Ofakim siege survivor desperate for information on missing sister, family from nearby Kibbutz

Roni Shvalb is a resident of Ofakim in southern Israel, one of the communities recently under siege by Hamas gunmen. She spoke with The Media Line about Saturday’s attack on her community and about her missing family members from nearby Kibbutz Nir Oz, where she works as a teacher.

On Saturday morning, Israel woke up to the harshest terror incursion in the country’s history. Hundreds of Hamas gunmen from Gaza overwhelmed the border by land, sea, and air, attacking Israel’s civilian communities along the border, where they indiscriminately killed or wounded soldiers and civilians alike. The Israeli government has so far reported over 700 dead and more than 2,000 injured, including women, children, and the elderly. Scores were kidnapped and moved into Gaza. Simultaneously, some 3,000 rockets were fired from Gaza into neighboring Israeli communities and into cities in central Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

TML: First of all, I wanted to say that I cannot imagine what you’re going through, and I wanted to thank you for being with me here today. Can you please describe what happened yesterday?

Shvalb: Yesterday, around 6:30 in the morning, we woke up to the sound of the rocket sirens. I live in Ofakim, which is close to the Gaza border. We started to chat with our family in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Karina, Ronen, Yuval, and Mika are missing. While I was chatting with my sister Karina, she sent me a joke, saying, “Ha-ha-ha, you will not have to go to work tomorrow.”

We knew that there were already terrorists in our city, Ofakim, and I told her, “They’re here in my neighborhood, I can hear them.” She said, “Yes, also here there are [terrorists].” And that is it, my communication with her was broken from 9:30 to 10 am.

I later spoke with my second sister, Paola, who was speaking to Karina by phone and said that she told her that she had seen blood on her balcony and went out to see what had happened to her husband and screamed, “They’re here, they’re here!” and the conversation was disconnected.

TML: Do you know what’s happening in Nir Oz right now? Do you know what is the situation there?

Shvalb: The situation in Nir Oz, from what I know, there are a lot of [people] killed, there are kidnapped children, kidnapped families, missing families, and houses that were burned. I do not know where I am coming back to work. How are the children, if there are children at all to teach them? I do not know what happened to my sister or her daughters. I do not have much information because they are not giving me information. We tried to reach out to many hotlines, but no one had information. Not at the kibbutz, not outside, and I already started to lose hope.

TML: Did you manage to speak to anybody that is in the kibbutz right now?

Shvalb: We managed to speak to some people at the kibbutz, but they do not know what happened to my family. But from what I understood, they checked their house and there was no one.

Only Tom, my sister’s son, who is a soldier and was at the base, is now at my brother’s house in Kfar Saba.

TML: How is he? How is he feeling?

Shvalb: He is in a really bad situation emotionally. A 19-year-old boy who does not know what happened to his family. We have no way to help him, we do not have a way to give him information because we are in the same boat. He went to give a DNA sample and the brother of my brother-in-law did as well.

We’re all day monitoring the media, in front of the TV to see if from any video we manage to identify one of them or have a hint of their whereabouts—but nothing, nothing.

TML: What answers do you get when you call the government’s hotlines to look for information about them?

Shvalb: Nothing, they ask us to give them their details. That is what they answer to me. Then they do not return the call nor give an answer, no nothing.

TML: You were in Ofakim, where one of the harshest battles with terrorists that infiltrated into your city. Do you know how much time it took for the army to arrive at the scene?

Shvalb: We do not know, but we did hear about the shootings. We were locked up in the house. And also now we are still locked up. The children do not leave the bomb shelter.

TML: Did you sleep in the bomb shelter yesterday night?

The kids slept in the bomb shelter. I was in the living room in front of the TV and my husband in the room also in front of the TV. Of course, I did not manage to sleep. I am already awake for more than 24 hours.

TML: How are the kids doing?

Shvalb: For my daughter Noam, it’s very hard. For my other daughter, Noia, it’s also really difficult because her boyfriend is fighting somewhere in the middle of the ocean. I have another nephew who is fighting somewhere.