Here Lived
In this home, filled with happiness, humor, laughter, and lots of love, lived Liat (49), Haim (52), Yehali (16), and Nehorai (13) Algressi.
This house was a gathering place for family and friends, where we lived a peaceful life in a beautiful kibbutz. A home filled with a great love for people, travelling, shopping, and soccer.
Haim manages the construction branch in the kibbutz, and Liat manages the kibbutz supermarket.
Until October 7, we always described life in the kibbutz as 95 percent paradise and 5 percent hell.
October 7th
On October 7, we woke up to the sound of the sirens, like the rest of the kibbutz members. We entered the safe room and called Liel, our oldest daughter, who was at her home in the kibbutz with her partner. We also called a few friends to make sure they had heard the sirens.
We immediately understood that something different was happening; the amount of rockets and the frequency, the messages sent saying that there were terrorists inside the kibbutz. We locked the window and the door to the safe room.
Luckily, we have a lock on the safe room door and the safe room window. We heard massive shooting in the kibbutz (we were convinced that the army had already arrived). Liat and the boys crawled under the bed and stayed there approximately from 9:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. When we were rescued, Haim laid to side of the bed.
There were terrorists in our house. At first, they knocked on the door and spoke in English. They told us to come out and said they would take care of us. Luckily, we didn’t listen to them, even though Haim was convinced it was the army that came to rescue us.
We were terrified. Every time the terrorists entered our home, we held hands and silently said goodbye to each other. The terror was indescribable. We said the “Shema Israel” prayer and prayed for help.
We heard gunfire and shouting in Arabic, motorcycles revving, and Arabic music from outside. We were in the safe room, helpless, desperate for help, and we couldn’t understand why the army hadn’t arrived yet.
The terrorists broke and looted everything they could lay their hands on. Apparently, they drilled holes into the gas pipe in an attempt to burn us alive.
Many miracles happened to us that day. One of them was that the sukkah covered the window of the safe room.
Miraculously, we survived the massacre, along with our daughter and her partner.
Praise God, a miracle happened to us.
What Happened Since
Today we live in Karme Gat with the rest of our community. Haim returned to work in Nir Oz and joined the efforts to rehabilitate the community. He also joined the “Ha’Chalutz” group and moved back to live in Nir Oz. We join him during the weekends and for various activities. At the end of the school year, God willing, Liat and the boys will move back to Nir Oz. Liat is the chair of the Kibbutz demographic growth committee. Liel works with the children of Nir Oz in the informal education system, and she also has her own apartment in Karme Gat.
