The repercussions from the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel continue to reverberate in South Florida, including within the NBC6 family.
Our colleague Marissa Bagg’s husband, Oded Eshel, is from Israel. His cousin, Alon Shamriz, is among the missing, presumed kidnapped by Hamas. Shamriz lives in the Kfar Aza kibbutz near the Gaza border. It was among those areas overrun by Hamas terrorists going door to door on a killing and kidnapping spree.
Now, Alon’s family is reeling.
“You’re really helpless, you can’t do anything,” said Yonatan Shamriz, Alon’s brother, via Zoom from Israel.
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“It’s a nightmare, it’s devastating, it’s heartbreaking, it’s terrible, what I and my family here and in Israel are going through now,” said Amir Eshel, Alon’s uncle, from Fort Lauderdale. “The unknown is the worst, the unknown is the worst.”
“It’s been crushing,” Oded Eshel said, sitting next to his father. “It’s the most sad I’ve ever been in my life because it hits you on so many levels, it’s your family that’s been attacked by terrorists.”
The Eshel family is a tight-knit crew, and most of them lived in Kfar Aza until now.
“They destroyed the kibbutz, they destroyed our community,” Shamriz said.
Hamas killed, Shamriz said, at least 50 of his neighbors. He hid in a safe room with his wife and two-year-old daughter for 22 hours.
“You hear the stories of the butchery and the savagery, it’s devastating, it brings to mind the horrors of Nazi Germany, and we’re sitting here safe in Fort Lauderdale and our family over there is under constant rocket fire,” Oded said.
Another victim of the terror attacks seems to be optimism. Oded said world reaction to the atrocities of Hamas has left him disillusioned.
“You read about these atrocities and it breaks your heart, it shatters you, and you fire up social media and you see Hamas and their supporters around the world in London, in Times Square on Saturday, in front of the opera house in Sydney, celebrating and chanting death to the Jews, and you just feel like this world you thought you knew doesn’t exist, you know?” Eshel said.
I asked Yonatan Shamriz to describe what the aftermath of the attacks feels like for him and his family.
“Everything that you know in your life is gone, is gone, your life is now, never be the same, and you don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” he replied.
Alon texted Yonatan during the assault. His uncle translated the exchange from Hebrew for us.
“They are in my apartment, I am very quiet in the shelter, please notify the family,” Alon wrote.
His brother replied, “You are strong, I love you, be quiet, and let us know what’s going on.”
There has been no further word from Alon.
His brother, uncle and cousin told us they’re hopeful, especially with the president’s visit to Israel, that the world will pressure Hamas enough to release the hostages safely. They also said their vision of Israel living in peace with its neighbors has been shattered.
