one other knock, then gunfire.
Gefner stated, “We (may) hear…the door shattered into one million items. And similar to in a horror film the place the whole lot went silent – all you may hear are the steps as he tried to search for us.”
She stated her father and her boyfriend held the doorknob with all their power, understanding it was a matter of life and dying.
“The satan was in our complete home, in our home. And my father began saying goodbye to my mom.”
That they had already acquired a textual content from a neighbor saying their different neighbor had been shot and killed in entrance of his younger kids.
“For me and my household, it was the… scariest second. As a result of truly the satan was in our complete home, in our home. And my father began saying goodbye to my mom.”
Gefner stated she checked out her good friend. She remembered his eyes saying, “How are we going to outlive this?”
That is one other picture from undated bodycam video footage taken by a downed Hamas terrorist and launched by the Israeli navy – it exhibits a Hamas terrorist strolling via a residential neighborhood at an undisclosed location in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. (Israeli Armed Forces through AP)
The terrorist was of their home. “All of the sudden we noticed the door (knob) go down – as if (he was attempting to) open the door. However then my father and my good friend tried to cease him. And we (had) this sort of battle across the door.”
It was a tug of struggle for a number of minutes… actually.
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Then extra silence.
Limitless silence.
Would the terrorist attempt to shoot via the secure room?
For thirty hours, the household remained within the secure room, uncertain of what they’d discover.
Was there a Hamas terrorist ready for them? Would the terrorist attempt to shoot via the secure room? Perhaps he was within the attic; Perhaps he began a hearth to burn the home down. Nothing to complain about.
Gefner stated, “To me it was a miracle.”
Cops preserve pro-Israel protesters away from folks gathering for an illustration in assist of Palestinians in Washington Sq. Park in New York Metropolis on November 24, 2023. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the October 7 assault that Israeli officers say about 1,200 folks have been killed, most of them civilians in southern Israel, and about 240 folks have been taken hostage. On November 24, Hamas launched the primary group of hostages captured within the deadliest assault in Israel’s historical past. (YUKI IWAMURA/AFP through Getty Pictures)
Thriller – and gratitude
In different kibbutzim, Hamas was not really easy with the doorways of secure rooms.
Gefner stated she has highschool classmates who at the moment are orphaned as a result of Hamas used explosives and shot via doorways.
“I do not perceive,” she stated at this time. “He (the Hamas terrorist) knew we (have been) in the home as a result of he tried to open the door, and he met our resistance from the opposite facet. So he knew we (have been) in…I am nonetheless excited about why did he quit now?”
Professional-Israel counter-protesters watch as a whole lot of anti-Israel agitators stage an illustration exterior NYU’s Stern College of Enterprise in Manhattan on April 22, 2024. The demonstrators organized a tent camp in entrance of the varsity and demanded a ceasefire between Israel and Israel. Gaza. (Julia Bonavita/Fox Information Digital)
It stays a thriller — which Gefner stated she is grateful for to today.
Within the months since October 7, 2023, Gefner has needed to cope with the political fallout as Israel turned embroiled in a protracted offensive towards Hamas in Gaza.
Her boyfriend served within the military for 3 months via November. He advised her concerning the community of tunnels Hamas had inbuilt Gaza – and concerning the shelters and workplaces constructed underneath colleges and hospitals.
“It is quite simple. Israel should destroy Hamas.”
US politicians have additionally been on the offensive in assist of Israel towards rising anger over the hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza killed through the marketing campaign to eradicate Hamas.
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Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., just lately emphasised on “Fox & Buddies” that the goal will not be civilians, however Hamas.
“It is quite simple,” Rubio stated. “Israel should destroy Hamas. Hamas has mainly outlined victory as survival. The truth that they’re nonetheless in place and may maintain press conferences and make statements – that may be a victory for Hamas.”
Gefner stated she feels pissed off by the rise of anti-Semitism and protests on school campuses and within the streets of America’s cities.
“I want they’d simply take all their hatred for the Jewish folks and for Israel to Hamas,” she stated.
It’s Hamas, she stated, that has the Palestinians in chains – not Israel, not the Jews.
“They need to shout: ‘Free the Palestinians from Hamas,’ not ‘free from Israel.’ Hamas is holding Palestine – not us,” she stated.
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However as a toddler of Israel, who has by no means identified a time when Israel didn’t exist, she advocates not just for her future – but additionally for the way forward for the Palestinians.
“We’ve one Earth,” Hefner stated.
“I am going to say one house. And all of us want to grasp how we will stay collectively.”
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