No-one came

No-one came when their communities were infiltrated by terrorists.

No-one came when they were desperately trying to keep the doors to the safe rooms closed;

while terrorists tried to break in or smoke them out;

No-one came when they were being slaughtered in their beds.

No-one came for the twin babies who were left lying next to the bodies of their parents;

screaming for hours without food or water.

No-one came when children were being tortured in front of their parents or parents in front

of their children.

No-one came when a pregnant woman had her baby cut out of her, the umbilical cord still connecting them. Both were stabbed to death!

No-one came when they were being tied up and burnt alive, huddled together in their pain.

No-one came when babies were being butchered or dismembered.

No-one came when hundreds were running for their lives and were shot from all directions.

No-one came when women and girls were being brutally raped and taken hostage or left to die.

No-one came when they were being whisked away on motorbikes or in 4x4s with fear written all over their faces.

No-one came while the country’s leaders sat and debated about what they should do.

No-one came as the soldiers waited for their orders, desperately wanting to rush to help.

No-one came. The three words that I hear in almost every survivor’s eyewitness account.

No-one came. The three words I see in almost every article about that fateful day.

No-one came. The three words that have haunted me since that dark Black Saturday.

I wasn’t there on October 7, but I will never forget their desperate cries for help – and

NO-ONE CAME!

Then we found out that someone came.

A reservist on a kibbutz left his family in the safe room to fight the terrorists. Sadly, he didn’t come home to them, but so many survived because of him.

Someone came. A grandmother saved herself and her husband, and many of their friends, when she kept five terrorists occupied for 15 hours by feeding them cookies and keeping them calm until her two police-officer sons and some Israel Defense Forces soldiers managed to gain entry and eliminate all five.

Someone came. A frail 85-year-old man left his wife, daughters, and grandchildren in the safe room and sat on the couch waiting for the terrorists. They entered, shot him, and left, assuming he was old and alone. He gave his life to save his family.

Someone came. All the members of two different communities were saved from being massacred when their security teams managed to prevent any terrorists from infiltrating their kibbutzim.

Someone came. An Arab Israeli soldier took off his uniform and disguised himself in civilian clothes. He then called the terrorists over to him in Arabic and killed them all when they revealed themselves.

Someone came. Animal rescue groups came from all over Israel to save animals that had lost their families and were hiding or running around frightened and confused.

Someone came. A father drove from the centre to save his son and his son’s family. On the way, he helped some soldiers fight off terrorists and then joined other soldiers to get into the kibbutz. He fought his way to his family and saved them and several others.

Someone came. A member of an elite special unit in the Israel Police, armed only with a handgun, took out about 12 terrorists with machine guns and rocket launchers who came into his home with the express goal of kidnapping him, his wife, and his daughter. All three survived.

Someone came. An Israeli Bedouin minibus driver risked his life by putting himself in the line of fire to pick up about 30 frightened youngsters who had been ambushed while at a music festival. He managed to drive them to safety while his minibus, which was supposed to seat only 14, collected bullet holes along the way.

Someone came. Eventually, after many long hours, the soldiers rescued those who had survived – tired, afraid, thirsty, hungry, and traumatised. They managed to kill or capture more than 2 000 terrorists.

Although the soldiers also saved hundreds, the heroes of the day were the civilians and off-duty reservists who stepped in and prevented even more civilians from being murdered or taken hostage – a terrible fate many would say is worse than death – some of them dying in the process.

Someone came … and the people of Israel owe them everything!

These heroes, the hostages, the victims, the survivors … They are our Stars of David, and we salute them!

• Darryl Egnal made aliya in 2009 and lives in Ramat Gan. She works as a freelance editor, journalist, content and marketing writer, and PR consultant.