(NewsNation) — The terror is still very real for so many but especially for two Israeli sisters after Hamas militants attacked a kibbutz where one sister was visiting family over the weekend.
The attack took place at Nir Oz kibbutz. Omer Metzger was visiting family at the kibbutz when the attack occurred, and she found herself hiding with other family members as the situation unfolded.
Throughout the ordeal, she sent text messages to her sister, Ofir, who was miles away and at first didn’t recognize the danger her sister was in.
The sisters joined NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” to relive their ordeal.
As the terrorists approached, the sisters continued to exchange messages, capturing the terrifying moments in real-time.
Metzger texted that Hamas militants had entered the home she was in.
“There’s someone inside the house, someone broke in the kitchen,” she wrote. “I love you more than anything in the world and everyone too.”
Ofir responded with a helpless, “Shut up.”
Omer answered, ‘I’m hiding now,” adding, “We’re under the bed.”
Ofir asked, “Why?”
Omer answered, “We heard noises almost inside the house, actual talking. So we’re under the bed.”
Omer said they hid under a bed for hours before emerging.
“We were hiding at least, I think, about five hours maybe,” she said. “And we were in the safe place for 10 hours until the military came and saved us.”
Omer said they went inside the safe room because there were alerts for rockets.
“I was terrified,’ Ofir said. “Like she started to say to me things that, like, slowly. I understood it’s getting so real.”
Amid the chaos, Omer said they heard gunshots and glass shattering, realizing the militants were dangerously close to their location.
“Right next to the window. Right outside,” she said. “Like we’ve heard them walking outside. And at some point, we’ve heard glass shattering, so I knew they were in the kitchen. And also, all the time we’ve heard like gunshots, like automatic gunshots, and you cannot like not recognize it.”
Ofir said Israelis are often “kind of used to it.”
“We hear alarms, we know that there are rockets, and that’s it,” she said. But this time was different.
Tragically, as a result of the attack, Omar’s grandparents went missing, adding to the family’s distress. As the search for their grandparents continues, the family hopes to reunite with them soon.