Sebastián Katlirevsky He will never forget what he experienced last Saturday, October 7th. It was only 6:30 in the morning when suddenly a anti-aircraft alarm He woke her up and forced her to seek refuge with her family for more than a day. “Like most Israelis, I am used to sirens, but usually when the siren goes off we have an idea about the reason, or at least we know somehow that there is tension at the border or something. That Saturday, no one expected anything “, Katlirevsky from the band Prensa Ibérica tells EL PERIÓDICO. Seven years ago, this Argentinian from Córdoba moved here. Israel lives with his wife and three children The kibbutz is 14 kilometers from the Gaza border.
As soon as he realized something was happening, he, his wife and children hid in the safest rooms of the house. “We stayed for a while and decided to move to the opposite block when we saw that it was a little safer. shelter“, reassures this father of the family. “We passed he ranin our pajamas and what we wore to get there not including with our neighbors,” he explains. community shelters They are common on kibbutzim and are often used by those living in nearby apartment blocks, but in this case four young strangers This surprised them. “We didn’t know anything about what happened at the time, we just had the perception that this time it was more serious than previous incidents,” he recalls. “It caught my attention to see four boys They didn’t look good. They will be between the ages of 18 and 25 and They didn’t say a single word.“They were in a corner, quiet, and it took more than half a day for them to start talking,” he says.
horror in pictures
“As the hours progressed, images of horror began to reach us. At first we thought they were fake news, “But after we got more and more videos, we started to get an idea,” he says. “From the videos, we knew: violations girls whose friends or boyfriends died next to them, murders, kidnappings, children hiding in closets who witnessed the death of their parents, entire families being murdered…” Sebastián explains how this is “ironic” Violence, like yours, is a place where the majority of its residents are “left-wing targeted communities where people were peaceto live in coexistence“. “Teaching this to the next generation will be a huge challenge There are good people on the other side too.” he thinks. But he doesn’t lose hope.
“We saw some pictures of a white van and terrorists We shot at close range and then started connecting the dots. Those kids were inside shock because they had escaped from the famous party that the terrorists had broken into,” he explains. Sebastián recalls that they tried to contact them, but the young people were only physically present. “We cannot explain how they managed to get there. , in that shelter in my neighborhood. we are about 10 kilometers from the party. “They managed to escape and save themselves, but many others did not,” he explains.
Sebastián answers these questions as follows: safe zone where you are now refugee His family since last Sunday and then his family when he came to visit them for a few days. “I live in an agricultural cooperative. It’s a sort of gated community, and we have the livestock area where the dairy farm (milk factory) I work in is located, and our community and those around us take our children to the same school,” explains this farmer. Due to responsibility, he did not leave with his wife and children. “Dairy must continue producing, otherwise the cows will die and that is an issue.” Food Safety. “We need to keep producing food, so I spent all these days sleeping in the shelter and going to work, doing as little as possible for the animals and also taking care of my work group.”
Difficulty returning home
“We want to go home, but we live in a place that would be considered the worst thing. second line and that makes it so much dangerous“says Sebastián in pain. He knows that many people have been kidnapped or kidnapped. missing. Ask for a few minutes before continuing the conversation. “Let me withdraw, I don’t want my children to hear what I have to say,” he justifies. Sebastián claims that a young woman known to his community, who was only 18 years old, disappeared and her body was found a short time later. “There are still among them 200 to 300 bodies to be identified, “Unfortunately, this fear affects all of us,” he says, and continues: “We are tired, the stress is too much. “We always suffer from what might happen to our families,” he explains. “Thank God Israel is united. solidarity and the most remote communities welcome refugees from endangered communities, but we know there are people who cannot return to their homes for a year or two because the kibbutz is completely destroyed,” he explains.