Human Rights

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For Kibbutz Residents, Tunnel Threat Evokes Deepest Nightmares

Over the course of Operation Protective Edge, the Israel Defense Forces have uncovered dozens of tunnels dug towards Israeli kibbutzim along the Gaza border.

Hamas said that the purpose of these tunnels is to abduct Israelis. There have already been several attempts by Hamas terrorists to infiltrate the kibbutzim – so far all have been thwarted by the IDF.

Eyal Brandeis, 50, a resident of Kibbutz Sufa, described how he feels living with this threat:

“It takes us a little bit to our childhood fairy tales of demons… It’s a very pastoral environment I live in, the quiet, the green grass, the trees. It’s not a pleasant thought that you sit one day on the patio drinking coffee with your wife and a bunch of terrorists will rise from the ground.”

Until now, residents of southern Israel felt they had some control, as they could be protected by their bomb shelters from rockets. Ma’ayan Barkai, 34, director of Kibbutz Be’eri expressed his fear:

“We were feeling pretty safe before… We knew what to do with the missiles. The tunnels, it’s game-changing. We can’t do anything if the terrorists will come to our kindergarten. The tunnels, it’s very surprising, it can hit you don’t know where.”

One resident of Kibbutz Nir-Am, a 27-year-old woman named Danna, posted a YouTube video in which she spoke of her fear of terror tunnels.

“We can deal with the qassam bombs, we have a safety room. What I am afraid of, is the method that they have been working on for a few years, and now they have started using them, which are the tunnels. A few tunnels have been found in the southern area in Israel. This morning I woke up from a tzeva adom (red-alert) alarm and I ran to the safety room, I met my family there and after it fell my father told me that they found a tunnel outside our Kibbutz… I can see it from here, where we go for picnics… They have found a way into our homes now and that is scary.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said:

“It cannot be that the citizens of the state of Israel will live under the deadly threats of missiles and infiltration through tunnels — death from above and death from below.”

[Photo: IDF]