Bat Sheva Yahalomi, a resident of Nir Oz, spoke to Channel News 12 about the difficulty she is experiencing after her husband and 12-year-old son were kidnapped to Gaza, while she managed to escape with her daughters.
Yahalomi was already with her 2- and 10-year-old daughters at the Gaza border when they miraculously managed to escape from the terrorists.
"We realized very quickly that something different was happening here. The children heard the voices – they were terrified, they were really anxious," she recalled.
Regarding her son Eitan, she said: "Eitan suffers from anxiety – he was paralyzed, he even fell asleep at some point, because his body could not cope with the stress. He also told me: 'Mom, when this is over – I want to move to Switzerland.'"
Ohad, Bat Sheva's husband, came out of the safe room to protect the door from the terrorists outside but was injured: "They started talking to us in Arabic and occasionally said the word 'come.' The kids asked me what they wanted and I told them they wanted to kidnap us. I asked the children to scream, so that we would be delayed as long as possible – I thought the army was in the kibbutz and maybe someone would hear us."
"In the end, after I dragged it out as much as possible, one of the terrorists pointed the rifle at us and said 'I'll shoot' - we had no choice."
About the abduction itself she said: "We started driving through the kibbutz towards Gaza and the sights were very difficult. They looted everything they could - crowds of terrorists were driving on the kibbutz tractors, they also used the old people's scooters."
She explained: "I realized that we must not get there, that we have to get out of this."
But suddenly two tanks appeared, which startled the terrorists and caused a commotion that enabled Bat Sheva to escape with her two daughters.
However, her husband and son are being held in Gaza.
"I want to leave the girls here in safe hands and go back there. I want them to take me and release Eitan or at least let me join him. It is very difficult for me to think that he is there without me," she said.
"We cannot imagine life without them. I hope they do everything to free everyone. Our nightmare is never-ending. Bring everyone back."