Hamas attack on Israel: Kibbutz Beeri's wrecked community difficult return
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00:00 Nir Shani long hesitated before embarking on this road again.
00:04 The one that takes him and his daughter home.
00:07 To the Berikibuts, just four kilometres from Gaza.
00:11 Etched in his memory is the moment that he finally escaped.
00:16 This is my house.
00:17 I was standing like in here and this house was in flame.
00:22 It was like huge flames.
00:25 With trepidation and sadness, this is the first time that Shani's returned.
00:30 Since October 7th, when at dawn, Hamas fighters fired into his home with a Kalashnikov.
00:36 He hid behind an armoured door.
00:38 I held the door closed.
00:41 Now I can close it.
00:42 And I was sitting here with my hands over here and my face tied to the wall because
00:53 I knew they might shoot.
00:55 Hamas fighters killed over 80 residents of this kibbutz.
00:59 As for Shani, they tried to attain his safe room through the air vents and by setting
01:03 a fire.
01:04 He crawled from here and he used the flashlight from here and after they set the fire, I closed
01:12 it like this.
01:13 I won't suffocate from the smoke.
01:16 Ten hours later, the Israeli army arrived, setting him free.
01:20 But now returning to his home is all the more painful because his son, Ahmet, is one of
01:24 the some 30 missing from the kibbutz.
01:27 On October 7th, he was with his sister and their mother, who also lives in Berri.
01:32 Hamas fighters held them captive and threatened them.
01:35 You see, they took us here.
01:41 Mom was hugging us tight.
01:43 They attached the hands of the boys behind their backs and dragged them into a car.
01:49 Ahmet seemed completely lost.
01:52 The 16-year-old was kidnapped before their eyes.
01:56 But Emma and her mother were not taken away.
01:59 I think their car was too small and that's why they didn't take us too.
02:04 The Shanis have received no news from Ahmet or any sign of life from his captors.
02:10 I believe he's probably underground someplace.
02:15 He's just 16 years old.
02:17 He's a boy.
02:18 He's not a soldier.
02:19 The family is holding on to one another in the hope that they'll be reunited one day.