In the village of Giv’at Avni near Tiberias, the Yitzhak family is taking stock of the unimaginable. During yesterday’s Hezbollah rocket barrage on Israel, during which hundreds of rockets were fired, the family’s house was directly struck, leaving an impact less than three feet away from the bomb shelter room in which the family was sheltering. Although the house was destroyed, the family was not physically injured. Friends and relatives have arrived to help the family pack their belongings.
“Giv’at Avni was not a confrontation zone of any sort. This is a shock,” Shiri Yitzhak, who was at home when the missile hit yesterday at noon, said.
Shiri, her husband Dudi, their two daughters, and their dog Joy are temporarily moving to Shiri’s brother’s house, which is also in Giv’at Avni. They plan to stay there while their house is repaired, which is expected to take several weeks. “I’m not managing at all to think about when we’ll manage to go back home,” Shiri said. “I’m just in shock. I haven’t digested it.”
Shiri’s husband Dudi described the terrifying moment of impact. “We entered the safe room, I locked it, and then an explosion happened. I immediately understood it was inside the house,” he said. The missile punctured the roof, destroyed the bathroom, and caused flooding throughout the house.
Aviv, a relative of the Yitzhaks and neighbor who came to help, said that Israelis must get used to the fact that this war is taking place all over the country. “This is not a one time event,” he said. “Many others will occur. We need to maintain composure.”
Six months ago, a Hezbollah drone struck a military base adjacent to Gi’vat Avni, marking the first such event in the village until yesterday. “We know that this is a different period, but we’ll be okay,” Shiri said. “The animals are a bit stressed, especially the cats that we feed, and also Joy.”
Pieces of rockets also struck the village’s sport center, damaging the windows of the Eden Body Workshop gym run by Eden Rousso. “First thing in the morning, I told my customers on Instagram that the situation doesn’t matter, they’re coming in to exercise,” Rousso recalled. “It’s lucky that at noon when the rocket struck, no one was here.”
During the attack, Rousso was at home for a brief visit, and she entered her safe room upon hearing the sirens. When she exited the safe room, she had already received photos of the broken windows at her gym. Her father Eli came to the gym to help clean up and found pieces of the missile in the gym mat. “That’s what war is,” Rousso said.
Rousso had reduced the activities at the gym because of government instructions regarding the security situation, but small groups had been exercising that morning and more groups were expected to arrive in the afternoon. “I just canceled all trainings, but I plan to open tomorrow,” she said. “I also have a studio in Kfar Tavor, and people might want to come there from Giv’at Avni. But you can’t know what will happen.”
This article was translated and edited for context by Leah Schwartz.
