Last Friday, terror group Hamas hit Israel with a devastating surprise terror attack, sending thousands of rockets into Israel and invading the country with gunmen. Hamas operatives not only killed Israelis, they also kidnapped many to take as hostages back to their area of Palestine. All of the stories coming out of Israel are tragic, but I recently read one that touched me deeply: the story of two Israeli parents giving their lives for their children.
According to Yahoo News, the family’s story was first shared by Oleh Vyshniakov, Israel’s consul in Ukraine’s Western Region, on his own Facebook page. He wrote that married couple Adar and Itay Berdychivsky were home with their ten-month-old twins in the Kfar Aza kibbutz when terrorists approached their home. The couple, who are both in the Israeli military, had weapons at home and prepared to defend themselves, but first they put their twins in their home bunker, or mammad. This is a reinforced room that must be built in every home by Israeli law.
As the attack on their home began, the Berdychivsky’s opened fire on their attackers and were able to kill seven terrorists, but sadly, they were then killed themselves. Amazingly, the terrorists did not find the babies in the mammad. Thirteen hours later, the twins were found by relatives who had finally been able to make it over to the Berdychivsky’s home to check on them.
“They’re safe now, they’re surrounded by love and care. Itay’s brother and Adar’s father, who fought the militants for hours and saved dozens of people – though couldn’t reach their own relatives in time [to save them], found them,” Vyshniakov says of the twins.
He says when the twin’s uncle and grandfather approached the house, they found the seven dead terrorists “on the doorstep.” They also found their fallen loved ones. It’s so, so heartbreaking. I cannot imagine how bittersweet it was to find the twins but know that their parents were gone.
Thanks to their parents’ quick thinking and sacrificial love, their twins are alive and well. But oh, how my heart aches for them to have to grow up without their parents! The deaths on both sides of this horrible conflict are so tragic, and I pray God brings peace to the region soon. I truly cannot imagine all the terrible trauma that is occurring in this ancient land, and my heart breaks for all who are suffering.The Israeli death toll is now over 1,000, and this is the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.
