PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – An Israeli-American woman from Miami described what it was like to survive the Hamas attack that killed hundreds on Saturday in Israel.
Mayan Derhy, a therapist who was born in Israel and grew up in Miami, said she was in her apartment in Tel Aviv with her partner, who is an Israeli military reservist, when the rocket barrage struck Saturday.
“It was the first time I had been through anything like that in my life,” Derhy said on Sunday during This Week In South Florida.
The city’s alarm woke them up at about 7 a.m., and they quickly rushed to their apartment’s safe room, a space designed to withstand missile attacks. Derhy said something felt different about it this time. They turned on the television, and the journalists appeared to be in shock.
The city’s alarm went off and on a few more times. Derhy said they were in and out of the safe room, turning the TV on and off. They were watching the news outside of the safe room when they heard, “BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”
A few hours into the attack, she said her partner received a call from his Israeli military commander, who ordered him to evacuate the apartment, leave the city, and drive north. They rushed to get ready, as the “BOOMS!” continued.
“While we were packing, there was another alarm, so we ran in the safe room with our bags, and we just went downstairs, and we got in the car,” Derhy said.
The couple risked getting shot by Hamas fighters as they traveled for about an hour north on Israel’s Mediterranean coast to the port city of Haifa, about an hour’s drive from where Hezbollah launched a rocket attack.
“I was on high alert,” Derhy said adding she cried on the way.
On Sunday, Derhy said she was still processing her emotions. She was able to communicate with her family in Miami and was at her grandmother’s home talking about her experience with Local 10 News because “it’s important.”
Derhy said that learning about the attack at Nova, an outdoor dance music festival interrupted by rockets, also hit close to home. Witnesses reported Hamas fighters shot at the concertgoers who were trying to get away from them. Some were running and some were in their cars.
“That could have been me. A few weeks from now, I am going to be, I was supposed to be at a festival,” Derhy said.
The Israeli rescue service reported over 260 Nova concertgoers died. Survivors reported Hamas fighters took hostages. A disturbing video CNN and The Washington Post authenticated shows Hamas fighters holding Shani Louk, an Israeli-German woman who appeared to be unconscious.
The rising death toll of the unprecedented incursion passed 700 on Sunday evening in Israel — and included 44 Israeli soldiers — while Hamas fighters claimed to have over 130 hostages in Gaza where 413 were killed, according to The Associated Press. Derhy said it pained her to know that there were children being held hostage.
“This is not about Israel anymore,” Derhy said, “This is about being human.”
Related report on Saturday
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