2023-10-10 23:13:36
On Saturday, October 7, the inhabitants of Israel woke up to a shower of rockets launched by the terrorist group Hamas, leaving hundreds dead and taking dozens of hostages.
“The first attacks came around 6:30 am. In the time I’ve been here (two years) luckily I haven’t had many occasions where I have to go into the bunker, it’s happened to me a couple of times, but I wasn’t used to this. “I heard the alarms, I wasn’t really sure if they were missile alarms or something else, I was kind of disoriented, we ran to the bunker,” Costa Rican Mark Wien told Teletica.com.
Mark Wien, 25, a Business Administration student, who has lived in Israel for two years, says he will never forget how his morning started on the first day of the attacks, which have not stopped to date.
He explained that, after taking refuge in the bunker, he and his companions thought it was temporary and that they would soon leave to continue with their day, but videos and reports began to arrive that there were “terrorists entering through Israel’s southern border.” , news that filled his reality with fear and uncertainty: “It was horrible,” he said.
The student assured that, although the Middle Eastern country is accustomed to situations of this type, the truth is that this time it was much more serious: “We had never witnessed something like this in the history of Israel, so it was definitely complicated and All these days have been quite tense.”
As the young man remembers, the first indication that the inhabitants of Israel received was not to leave their homes while the army was mobilized to attend to the conflict zones.
This Monday they were also informed that they had to have a package prepared to spend 72 hours in the bunker, with canned food and all the clothing necessary to take shelter, Wien added.
Now that the attacks between Hamas and Israel reach the fourth day, “things are clearing up a little” and “tension has been decreasing” as the army has deployed to different areas of the territory, which has brought optimism to many Israelis. , according to the university student.
“Unfortunately, more than 900 people have died in Israel so far at this time; murdered children, babies, mothers. I have seen things that I would have preferred not to see. It is what we live, the truth is that it is very sad. […] Seeing what is happening there, the videos and images that I have seen will never leave my head,” added the Costa Rican.
Wien has been in contact with other Costa Ricans living in Israel and stated that they are all fine, although several “had some very difficult hours.” However, she also has other acquaintances who “have not found them” and who, she fears, have been kidnapped.
This Tuesday is the first day that the academic was able to take to the streets, however, there is still concern that the conflict could escalate and end with more countries involved.
The Costa Rican commented that the country has united in the face of this situation, after several months of separation between the community as a result of the discussion of a political reform that is being processed in the Israeli parliament.
“No one likes war and seeing what is happening affects both sides. It affects the Palestinian side and it affects the Israeli side and no matter how much they don’t want it, there are a lot of citizens who end up being affected in the middle of all this, no matter how much they don’t want it,” Wien concluded.
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