“In the end, we will come out of this stronger,” Valery, 32, from Tel Aviv, who survived the impact from an Iranian missile strike, 20 meters from his building, told JNS last weekend.
On the night of June 16, Valery, a PhD candidate in neuroscience at Tel Aviv University, woke up in his apartment on Pinsker Street in the city’s Old North district to air raid sirens warning civilians to seek shelter from incoming Iranian missiles.
He entered the safe room of his apartment with his wife, Yael, 39, and their three-year-old son, Emanuel. With the siren still wailing, he realized that their old dog, Gaia, was not inside, went to get her and closed the door.
A few seconds later, the couple felt the impact, which made the whole building shake.
“It feels like you are getting slapped in the face. A piece of plaster from the wall fell on my head. I told myself the missile couldn’t have hit too far away,” he said.
A friend of Yael from the municipality informed her that rescue forces were on their way. Another siren sounded, but no missile struck.
“My whole family lives in the building. My cousin called to ask if we were OK and started telling us he smelled something burning. We were a bit stressed, but decided to wait for the rescue services. I could hear his mom and dad yelling on the phone,” Valery said.
After a few minutes, he heard the first responders and opened the safe room.
“When I went out, I saw a destroyed apartment—no electricity, everything was pitch black, things were hanging from the ceiling. I went to open the front door and found that it was jammed shut. The rescuers forced it open, so we could go out,” he said.
The day before, the couple had prepared a suitcase with their valuables, including passports, jewelry and money, along with clothing.
“I handed a pair of shoes to my wife and I remember her saying, ‘No, not these,’ to which I responded, ‘The building is destroyed, burning, and you’re thinking of what shoes you’ll wear?’”
Amid glass and concrete rubble, the couple, their son and the dog made it out of the building.
“Everything was wet. Because of the missile, a water pipe had burst. There were at least a hundred first responders outside.
“I told Emanuel, ‘You see how many people came to help?’ and he said yes. He doesn’t remember it as something frightening, just that there was a big boom, our house was wrecked and a lot of people came to help us,” Valery said.
Once the family made it out and rescuers retrieved their son’s stroller and a computer they had left behind, they made their way to a hotel in the area. There, on instructions from the municipality, they registered using their Interior Ministry identity cards. They were given a room and three meals a day. They live there still.
A few days after the missile attack, the couple was able to briefly visit their apartment to retrieve a few valuables. The building is at risk of collapse.
The 12-day war with Iran continued until a ceasefire on June 24. Valery carried the family’s valuables with him every time he left the hotel room for fear of another strike.
Some 11,000 Israelis had to leave their homes across the country in the wake of the Iranian ballistic missile strikes. Approximately 1,800 Tel Aviv residents are currently hosted in hotels.
‘Everything we built for the last eight years is gone’
Yael, a banker, told JNS, “It took me a few days to understand the extent of what happened. It took me a lot of time to get back to the apartment. What you see in the photographs is not really what you see when you are there.
“It’s possible that I did not want to accept that our home is gone, our belongings are gone. Everything we built for the last eight years is just gone,” she said.
“It felt like Russian roulette,” Yael said.
Between five and 10 buildings in the couple’s neighborhood are at risk of collapse. Others were damaged but not as dramatically.
“The first time I went back, I fell apart. I couldn’t go in, I saw it from outside and I didn’t want to go back and cope with it again. I couldn’t believe the destruction. With Emanuel, I had to be strong. At the beginning, we didn’t work. I was with him during the war and I didn’t have a minute to stop and understand,” Yael said.
“The moment the war ended, we got back to somewhat of a routine. I went back to work. Life is stronger than anything else. We live in a country where, unfortunately, we know how to deal with traumas. We’ve been living like this for two years,” she added.
The most pressing need remains finding a new home in their neighborhood so Emanuel can continue going to the same kindergarten and keep a sense of normalcy and for the couple to continue taking care of Valery’s grandfather, who lives nearby.
“The real estate market in Tel Aviv is very difficult, even without all the wars. Homeowners around us raised the prices in an unreasonable way,” Yael said.
The Israel Tax Authority, which manages the state compensation fund, informed the couple they need to leave the hotel by Aug. 1. The couple has found an apartment in their area, but is awaiting approval from the Tax Authority for the rental contract.
The couple had been receiving rent money from a tenant in their apartment building, which their family owned, but that will not resume until the building is rebuilt, which could take years.
Most of their furniture is still inside the apartment, out of reach and, for the most part, unusable. While the furniture that won’t be salvaged is not covered by their private insurance, the couple is entitled to up to 100,000 shekels (just under $30,000) to replace it from the Tax Authority.
As to immediate financial compensation, the couple received 500 shekels ($150) from the municipality. The Jewish Agency gave them 4,000 shekels ($1,200).
Through the National Insurance Institute, the couple is entitled to 12 sessions of therapy via a nonprofit, but they haven’t heard back. They could get an appointment through their health fund (think HMO), but not before November.
‘Our rehabilitation is on hold’
“The financial loss is huge. We had invested so much in that apartment. We would have wanted the process to be organized and to be provided with more reassurance. We are dealing with crazy uncertainty.
“There seems to be no difference between the residents of buildings that were completely destroyed and those who just incurred minor damages,” Yael said.
“We can’t start our rehabilitation; it’s on hold. We are still busy understanding what is happening to us. Our belongings are all over the place. The moment we return to a place that will be ours and will have a routine without having to think of the next bureaucratic process, we will be able to start our rehabilitation,” she added.
The couple was still able to share some of their wisdom and optimism.
“In the first days, we felt a lot of gratitude to be alive. On one hand, we don’t have a home, but on the other, we are alive. In retrospect, we understand what is really important,” Valery said.
“All the little annoying things at work seem a lot less important. You understand that what matters most is your family and friends. Even when it comes to what you have inside your home, you realize that what is really important can fit in a suitcase,” he added.
