LIFE IN TEL AVIV
IN Israel, citizens hide in stairwells and bomb shelters as the rockets from Palestinian militants rain down.
Israel’s dome technology intercepts many of them, but the sound of the exploding rockets and waiting for news from loved ones is distressing.
Danielle Bett, a British-Israeli who is currently living in Tel Aviv, says: “Two nights ago it was on the news saying Israel was to expect rockets around 9pm. There was a siren, then we had 60 to 90 seconds to get into shelter.
“Our building doesn’t have a bomb shelter, you need to go into the stairwell or basement area and stay away from windows or outer walls.
“You have to stay under cover for at least 10 minutes because of shrapnel. A lot of injuries are from shrapnel from rockets exploding in the air.
“The second one was the same night at 3am. We were woken up by it again and jumped out of bed and ran back to the stairwell.
“Even though it gets intercepted it’s a massive, huge explosion, the building shakes. We stay away from the windows.”
Danielle says people are used to the protocol of hearing the sirens and running to the stairwell, but when the building shakes it is unnerving.
Residents wait it out together in the stairwells, often in silence, until there is an explosion.
Danielle, 31, says: “Everyone is quiet, there is a support and solidarity feeling. When it’s in the middle of the night, there’s a horrible silence.
“The bangs are horrible and the building shakes. Then everyone calls their families to make sure they’re OK.”
Danielle works for a British pro-peace and anti-occupation charity called Yachad. She says: “We are thinking of people in Gaza. If I’m looking at a mum in my building holding a toddler, we
SUFFERING Danielle shelters on stairs
know there are people in a different building experiencing the same thing, often worse. It’s not a competition. “Everyone’s pain is legitimate, everyone’s suffering can be acknowledged. People are not blind to what’s happening in Gaza.”
Uriel Goldberg, 29, is a paramedic with Magden David Adom, Israel’s medical emergency service. Originally from London, he has been working in Ashkelon, 3km north of the border with the Gaza Strip, treating casualties of the bombs.
He says: “The number of rockets we’ve had has been a lot higher than in the past. Our teams are treating people while risking their own lives. We’re treating civilians who have been hurt by rockets in their own homes or on the way to a shelter.
“People have been killed, we’ve been treating head injuries, injuries to limbs, a lot have stress syndrome from the shock. We hope it will stop soon.”
‘We had 60 to 90 seconds to get into shelter’