Hamas attack on Israel: Kibbutz Beeri's wrecked community difficult return

FRANCE 24 English

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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.

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