Hadar Bachar was converted from an average 13-year-old girl into the coordinator of her family's effort to survive a Hamas attack on one desperate and blood-soaked Saturday. The Bachars, like other inhabitants of Israeli border communities overtaken by armed Palestinian infiltrators on Oct. 7, sealed themselves in a "safe room" intended to withstand rocket attacks from Gaza. Hamas worked to make it a death trap.

The assailants first fired through the door, injuring Hadar's father, Avida, and her 15-year-old brother, Carmel. The militants would eventually blow open the reinforced glass and shoot her mother, Dana, through the breach. It was up to Hadar to bandage wounds while summoning aid or guidance. She used her phone and her parents' phones to summon emergency services, which would not arrive at her house in Kibbutz Beeri for many hours.

"It needs to be understood: A 13-year-old girl is running an operations room, with three phones ringing at the same time," Avida said proudly from a hospital where he was recovering after having one of his injured legs amputated. The Bachars learned in real-time from the village's whatsapp groups that Hamas was on a house-to-house killing spree - and that the same fate awaited them if they came out of hiding.

It was already too late for Dana. Only her daughter was able to attend to her, as advised by medics over the phone. "They say I should strip her down. I did so and looked, but I couldn't detect any bullet entry or exit wounds. They instructed me to monitor her breathing. "She wasn't breathing," Hadar said gently in an interview with her father for Reuters.

"My dad said, 'Leave her be.'"

Neighbors' frantic text messages forewarned the Bachars of what was to come. The Islamist invaders tried to smoke them out with fire. That started when a wardrobe was slammed against the other side of their safe room door and set on fire.

"Tyres were also used." They brought tires from automobiles, spare tires, and everything else they could find. "They torched the tires to create thicker smoke - black smoke that you couldn't breathe - so people could escape through the windows," Hadar explained.

"And then they would die during their escape."

When the flames arrived, Hadar and her injured brother were still jammed up against the door to protect it from being pounded down.

"I tell Carmel that we need to move away, and then, 10 minutes later, when I get burns on my legs and Carmel gets burns on his hands, I tell him, 'We need to move'," she went on to say.

"As a result, we went closer to the beds and stayed there. Meanwhile, I'm hiding beneath a suitcase and talking to everyone who can assist."

Help would ultimately arrive, but not before more than 100 Beeri villagers were slaughtered, accounting for 10% of the village's population. Among them was Carmel, who died as a result of his injuries.

Avida said he and his daughter will heal and rebuild.

"Without a doubt, you wonder, 'What does a 13-year-old need this for?'" 'What are you subjecting her to?' But we were in survival mode, and she was a superstar," her father remarked. "No one compares to her. She remained calm. It was nearly terrifying."
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SIBY JEYYA

17/11/2023 08:01 AM