Kan 7.10.360 | Kleiman family from Kibbutz Holit on October 7

The family members wake up to the sound of incessant sirens and go into the safe room.

Between the sirens, mother Harida goes to the kitchen and hears talking in Arabic. She moves the curtain and sees about ten armed terrorists breaking with gunfire into the house of the neighbors, the Kakoun family. Harida realizes that they must hide, but decides not to do it inside the safe room but in their small attic, which serves as a storage room. She tells Lior her husband: “If we stay in the safe room, we'll die. Take the kids and go up to the attic.”

Lior raises the children - Hailey (13) and Aydan (16) - to the attic with the help of a chair and runs to turn off the air conditioners and lights in the house. Harida is equipped with a large kitchen knife, a bottle of water and cigarettes. She returns the chair to the kitchen so as not to arouse suspicion, and Lior and Aidan pull her with their hands up to the attic. Lior guides the children: “We're pretending not to be home, so if they come here, they will not find us”.

Lying low on the roof floor, without protection from the missiles and with the noise of the fighting outside only getting louder - this is how the family members pass the hours. Lior is constantly trying to check on his mother, Dina, who lives two houses away from them and does not respond to his messages.

Four terrorists infiltrate the house of the neighboring Kakoun family, throw a grenade and then attach an explosive charge to the window of the safe room, causing the daughter, Lihi Kakoun, an injury to the head. From the intensity of the blast of the explosive charge, the window of Lior and Harida's home shatters and they hear from the attic the glass breaking.

The sounds of fighting are only intensifying, along with the messages of distress in the kibbutz's WhatsApp group, and Harida separates from her family in messages. To her nephew, who lives in South Africa, she writes: “We love you guys. Hope to see you again. Things are not good. I don't think we'll survive. I'm scared. Goodbye”.

Lior's mother, Dinah, first responds to his messages and updates that she is fine. She asks for their safety and Lior replies that they are 'more or less fine'.

Lior corresponds from hiding with his friend Assaf. He sends him a recording of the gunshots from underneath the roof and tells him that there is still a squad of terrorists in their neighborhood: “Where's the backup? How do they still have any ammunition?“

The water they have with them in their hiding place runs out and Lior descends briskly to bring his family water and burekas left in the fridge from dinner. He discovers that the glass door of their house has been broken and quickly goes back into hiding. He updates his friend: “There is a burning smell, the door of my house is broken”.

After 11 hours of hiding under the roof, fighters from the Shaldag unit arrive to rescue Lior's mother from her home, and she directs them to Kleiman's house. The soldiers instruct Lior and Harida not to go up to the roof again but to stay in the safe room.

Residents are allowed to evacuate independently from the kibbutz. Because the front of their vehicle has been smashed, the Kleimans leave the kibbutz with their neighbor's car. Lior asks the children to lower their heads and not to look outside. They begin the trip on Route 232 and the horrors unfold before their eyes. Like most of the surviving members of the kibbutz, they arrive at Kibbutz Gvulot and spend the night there.