Flemish Benjamin Poulin has been living in Israel with his family for about ten years. This morning he was not at his home in Raanana, a city located twelve kilometers north of Tel Aviv, but on a weekend trip to the border with Lebanon. He told our editors that he decided to “come back a little earlier,” after reports of the Hamas military attack on Israel. According to Pauline, Israeli civilians were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip and soldiers were executed without trial. “Two friends have already been summoned, with immediate effect,” Bolin said. According to him, this indicates that this time the matter is “very serious.”
Nico Postels, Joiri Flemmings, Jonathan Bernerts
Last updated:
13:25
Bolin testifies from his wife’s parents’ apartment, where he and his family have now moved to live. “Our house doesn’t have a flood shelter, but this building does,” he says. “We will live here for now and see how the situation develops.” According to information Pauline obtained from friends and the government, civilians were kidnapped and held hostage south of the Gaza border and transported to the Gaza Strip. He added: “There could have been an infiltration of about 50 terrorists from Gaza in jeeps.” “This morning I received reports from friends that they were driving through the streets of Ashdod, a city in the south, shooting. There was also an attack on a military base in the south.”
look. Pictures show rockets being fired at Israel
Flemings on the scene notice that the streets are empty, while the police are roaming in large numbers. “We received a message from the mayor via WhatsApp saying that public shelters are open again,” he says. “You learn to live with it, but this time it seems the situation is different from what we are used to. They fire rockets regularly or there are individual attacks by one or two people, or a knife attack or a shooting incident in Tel Aviv, but this is isolated. It seems “Now they have launched a well-organized attack.” Moreover, one of the reasons Pauline returned from the border with Lebanon this morning is “because people fear that Hezbollah is also planning something from the north.”
Our citizen is holding strong, but it’s clear he’s having a tough time. “I’ve seen pictures of the major closure of the Gaza Strip, much of which appears to have been opened with a bulldozer. They attacked military bases. I have seen pictures of Israeli soldiers being shot and killed, and they are said to have kidnapped civilians and taken them to the Gaza Strip. We do have those situations… I don’t know the last time that happened. “The pictures you see are terrible.”
Bolin also realizes that the matter is dangerous since two of his friends have been summoned with immediate effect, which is unusual. “You can join as an army reservist after you have done your regular military service and then you are called up – once a year, for a week or a month, that’s for sure. But with immediate effect, it is limited to a very serious case.” Bolin encountered many soldiers on his way. To his wife’s parents. “All military units are mobilized.”
News of the “military operation” carried out by the Islamic movement Hamas this morning surprised everyone in Israel. “The surprise is complete, complete,” Bolin says. “A lot of times you get a reality check here about where you actually live. Normalcy is normality here, but when something like this happens, you realize where you live and it’s not quite so clear cut.
This is also evident in the way the government keeps citizens informed in Israel. “A lot of people here have an app on their phones so you can see how many minutes or seconds you have to go to the nearest air raid shelter if the air raid siren goes off. I think everyone here has that on their phone by default. If there are operations Infiltrated by terrorists, you will also be informed about this through this channel from the government itself. You will then receive messages from the mayor via WhatsApp and Facebook. You will be constantly updated here. Here you cannot turn on the TV or radio without encountering it, because the programs are interrupted before each raid “Aerial.”
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