This is the dramatic moment a British mother and her family fled the besieged settlement of Yeted across open fields, past army forces in a firefight with Hamas troops – leaving her adult soldier son behind to fight on the front lines.
Debby Sharon hit the accelerator, sped past tanks and dodged bullets after hiding in the family shelter for more than 36 hours as her village, a community of just 120 families four kilometers from the Gaza border, came under fire from Hamas.
While she fled to safety, her son was on the front line, one of the soldiers confronting the hundreds of militiamen who had infiltrated Israel’s borders in the early hours of Saturday.
As one of 300,000 reservists now serving Israel’s worst offensive in 50 years, Sharon waits anxiously hour after hour for news of her 27-year-old son Zohar, who was called up with his paratrooper unit on Sunday, a day after Hamas declared war on Israel had.
After a full evacuation, their Yeted home is now next to several settlements that have since been declared a military exclusion zone, and dozens of the community are still missing or feared dead.
Debby Sharon (pictured with her dog) had been hiding in the family shelter for over 36 hours while her village, a community of just 120 families four kilometers from the Gaza border, came under Hamas fire
Debby stomped on the accelerator, racing past tanks and dodging bullets
She and her husband, her daughter and son-in-law, her autistic son and three grandchildren under the age of 11 were all in a room of just 3 x 2 square meters without electricity while they heard gunshots and rockets for hours.
With their phones running out of charge just hours after the ordeal began, they had no idea what was happening outside their small home in southern Israel and on Israel’s most active frontline.
“In those hours I truly understood the mentality my English mother raised us with after growing up during World War II and how she taught us how to behave in emergencies,” she said.
She remembers looking out the window in a quiet moment as she left the shelter to assess what was happening and seeing people running chaotically. “It was apocalyptic,” she said.
“Nothing could have prepared us for this.” The idea of “keeping our heads up” and staying positive amid the chaos and uncertainty was something I could imagine in those moments. I felt like I was reenacting all the stories my mother had told me as a child.
“I’m trying to keep the children calm, stop them from screaming, stop them from walking away, all while we’re all together in a safe space that should protect us from missiles, not terrorists He doesn’t even lock himself from the inside.’
Sharon, a criminal defense attorney who has lived in Israel since she was five, knew war all too well, but what unfolded Saturday morning was unlike anything she has ever experienced.
Her father had served in the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago, but when hundreds of Hamas militias went on a rampage in Israeli homes, the front lines became much closer than the country had ever seen.
“It sounds crazy to say this, but the missile attacks we had to contend with before are no longer difficult for us. You don’t feel like it changes our lives, but when you know that people are shooting near a house, it’s something different.” Overall feeling.
“I felt sick from the first moment. You have all these thoughts about what could happen. “If a missile falls on you, there are not many alternatives to what could happen,” she added.
Sharon and her family were evacuated from the community across the fields by a convoy of reserve soldiers and drove past a cemetery of destroyed civilian and army vehicles – a chilling sign that not even the army was safe here.
When she finally got radio reception and heard the breaking news, she realized the extent of the war after being housed without contact for about 24 hours.
Debby made the dangerous journey in her car. After a full evacuation, their home in Yeted is now next to several settlements that have now been declared a military exclusion zone, and dozens of the community are still missing or feared dead
Debby’s family at the dinner table. While she fled to safety, her son was on the front line, one of the soldiers confronting the hundreds of militiamen who had infiltrated Israel’s borders in the early hours of Saturday
Debby’s family is in hiding. She and her husband, her daughter and son-in-law, her autistic son and three grandchildren under the age of 11 were all in a room of just 3 x 2 square meters without electricity while they heard gunshots and rockets for hours
“I can’t breathe yet, I can’t sleep, and it’s the first time I admit I’m traumatized,” she said. “My son is still serving, clearing the area of the remnants of the worst enemy there is today,” the area now unrecognizable.
Although large parts of the region known as Eshkol were destroyed by bombings and shootings and houses were burned by the militia, there is no doubt that they will return.
“Leaving is not an option,” Sharon smiled with an indomitable spirit. “It will take so much to rebuild, so many things have been diminished overall and there will be a lot of work to process the trauma, learn to sleep again and trust again.”
“So many young children have suffered terrible psychological injuries and there is still a lot of work to be done, but I cannot imagine giving up on this beautiful area. “So many people have died here that if we give it up we are disrespecting their memory .’