The Iron Lions

"We were woken up by the sirens. We’re used to this nightmare, but we quickly realized that this was a very different experience. At some point, terrorists were announced to have entered the settlement." 

In Moshe's conversation with N12, he says, "I heard very loud knocking at the door of the house, and I told Diana: "They're inside the house, they're here," He added, "We felt that they were pulling the house apart –  breaking glass, overturning tables, knocking everything over. Despite their best efforts, we managed to hold the door shut so that they couldn’t open it – but then they shot into the lock, and it opened. As we tried to prevent them from coming in, we took a barrage of gunfire to our hands and arms, and we were injured." 

A squad of five terrorists broke into the house and kidnapped the couple, taking them towards the Gaza separation fence: "We were led outside the shelter by the attackers, who told us to follow them to the Gaza Strip. Instead of walking on the kibbutz paths, we walked among bushes and trees to avoid being caught. After reaching the fence, we saw that fence had been breached. They told us to be quiet, they signaled with a hand on our neck that if we spoke it would be the end of us." 

When they were under the Gazans control, the couple mustered up courage and resisted the kidnapping: "We dared to tell the terrorists that we're simply not going to Gaza. We told him that we're hurt, bleeding and need to go to the hospital," Mosh and Diana recount. "We told the terrorists: 'We demand an ambulance, we need a doctor'. Of course the Hamas cell leader didn’t accept this. I told him again, ‘Ambulance, hospital,’ and he answered ‘Sayara, Gaza'."

Following the conversation, the unimaginable happens, and the Hamas cell tells the couple in English "Okay, go". The two distanced themselves from the scene in disbelief: "We turned away from there and left. In those long seconds we were afraid that he would shoot us. We didn't turn around so as not to see what he was doing, and if he was crossing the fence. We got to what had been our home, which in fact no longer exists. There is no home."

The inseparable couple who have lived together in the kibbutz for fifty years, have been through a long journey. From the moment they escaped from the terrorists until they arrived for treatment at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, almost a day had passed. Dr. Arieh Kandel, head of the orthopedics department at Hadassah Hospital-Mount Scopus describes: "The couple were injured in their hands and arms, and are now recovering. Mrs. Rosen will soon be able to be discharged home, but Moshe will have to stay with us for further treatment. I explained this to the couple, but Diana said that as long as Moshe remains, she wants to stay with him and for us that's fine."