Tom Alon and his family survived October 7, 2023. Overnight, two more children joined his three young children – twins who were nine months old on the day of the Hamas attack on Israel and were orphaned.
On October 7th, Tom and his family were at home in Kfar Aza, a small kibbutz on the border with the Gaza Strip. Tom loves this place. His parents also lived in the area. Like most Israelis who settled in the border region with the Gaza Strip, they believed in peace with their Palestinian neighbors. But the Kfar Aza they all knew no longer exists. Since February, Tom and his family have been living in Kibbutz Shfaim, north of the Mediterranean city of Herzliya.
It looks idyllic here. Shady trees line the paths, flowers bloom, birds chirp, and occasionally a dog barks. Otherwise, it's quiet on this Friday afternoon in July, just before Shabbat begins. I've just passed through the large metal gate that's meant to protect the small village surrounded by a security fence. Now I'm looking for Tom. I spot him in front of several small, terraced flat-roofed buildings. He's waving and has a little boy in his arms, who's clinging to him tightly. We go into one of the houses. In the living area, two women are looking after other children. Tom's wife, Ofir, takes the boy from him, and Tom makes coffee. Then we sit down on the shaded terrace.
Alone for hours: Babies survive
“With five small children, it’s a party in our house 24/7,” Tom says, laughing. Then he turns serious and tells the story of October 7th. Miraculously, Tom, Ofir, and their three children survived. At the time, the boys were one, five, and seven years old. The family had barricaded themselves in the shelter of their house. The terrorists hadn’t managed to get in. “Our neighbor was killed. Later, we learned that Ofir’s sister Hadar and her husband had been murdered,” Tom recounts.
The story of Hadar and Itay Berdichevsky later went around the world. The couple had fought off terrorists who had stormed their home. They were killed in the process. More than twelve hours later, soldiers rescued two babies from the house. Twins, nine months old, had survived without food or water. “Our youngest is only a few months older than the twins. We didn’t hesitate to take the children in. We are a new family now, having lost loved ones and our home. But we are trying to cope with this new reality as best we can,” says Tom.
Before they arrived at the house in Shfaim, they had to move twice. The small housing units in the kibbutz were built by the government within a few months for evacuated Israelis. They are intended to be only a temporary solution. The house is small for a family of seven. "But it's a good place," says Tom. The twins have become part of the family. "Our three children adapted to the new situation very quickly. When we explained to them that Guy and Ron were now part of our family, our oldest asked if they were his brothers. They were cousins, after all. The next day, someone asked him how many siblings he had, and he said, 'We are five brothers.'"
Now it's important to create stability, says Tom. "The children are our motivation to keep going. We're working on coping with the trauma and the grief. We have no choice but to accept this new life. If we don't, it will be even harder for the children. They need stability now, something they can rely on. In the beginning, the seven of us lived in one small room; we were given children's beds and toys. The children were confused about who slept where, who owned what. We saw how important it is to create something stable for the children—a safe and orderly environment."
The family can stay in their current home for a year. Tom doesn't yet know what will happen after that. "We wanted to build a new house in Kfar Aza," he explains. "The architect's plans were ready, the dream house was designed, and everything was prepared for construction, but that's all over now," Tom says with a sad smile. Then he inquires about the work of Christians Standing with Israel (CSI) and wants to learn more. He is moved when he hears about CSI's various aid projects and how many people in Germany support Israel.
German roots
“For me, the relationship with Germany is something special. Worldwide, there is so much hatred and negative views about Israel and the Jews. In these dark times, Germany is probably the country from which we receive the most support – from the government, the population, football clubs, and organizations like yours. That is wonderful, also very surprising, and so important. The image of Germany in Israel seems to be the best it has ever been,” says Tom, who has German roots.
Flowers to Rafah
His paternal grandparents came from Germany. His grandfather was born in Cologne, his grandmother near the Polish border. In 1935, they left the country. They had recognized the imminent danger to their lives in time. The rest of the family stayed behind. And were murdered. His father, Tom recounts, settled on the border with the Gaza Strip and established a farm. "He grew flowers and exported them to the Netherlands. From there, they spread throughout Europe."
Tom recalls the great hopes for peace in the 1990s: “We simply wanted to live in peace and make this part of Israel flourish. And we wanted the Palestinians to prosper too. My father’s workers came from Rafah in the Gaza Strip. At one point, my father said, ‘Why drive the flowers an hour to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv? It’s five minutes to the airport in Rafah. I’ll send my flowers from there.’ What a utopia. We dreamed of peace. And what did we get?”
Even when southern Israel was repeatedly shelled with rockets from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for almost 20 years, most Israelis in the border region believed in peace. But this belief was shaken or completely shattered when thousands of Palestinian terrorists stood in Israeli living rooms on October 7 and committed the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. After the terrorists, civilians from Gaza came to rape, rob, and loot.
"Perhaps we all haven't suffered enough yet."
“I don’t know what to do next. I feel sorry for the people in Gaza, too; they’re suffering. But what are we supposed to do? If the army hadn’t stopped the terrorists, they would have continued on and slaughtered all the Jews in their path,” says Tom. Thoughtfully, he adds, “Perhaps we haven’t all suffered enough yet. Perhaps the situation in the Middle East has to escalate even further before there can be peace. Like in Europe after the Second World War.”
Ofir comes and places one of the twins on Tom's lap. The little boy wraps his arms around his new dad and snuggles his face against him. And Tom holds him tight, giving him security. Stability. To keep going. Step by step.
This article first appeared in our newspaper "Israelaktuell," issue 138. You can order the newspaper here . We would also be happy to send you several copies for distribution.
