A West Los Angeles family is grateful to be back in Southern California after they spent their last days in Israel hiding in a bunker as Hamas militants attacked the Gaza Strip in a surprise assault that’s killed more than 1,000 people.
As airstrikes littered the sky with attacks, the Levine family hunkered down in safety before they were able to fly back safely to the U.S.
“We all had to run to the bunkers and it was a little scary and dramatic,” said Rachel Levine, who arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday with her family.
The SoCal family heard sirens wailing during their family vacation to Jerusalem and were forced to shelter in place.
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“I ran upstairs to check on my family to find them sitting, cowering in a bomb shelter was a pretty striking experience,” said David Levine.
Once the danger had passed, the family joined others in making care packages for Israeli troops. The family said they may be home, but their thoughts are with Israel.
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For one LA native who now resides in Israel, she’s seeking a way to return home to help those in need in any way she can.
“It’s worse than a scary movie, it’s worse than a horror movie and we really, really felt for the first 24 hours, I felt at least, numb,” said Leore Ben-David, who is still in Los Angeles but is aiming to return back to Israel. “I felt completely, completely handicapped.”
Ben-David, an Israeli American, said it’s heartbreaking to learn loved ones are unaccounted for as war continues in Jerusalem. She said her cousin escaped the Supernova music festival, an event held in Israel that resulted in dozens of deaths following Hamas’ attack. According to Ben-David, her cousin and his friends ran for hours to safety.
“And so, he said for those six hours, there was non-stop gunshots, non-stop rockets,” she said. “There was not a moment of quiet.”
When asked why she’s so eager to return back home, Ben-David said she’s willing to risk going to a war zone for one reason:
“Because I cannot sit idly by while my country is being obliterated by an organization that its only mission, it’s only mission is to destroy my people, is to destroy my country, to destroy this beautiful democracy that has given so much to the world at all times,” she said.
Once she makes her way back to Israel, Ben-David said she’ll open her home to whoever needs it and will attempt to drive people who need a car.
