The family of UK-Israeli citizens spent around nine hours in hiding after being awoken to rocket fire at 6am in the community of Nirim, a kilometre from the Gaza border.<\/p>\n
Deborah Mintz, originally from Romford and in her 60s, hid in the tiny room with her grandson Kai, and his parents, Aimee and Uriel Labban, both in their 30s.<\/p>\n
The family\u2019s house and cars were torched by Hamas fighters. Their pet dog was killed, the family said.<\/p>\n
As smoke poured into the safe room, they were forced to hold baby Kai up to the ceiling to protect him from the fumes.<\/p>\n
The family was finally freed just before 3pm, Nirim time, as Israeli Defence Forces arrived and escorted them to a bomb shelter in the kibbutz, which is home to just a few hundred people.<\/p>\n
Russell Langer, a policy researcher, told the London Telegraph<\/em> he learnt of his family\u2019s plight when they received a text message saying: \u201cWe are stuck. They came in and burnt our house\u201d.<\/p>\n Israelis inspect the rubble of a building a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n He said his aunt and cousin were terrified to leave because they \u201cknew what the alternative was\u201d.<\/p>\n He said on Saturday: \u201cThey\u2019ve been in the safe room or supposedly safe room… since six in the morning\u201d. He said the \u201cterrorists\u201d entered their home at around 9am.<\/p>\n \u201cThey ran straight to the safe room. They can literally hear the terrorists, [the] room has been filled with smoke so they basically lifted the baby up to the window to get fresh air,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy aunt has posted in the group \u2018the terrorists killed Mickey\u2019. Mickey\u2019s her dog.\u201d<\/p>\n Langer said the family were later rescued by the Israeli Defence Force and moved to a shelter with neighbours, including one woman whose husband was killed and another who was eight and a half months pregnant.<\/p>\n \u201cBaby Kai appears to be okay, but [he is] a bit covered in soot,\u201d he said. \u201cThe house is burnt out, as are their cars.\u201d<\/p>\n Other British citizens in Israel told how their families were \u201chiding in bushes\u201d after Hamas terrorists torched their home on a kibbutz in an effort to smoke them out.<\/p>\n Emma Segev, 50, from Eastbourne, who now lives near Ashkelon, was desperately waiting for news of her sister-in-law and her four children after the kibbutz of Be\u2019eri was infiltrated.<\/p>\n \u201cThey told us that Hamas were outside their door and they could hear Arabic and gunshots, but now things have gone silent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cLast thing we heard, their house was on fire. Eventually, the heat in the room got so intense they thought they would be burnt alive and fled. I don\u2019t know how they got out but they are hiding in the bushes.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo elderly ladies have been kidnapped as well as teenagers who were attending a rave and were taken hostage.\u201d<\/p>\n Segev, an English language teacher, criticised the IDF for allowing Hamas to take hostages to Gaza.<\/p>\n A man takes a solar panel from a mosque destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cWhere is the Israeli Defence Force? Hamas are in control, burning and killing,\u201d she said. \u201cHamas has taken control.<\/p>\n \u201cI have friends who have been hiding in their basement for six hours as terrorists knock on the doors of their kibbutz looking for Jews to kidnap.\u201d<\/p>\n Her son Yuval, 24, added that Hamas were \u201cwandering around with AK47s and families have nothing apart from the odd baseball bat and kitchen knives\u201d, and his family were \u201chiding among the fruit trees on their kibbutz\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe gunmen are taking shots at them. They are just praying the Israeli soldiers will turn up but apparently the soldiers can\u2019t get through at the moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Felicity Kay, from Watford, said that she was woken by rocket sirens at 6am in Tel Aviv, and questioned how Hamas were able to launch such a horrific attack.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a totally pre-planned unprovoked attack on civilians and kids. Where is the army? How did this happen? Where are the IDF in the south?<\/p>\n \u201cImagine if this happened in London. Remember when Lee Rigby was murdered in broad daylight, the outcry was international. This is far different and far more horrifying, there are kidnappings and massacres.\u201d<\/p>\n Terry Newman, a father of four from London, said he was angry that the country had been \u201cinfiltrated\u201d by Hamas terrorists after being woken by the sirens as his family slept in the garden for the holy festival of Sukkot.<\/p>\n \u201cHamas gave us the element of surprise. We were hit by thousands of rockets and infiltrated by killers who have kidnapped and murdered civilians, political leaders and security officials,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael has to respond with maximum force to stop more murders, return the kidnapped Israelis as soon as possible and to convince our other enemies that we won\u2019t tolerate this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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