We had gone to Sderot in search of victims of Hamas. We didn’t anticipate what we discovered.
Sderot is a city two miles from Gaza, usually rocketed. As we filmed the aftermath of 1 strike, a person mentioned we should always go to his neighbours.
“They misplaced a brother to Hamas,” he mentioned. “However they’re Arabs from Gaza.”
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We knocked on their door. They emerged nervously earlier than ushering us inside.
They’re yet one more household stricken with grief however this one is completely different: The Tanaburas might reside in Israel however are Gazan Arabs.
On Saturday morning final week, they are saying their brother, Amir, went out to purchase cigarettes.
Younes, 21, mentioned it was the final time they noticed him alive.
“Three terrorists chased him, however he was unable to flee. They murdered him like that, for nothing, a very good man who noticed an injured particular person and needed to assist,” he mentioned.
They solely discovered what occurred from a TikTok video handed on from a buddy, exhibiting him mendacity {dead}.
Amir was form and beneficiant, they are saying, the third-oldest brother.
“He had a coronary heart of gold,” mentioned 17-year-old Avraham.
“As they are saying, ‘God takes solely the very best’. Subsequent month, he ought to have turned 21.”
Amir’s physique was discovered with a number of gunshot wounds – yet one more harmless sufferer of the Hamas assaults.
They discovered Amir was {dead} once they noticed his physique in a automotive on TikTok
The blood-stained mattress his physique was on stays in the home
“There was no mercy,” Avraham instructed us. “They might have shot him as soon as however no – they shot him a number of instances, nicely after he died. He bought a bullet, right here, right here, right here.”
There are only a few Gazans residing in Israel; their father moved to Sderot three a long time in the past as a result of he had labored for the Israelis.
All six brothers had been born right here. They converse solely Hebrew however are additionally practising Muslims.
They nonetheless have household in Gaza however are in little question what Israel ought to do subsequent.
“Hamas are murderers, they’re terrorists. We should always erase all people, Gaza ought to be flattened. I’ve household in Gaza however I feel Gaza ought to be flattened.”
Fearing reprisals or one other Hamas assault, they’ve been blocking the door with a desk
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Avraham instructed us they sneaked out when the assaults had been nonetheless taking place to carry their brother’s physique house.
“I am trying on the blood-stained mattress my brother was mendacity on and I’m considering to myself ‘was it actually actual?’,” he mentioned.
Their brother’s physique stayed in the home for hours earlier than the ambulance took it away.
Shutters down, they reside in state of hysteria – blocking the door with a heavy desk in case Hamas comes again or Jewish neighbours activate them after the assaults.
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1000’s flee northern Gaza
They have not left their house because the assaults occurred. Earlier than we left they warned us to be cautious.
“There are shootings, there are nonetheless quite a lot of terrorists on the streets. It is harmful. Life right here just isn’t protected, watch out.”
We walked the abandoned streets of Sderot. Just a few doorways up, a rocket had landed in a home whereas we had been inside filming however hadn’t gone off. A canine seemed out from inside, trying forlorn.
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Earlier we had filmed Israeli troops patrolling after studies of an infiltrator. It’s harmful and eerily empty right here.
Those that can have fled. These left behind reside in concern.