It was 7:30 at night on October 1, 2024 when Lised’s cell phone vibrated with an alert that chilled his blood: The sky over Tel Aviv, Israel, became a field of battle and revenge.
According to the criteria of
Two minutes, that was all the time she had to get to the shelter and save her life, but a thought paralyzed her: Her daughter Alejandra was not at home and worse still, where she was, there was nowhere to shelter.
Terror merged with helplessness and anguish of knowing that her daughter was outside, unprotected, while the sky rumbled with the roar of the intercepted missiles.
She knew her daughter “was in danger and there was nothing she could do to protect her.”which fueled the desperation of thinking that he could lose her at any moment.
It was at that precise moment when it began what would become the longest and darkest night of their lives, a nightmare that would test their love, their faith and their will to survive.
Lised, a Colombian who has made Israel her home for the last three years, He suddenly found himself in the middle of a time bomb that was about to explode.
The tension between Israel and Iran had reached its critical point, Lised and Alejandra, like many inhabitants of the country, were trapped in the epicenter of a conflict for which they were not to blame.
I panicked
While walking down the two floors of the building to reach the shelter, approximately 180 missiles sailed through the Israeli night skyYo.
This attack, similar to the April bombing, was Iran’s response to a series of assassinations of senior Hezbollah leaders.
And although at the beginning of the year they experienced the same situation, this time it was different for them because they were separated under fire. “I panicked. You know you can lose your life,” Lised confessed to EL TIEMPO with a voice still shaking as he remembered.
Without shelter: an hour of uncertainty
At that very moment, miles away, Alejandra was returning from a day at the beachoblivious to the hell that was about to be unleashed. The bus he was riding stopped abruptly when the sirens began to wail.
Alejandra said that she “was on the open road and There was no place nearby to shelter.“The passengers who were with her walked away from the bus, fell to the ground and covered their heads. They knew that running was not an option.
In parallel, Lised watched the news on his phone, which revealed the magnitude of the attack. She was surrounded by the prayers and cries of those who have their children in war.
I felt like my soul was leaving my body.
The mother confessed that “she felt like her soul was leaving her body” because he knew that his daughter “I didn’t have a shelter nearby because I was on an open road.”
On the ground, Alejandra looked at the sky with terror and I only thought about him desire to see his mother again.
The missiles soared through the air, while the Israeli air defense system, the Iron Dome, worked to intercept them; however, You could hear the explosions of one or another who managed to enter the territory.
The daughter recalled that she began “praying, crying and watching the missiles coming toward” them. “I felt like I was going to die,” he expressed with anguish to EL TIEMPO. In the midst of the chaos, mother and daughter managed to connect through a phone call.
Alejandra said that her mother “called her crying” and she told her “to stay calm, that this was going to turn out well.” But internally, The young woman was fighting her own fear. He didn’t want his last conversation with his mother to be in tears.
Minutes turned into an eternity. Every explosion in the sky was a reminder of how fragile life is.
Lised, in the shelter, clung to his phone, reading the government news that came in real time. Alejandra, on the ground, She heartbrokenly hugged strangers who had suddenly become sisters in the face of terror.
The reunion of mother and daughter
After what seemed like an eternity, the attack stopped. Alejandra managed to get home, where her mother was waiting for her with open arms and eyes full of tears.
I told her: ‘mommy I thought I was going to die’ and she answered me in the middle of crying: ‘I thought I was going to lose you’
Alejandra remembered that when she saw her mother, she hugged her as tightly as if she had come back to life and told her: ‘Mommy, I thought I was going to die’ and she answered him while crying: ‘I thought you were going lose, but God was very great with me and with you.’
That family hug was more than a gesture of love; was a symbol of survival, resistance.
Days later, Lised is still uncertain because it is not known what will happen. The alert of possible terrorist attacks in the streets only increases their anxiety. “These people come to places to kill others, without saying a word.”
However, in the midst of the darkness, Lised and her daughter found new strength. “We support each other. We trust in God,” she stated with determination.
The night of October 1st changed this forever Colombian family in Israel. The fear is still present, like a shadow that seems to follow them. But they also discovered a resilience they didn’t know they had.
GERALDINE BAJONERO VÁSQUEZ
Journalist Latest News from EL TIEMPO
*Images and videos were courtesy. (They are from October 1, 2024).
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