Kan 7.10.360 | Sherman family from Kibbutz Holit on October 7

The sequence of sirens awakens the members of the Sherman family - Eric, Livnat and their daughter Kessem, as well as Eric's children, his son Geffen and his daughter Silan. The five go into the safe room. Just two days before, they celebrated moving to their new home in Holit.

The family members are staying in the safe room and hear many missiles and, a few minutes later, live gunfire as well. Livnat updates her brothers in the Whatsapp group: “Now there are gunshots outside as if terrorists were outside the house.”

While Livnat tries to calm the children down, an explosion of glass is heard through the locked door. Immediately afterward, they listen to people stepping on the broken glass inside the house and talking among them in Arabic. Then, the terrorists attack inside and outside - those who enter the home try to break through the door of the safe room, and Eric holds it with all his might. From the yard, a terrorist manages to open the window of the safe room slightly, but then turns and walks away.

The terrorists throw a grenade through the front door of the house, which explodes in the hallway leading to the safe room. No one is hurt, but the door of the safe room opens from the blow, and Eric, who has so far held the handle - flies backwards. He returns to the doorway of the room to fight the terrorists and finds that they have left and proceeded to the next house. Eric manages to lock the door back and Livnat calls for help in the group of the kibbutz: “They're throwing grenades in our house”.

Livnat continues to correspond with her family. She updates that the terrorists are already sounding farther away and shares: “I saw death, I covered Kessem, so she won't be seen. I'm holding myself, the kids are here.”

Eric quickly exits the safe room to get food for Kessem and discovers that the house is ruined. From the window next to the safe room, overlooking the neighborhood, he sees the nearby houses on fire.

The terrorists' gunfire outside the Sherman family home intensifies again. Livnat shares with her brother that she is forced to shut Kessem's mouth so she won't make a sound.

Fighters from the Shaldag unit knock on the door of the Sherman family's safe room. Eric and Livnat don't believe it's the IDF, so they don't answer. Only when they hear that the unit is planning to blow the door open, and after a conversation with them, they decide to open the door.

A number of fighters gather outside the home of Livnat and Eric. According to messages she saw on the kibbutz's WhatsApp group, Livnat points them to homes that need urgent assistance. The fighters equip her with an M16 rifle and return to fight.

Residents are allowed to evacuate from the kibbutz independently. After packing what they managed out of the rubble, Livnat, Eric, and their children leave the kibbutz in their vehicle filled with broken glass. At the gate, they collect members of the kibbutz who have no way to evacuate. The crowding in the car helps to hide the children from the horrors discovered on Route 232—sooty corpses and tanks. The family comes to kibbutz Gvulot, like most families from Holit, where an adoptive family hosts them for the night.