Children from the evacuated Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the worst-hit communities of Hamas’s invasion and massacre on October 7, describe their lives in the wake of the attack during an interview with Israel's Channel 12 news.
The children, internally displaced at a hotel by the Dead Sea, range from six to 11 years old.
"I'm really sad about what happened in the kibbutz," Adar, age 9, told N12. "And my grandma and grandpa are no longer with us, so that's sad."
Tomas, a nine-year-old boy wearing a soccer jersey, said he’s “still recovering from what happened.” They found the body of a friend of his from Kfar Azza, he said. “If I used to attend two funerals a year, now I have something like 40.”
'I saw a lot of things a kid shouldn't see.'
The children recalled some of the scenes they witnessed.
"There were a lot of bodies on the road on the way from the kibbutz, a lot of things that kids shouldn't see," Nahar told N12. "A lot of destroyed houses, it was a little scary. When I saw things that were a little scary, I said to myself, 'Okay, in this case, I should close my eyes.'"
"Also at certain stages, I said to myself, 'It's just a nightmare,' I'd pinch myself, 'let me wake up from this.' But I did that, and it didn't help." Hili, eight, said. "In the war, I thought about my grandpa, who ran away to the forests during the Holocaust."
The children took issue with the school set up for them at the hotel.
“It’s a nightmare school,” one of them said.
“It’s really one of the most boring schools,” complains another.
Messages for the government
The children also commented on the government.
“What they did to us was neglect,” says Nahar. “And it’s simply a shame. That no one, for at least twelve hours, did anything.”
"If I could say something to the prime minister," says 11-year-old Yehonatan, "I would tell him to do everything possible to return my aunt and uncle to us right away."
One 11-year-old is more circumspect. “I don’t know if now is the time to do demonstrations against the prime minister or things like that,” she says, "but, for my part, just that they join forces to do something, that they return our kidnapped.”
“If I were in his place,” another child says, “I would resign. It's a shame, it's simply a shame. Part of Israel is no longer with us! How is he not ashamed of that?”