Ellay: Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. There was insane stress. We ran to the safe room, which was Yaeli’s room. 

Ariel: There was a power outage pretty much immediately, but the second they said there were terrorists… I instinctively went out to the kitchen to get knives. 

Ellay & Ariel G. Credit: Kan11

Ellay: We put up a kind of block, Yaeli’s bookcase against the door of the safe room. 

Ariel: Suddenly I heard speaking in Arabic. Not 3 minutes went by and then suddenly the door of the safe room opened. Just suddenly. I saw them, but they could not see me, I am hiding behind the bookcase and I am kind of peeking out with one eye, I threw the knives I took from the kitchen at them, I threw books, Yael’s toys.

Ellay: I wrote a message to our family that they are in the house with us, lighting a fire and we love them. After a few minutes, three or four, the whole room begins to fill with smoke. As soon as we realized we were inhaling lots and lots of smoke, we decided to leave the room. We sit on the door of our bedroom, Yael and I lean on it, and he lifts the mattress over us, to protect us.  

Ariel: Then they start throwing stones through the window, throwing glass beer bottles. Suddenly we heard a kind of whisper, a Ssshhhhhh… and suddenly a gas balloon flies in, and there is a kind of explosion and a wave of fire that really burns us for the first time.  

Ellay: I think… from the pain, from the shock. From the shock of the burns… he didn't want to get up anymore, he…  

Ariel: I really remember that I said, I am not continuing, something like that. So she gave me a kind of push, come, we are going to the shower, which kind of reset me at a moment like that… 

Ellay: You are with us, you are not… you are not going. And then we got into the shower, closed the door, turned on the water, I washed us both, myself and Yael, Yael was in my arms. They heard that I turned on the shower, they broke the window and threw a gas balloon… After that he [the terrorist] fought with me with… a plank of wood that he got through the window. He started to do like that [stabbing motion], through the window, I caught it and did it back to him. He cut open my eyebrow. There was blood everywhere, but…

Ariel: At this point I suddenly hear them say, “Yalla, let’s get out of here.” And I can see them through the window going further away. Ellay and I both said, okay we have to escape from here. 

Ellay: Ariel jumped out the window and I gave him Yael and then I jumped, both of us, in boxer shorts and t-shirt and me in underwear and a t-shirt. 

Ariel: We left barefoot. 

Ellay: It's a kind of a path between two houses, which is also hidden. We heard shooting in a bit of a distance from us. We got to the area of the orchard. There is an area with tractors, and there was a tall tractor so I said to Ariel that I think that is a good place to hide. We climbed up and there was a kind of tarp so we covered ourselves and stayed there. We hid and Yael started to cry a little. So to calm her and also to give her a little liquid, there was no water, so I nursed her there. It helped a little, but we were all covered with burns so everything really, really hurt. And we didn't understand the size of the whole thing. How is it possible that we are getting message after message from people fighting for their lives, we are fighting for our lives. And no one is coming to protect us. At some point Yael started to fall asleep, to squirm, and I said to Ariel that this is already dangerous and we need to get medical attention. We got down, looked around, and started walking towards the gate of the Kibbutz. We went from Migunit [small, doorless concrete shelter] to Migunit, where we hid. A little past the reception area, we saw a group of soldiers kneeling, preparing to enter. 

Ariel: As soon as I saw them I ran ahead and waved at them and then I heard them say, “There is someone here with a baby and there is someone behind him.”

Credit: Kan11

Ellay: Everything we did, I said this to Ariel and to my parents, I don’t think we would be alive without Yael. Because it is a kind of instinct, motherly, parent, to do everything possible to save your child. I told Ariel, I don’t care if we don’t live, but Yael has to remain okay. And when I saw her, I was so excited and happy that she was okay, that we succeeded. That was what was most important to us.  

Ariel: In the helicopter I kind of remember that I was freezing cold. They covered me with a blanket and I remember myself shaking, but every minute or so I tried to pull myself up and asked, “What about Yael and Ellay? Check on them, don’t let anything happen to them.” And I can hear Ellay saying the same thing about me. We got to Sheba Hospital and they got me down on a stretcher. At this point they separate me from Yael and Ellay. I think all in one moment, the adrenalin wore off and I went to sleep for 8-10 days I think. 

Ariel & Ellay G.

Taken from a video interview to Kan 11

This story was first published on october7.org.