Kfar Aza kibbutz massacre: Father saves daughter he hadn’t seen for six years
- 7 months ago
#englishnews
News Article :-
Twenty-two-year-old Neta Portal had not spoken to her dad in six years, following her parents' divorce.
But when Hamas gunmen broke into her house in the Jewish community of Kfar Aza and shot her six times, she knew he was the only person who could save her life.
Shimon Portal, a policeman, was already in a firefight in the nearby city of Sderot when he received the first message from his daughter:
But the killing at the kibbutz had already begun.
We meet Neta at a hospital in Tel Aviv where doctors have now carefully removed each bullet - five in her left leg and one from her right.
She trembles as she recalls slipping in and out of consciousness after the gunmen broke into the residents' safe room and opened fire for the first time:
"They were shooting people. They were shooting the kids. And the people were shouting, 'Please no, please no.' I tried to wake myself because I didn't want to die."
Sitting next to her in her cubicle is her boyfriend Santiago - or Santi - who struggles to contain his tears.
The couple had spent four months in Kfar Aza - a place they describe as the most beautiful on earth.
Their interlocking hands whiten as their grip tightens and Neta recalls what happened next.
"Santi told me, 'Neta, please open the window. Please jump.' I started to open the window and I saw 10 or 15 terrorists."
She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"They were standing on a car with a big machine gun, smoking cigarettes and laughing like they were on vacation."
Neta says she and her boyfriend were scared to jump, but when an attacker threw a grenade into the room, Santi grabbed her and they jumped out of the window together.
"The terrorists saw us and began to shoot like we were nothing."
Neta was hit by even more bullets in the leg and in the hand.
"Santiago screamed at me: 'Please stand up - start to run. If you don't stand up, we're going to die. We're going to die.'"
Santiago managed to carry her to safety two streets away where they hid under a big pile of rubbish, trying to stay as quiet as possible.
As Santiago silently used his shirt to try to stem the blood escaping from Neta's legs, she managed to message her dad again.
Also in the hospital and sitting by his daughter's side, Shimon Portal tells me what it was like to receive that message.
"My heart stopped. My brain started to whirl. I was mad."
The plain-clothes policeman was already on his way to Kfar Aza, but when he eventually arrived in his unmarked car, gunmen opened fire and he responded.
Shimon reversed as bullets peppered his vehicle, and he managed to drive away.
He composed himself and then attempted to make a second attempt to rescue his daughter.
This time, all was quiet, so he called out for Neta.
"Suddenly, three children ran to my car because they had heard me shouting in Hebrew. And I opened the door. They started to get in the front, but two terrorists came out of the houses and shot at us."
Shimon says he
News Article :-
Twenty-two-year-old Neta Portal had not spoken to her dad in six years, following her parents' divorce.
But when Hamas gunmen broke into her house in the Jewish community of Kfar Aza and shot her six times, she knew he was the only person who could save her life.
Shimon Portal, a policeman, was already in a firefight in the nearby city of Sderot when he received the first message from his daughter:
But the killing at the kibbutz had already begun.
We meet Neta at a hospital in Tel Aviv where doctors have now carefully removed each bullet - five in her left leg and one from her right.
She trembles as she recalls slipping in and out of consciousness after the gunmen broke into the residents' safe room and opened fire for the first time:
"They were shooting people. They were shooting the kids. And the people were shouting, 'Please no, please no.' I tried to wake myself because I didn't want to die."
Sitting next to her in her cubicle is her boyfriend Santiago - or Santi - who struggles to contain his tears.
The couple had spent four months in Kfar Aza - a place they describe as the most beautiful on earth.
Their interlocking hands whiten as their grip tightens and Neta recalls what happened next.
"Santi told me, 'Neta, please open the window. Please jump.' I started to open the window and I saw 10 or 15 terrorists."
She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"They were standing on a car with a big machine gun, smoking cigarettes and laughing like they were on vacation."
Neta says she and her boyfriend were scared to jump, but when an attacker threw a grenade into the room, Santi grabbed her and they jumped out of the window together.
"The terrorists saw us and began to shoot like we were nothing."
Neta was hit by even more bullets in the leg and in the hand.
"Santiago screamed at me: 'Please stand up - start to run. If you don't stand up, we're going to die. We're going to die.'"
Santiago managed to carry her to safety two streets away where they hid under a big pile of rubbish, trying to stay as quiet as possible.
As Santiago silently used his shirt to try to stem the blood escaping from Neta's legs, she managed to message her dad again.
Also in the hospital and sitting by his daughter's side, Shimon Portal tells me what it was like to receive that message.
"My heart stopped. My brain started to whirl. I was mad."
The plain-clothes policeman was already on his way to Kfar Aza, but when he eventually arrived in his unmarked car, gunmen opened fire and he responded.
Shimon reversed as bullets peppered his vehicle, and he managed to drive away.
He composed himself and then attempted to make a second attempt to rescue his daughter.
This time, all was quiet, so he called out for Neta.
"Suddenly, three children ran to my car because they had heard me shouting in Hebrew. And I opened the door. They started to get in the front, but two terrorists came out of the houses and shot at us."
Shimon says he