Hiding from Hamas for 13 hours

Tali Gilberg awoke early the morning of Oct. 7 to the blare of sirens warning of incoming rockets. This sound wasn't unusual for southern Israel, where she moved four years ago from her hometown of Livingston, New Jersey.

When the alarms continued for more than 20 minutes, she knew something was different. A text from her kibbutz security team ordered residents to run to bomb shelters and lock all windows and doors: Israel was under attack, and she was smack in the middle of the assault

Gilberg spent more than 13 hours sheltering in place that day, listening to gunfire and bombs and praying she and her neighbors would emerge alive.

She did survive, but everything about her life feels different now.

Gilberg is among roughly 240,000 Israelis who have been displaced by the terror attack and the ongoing conflict in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people have also been forced from their homes. Gilberg is living with friends in a house south of Jerusalem, where she copes with feelings of guilt for surviving the attack.

"Why was I worthy of a miracle when so many others were burned alive or carted away?" she said.

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