SDEROT INTERSECTION

How Jewish and Arab strangers united to rescue two little girls amidst Hamas’ October 7 attack

- LEE YARON

On October 7, 2023, the southern Israeli border with Gaza was overrun by approximately 3,000 Hamas members who indiscriminately killed and took hostages-men, women and children; from babies to the elderly; Jews, Israeli-Arabs, Bedouins and foreign workers alike. By the end of their rampage, more than 1,200 Israelis had been killed and 254 abducted into Gaza. Award-winning HAARETZ reporter Lee Yaron delved into the stories of those in Israel affected by the attack in her new book, 10/7: 100 HUMAN STORIES (St.Martin's Press, September 24). In a compelling tale of intertwined lives, Yaron shares first-person accounts of those who were left to tell the stories. In this excerpt, Yaron tells the extraordinary story of two young sisters thrust into the care of strangers in Sderot, as terror engulfed the town.

ELEVEN PEOPLE GATHERED IN THE THREE-BY-THREEsquare-meter room of 2-month-old baby Yishai Azougi on Ehvat Israel Street in Sderot that Saturday. His father, Yanon, age 23; his mother, Hillel, 22; Yanon's parents, Eliyahu and Dalia; Aunt Moriah (who was three months pregnant); her husband, Haim; Uncle Yadida; Aunt Tahila; Aunt Amunah; and Aunt Shira.

Also present were 3-year-old Lia Suissa and 6-year-old Romi Suissa. The members of the Azougi family knew almost nothing about the two young Suissa daughters.

They did not know where the girls lived or who their parents were, or even how they came to be left next to the police station, covered in blood.

The girls were quiet-the family was afraid to ask. At half past six that morning, Yanon had made the three-block walk to synagogue, as usual for him on a Sabbath morning. But he'd returned home shortly afterward, with two little girls in tow.

Home was a modest third-floor apartment of an older building, redolent with the smells of holiday cooking from the night before.