The Iron Lions

We were dancing and the rockets started, and I panicked.

We were all lying on the floor looking at the sky which was so colorful it almost looked like fireworks. We waited there until the police told us to get into the cars and drive away. While the sky was on fire there was a lot of sadness and confusion, with the rockets above us, but we still did not understand the magnitude of what was happening.

So, we got into the car and got stuck in traffic, and suddenly we heard someone shout "Terrorists!! Get out of the cars!!!!.” We heard gunshots behind us, getting closer, and we ran without understanding where we were going.

Suddenly someone was shot in the leg, and I covered my eyes so as not to see any more horrors - I was only looking down at my feet so I wouldn’t fall. We started running faster and shots were heard from all around. We started running towards the fields and someone shouted, "You’re running towards Kibbutz Be'eri - they’ve captured it!” Terrorists were running after us from within the fields.

I ran for two hours and was exhausted, and then we reached an open area with around thirty people and we didn’t know where to go. In front of us we see two terrorists running towards us and shooting. A large group of Israelis hiding in a ditch near a tree called us over to hide with them – but I realized that if I see them hiding, the terrorists probably do too. So I ran in a different direction from everyone, I heard a lot of shots and screams and realized that I made the right decision.

I then found myself alone without anyone. I start running in the fields again, and I see three girls in front of me and I ask them to be with me because I am alone. We start running together and the shots surround us from every direction, there is nowhere else to run. We laid down on the grass next to a bush and covered ourselves with leaves, praying that no one would find us.

We called the police, and the police promised to come and rescue us. We sent our location but as soon as they saw where we were, they told us that they couldn’t come until the army finished dealing with the terrorists.

A military officer was then supposed to come rescue us – we talked to him on the phone and he said he would come, but then we sent him the location and he said he couldn’t come there. I whispered to him in tears and in my heart I screamed, that if he doesn't come we won't be alive anymore. He said he's sorry and hung up.

I understand that we are alone, there is no one to protect us. I decided to upload a story to Instagram in the hope that someone will come, and then my phone battery ran out. I prayed to God, trying not to breathe or make a noise, when I heard the terrorists talking next to us. I heard their joy, shouting Allah Akbar and heard another scream of an Israeli whose hiding place was found. I understood that the terrorists are scanning the area and it is only a matter of time until they find us – we were so close to them, next in line.

After six hours in hiding, in a field of fire when the shootings and shelling don’t stop, where we still heard the voices of the terrorists around us and I’m unable to communicate with any of my loved ones, a guy named Rami Dodian decided to take responsibility for rescuing people. Rami is on his way to us, but he can't find us, and he can’t approach where we are because it's too dangerous. We all ran out of battery, and now we’re following the humming of a car as we’re crawling on the grass towards the car. Then my guardian angel, Leon, appeared and told us to get into the car. I will not forget that in all the madness he asked us to call his wife to thank her for letting him leave the house and to tell her that he was doing something important and saving people, and to reassure her not to worry. I want to thank you Leon – to thank you and your whole family. Thanks to you I am alive today, thanks to you my family is functioning today, thanks to you many other families and friends got their loved ones back alive.

The late Col. Leon Ben Mocha (Bar) was murdered by terrorists while rescuing wounded and dead bodies, while the government was nowhere to be found: you were the hero to all of us. My heart aches that an angel like you was taken from this world. All that remains is to say thank you, I owe you my life, I share in his family's grief, and I will always remember what a hero he was.