“Mum, the terrorists have broken into the house.” Nine hour kibbutz siege by Hamas terrorists at Kibbutz Nirim

A British-born woman says her daughter, Amy, “deserves a medal” for her bravery during a nine-hour siege by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nirim, on the Gaza border.

Deborah Mintz, originally from Romford, Essex, has lived in Eilat for 40 years but had come to the kibbutz for the birth of her new grandson, just 11 days ago. “The brit was on Thursday and then on Friday there was a big party on the kibbutz to mark its 77th anniversary, it was wonderful. And then at around 6 am or 6.30 am on Saturday morning, the sirens began. And that is really what saved us, because we ran to the secure room straight away”.

Mrs Mintz’s daughter-and son-in-law were already sleeping in the secure room with the baby, while Mrs Mintz herself was in the spare room of their tiny kibbutz house. “My daughter screamed, Mum, come, come! We thought it would be like any other siren warning — that we’d be in the safe room for an hour or two. But then we heard shooting. My daughter had a camera on her phone and she said, Mum, the terrorists have broken into the house”.

Her son-in-law’s family had come from Argentina about 20 years ago and had settled on the kibbutz, which Mrs Mintz described as “a beautiful place, a wonderful place to bring up children”.

Her son-in-law is an instructor of capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art, while her daughter is a teacher. She told Jewish News that the kibbutz is normally “so peaceful” and that she had made her mind up during the preceding week that she would make Nirim her home when she retired.

But a nightmare scenario developed which put paid to all the family’s plans. “We saw the terrorists come in through the camera on Amy’s phone. She, meanwhile, 11 days after giving birth and still with stitches, was holding upright the handle of the steel door of the secure room.

“They switched off the electricity and in order to get us out, they tried to smoke us out, so they set fire to the house. I heard my dog scream as he was burnt to death. They were shooting at the  door, at the steel windows. Then the smoke started coming through the secure room door.”

The family, not anticipating a long stay inside the secure room, had not brought much water with them. Soon there was thick black smoke inside, choking the family.

It was vital to get air to the baby, so every so often Amy would ask for the window to be opened a couple of inches and — if it was safe to do so — hold the baby up to the window so he could breathe more easily. “She would say, oh, there’s a terrorist, close the window, throw the baby on the bed…we were covered in black soot, we had soot in our throats, in our lungs. I could not believe we were there for nine hours.”

Amy spent hours on the phone to the fire brigade and police, begging for rescue. “But”, said Mrs Mintz, “what we didn’t understand is that they didn’t make it [to the kibbutz] because they had been attacked and were killed on their way to us. There was no communication”.

Eventually, the family heard Hebrew outside and realised that the army had come to rescue them. “But the house was burned and they lost everything, all their clothes, baby stuff, money, passports, identity papers…”

The family was taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheva, where Amy, her husband and baby, were kept in for checks. Deborah Mintz went to stay with her other daughter in Modi’in, halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but did not know how she would return to Eilat since her car had been burnt and so had her identity papers, so that she could not get on a flight.

The young couple, ironically, had just been given full membership of Kibbutz Nirim after a year-long process. But Mrs Mintz said her daughter had vowed never to return. The whole family, she said, “will take a very long time to recover from this trauma”.

Russell Langer, Deborah Mintz’s nephew, is head of policy and research at the Jewish Leadership Council and is organising through a Just Giving page donations so that the family can replace their immediate personal effects.