An American woman living near Gaza described in harrowing detail the hours she spent hiding in a “safe room” in her own home, waiting for members of the Israeli Defense Forces to come and assist with a safe evacuation.
Adele Raemer, 68, grew up in the Bronx — but according to a report from The New York Post she moved to Israel in 1975, where she has retired from her job as an English teacher and works as a hospital clown for sick children.
Over the course of several hours, Raemer pivoted from happy social media posts to fearful ones.
“For the past hour, Israel has been majorly under attack. This is just totally unprecedented. We never had anything like this before,” she said. “The sheer number of rockets that are being shot at the same time is overwhelming Iron Dome. So I don’t know where we’re going from here, but this is war. There is no getting around that.”
“I’m in my safe room with my son. We locked the doors and can’t go outside, and I have to say this is very scary. I’ve never been this scared in my life,” she added later. “Terrorists have infiltrated into Israel and that’s in addition to the massive rocket attacks. If you’re the praying type, pray for us.”
In later posts she described being afraid to leave the safe room to use the bathroom and not drinking too much water to prevent such a trip being necessary. She said that she could hear the Hamas terrorists as they went from door to door, looking for Israelis — and said that she had not even turned on the air conditioning for fear that someone would hear it and know there were people inside.
But Raemer was among those who were eventually evacuated, as she shared in a later post.
“Soldiers are going house to house, first checking that there are no terrorists, then calling to people inside to come out. Two — three houses at a time. We were taken to a safe central place, guarded by our members with guns, and are awaiting further instructions,” she said.
“I left with the dress I’m wearing, my purse, grabbed my sleeping pills, and put on shoes.
This is totally unprecedented, we have always been able to at least pack a bag. I haven’t brushed my teeth, or cleaned my face (not to mention make up … I’m a mess),” she added. “We have casualties here, but I don’t know details. Not asking. That will have to wait. There is just so much I can internalize at once.”
Raemer went on to express her concern for the Palestinian citizens, whom she said were being held hostage by leaders who “lie to them.”
“They educate their younger generation to hate us, and teach them to chant about having Palestine from the River to the sea,” Raemer continued. “Do you understand what that means? It means, no Jews. It means slaughtering us all, like they tried to do today (and are still trying). Like they tried to do to my 3 grandchildren who were saved by their very brave father.”
“What is happening here, and in other communities along the border, is the case of a terrorist army invading a sovereign state. I will not apologize for any military action that our IDF take, in order to return the safety to our lives,” she concluded.