On October 7, 2023, Ben Sochman was awakened at 6:30 am by air defense sirens wailing and Hamas rockets whizzing by. This was nothing new for the residents of Be’eri Kibbutz. For about 20 years, the town of about 1,200 residents has been under fire from the Gaza Strip.

But that morning, the attack was unprecedented in its brutality. First came a dozen rockets, then hundreds more. Fifteen minutes after the initial barrage, a 47-year-old friend from the kibbutz called Sochman to say, “The terrorists have crossed the border.” That friend locked himself in a shelter with his wife and their three children. Hundreds of Hamas commandos stormed the Israeli villages surrounding Gaza. They killed indiscriminately, targeting both Jewish residents and migrant workers living there. They set houses on fire and shot at those trying to flee on foot or by car.

At 10:30 am, Tami Sochman, Ben’s 77-year-old mother who lived in a different house in the kibbutz, managed to call him. They spoke for two hours, worrying about each other, comforting one another, telling each other they loved each other. At 12:30 pm, smoke filled his mother’s house. “A terrorist came in. He asked her to give him her jewelry,” said Sochman. “I heard them leave. Then the phone cut off. I saw the look on my children’s faces at that moment – no one wants to go through that.”

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