Hi! My name is Yuval and I have just finished my last year of high school.
I am from Mazkeret Batya, which is less than 40 km away from Gaza.
On October 7th, I was woken up by sirens and had to rush to our home's shelter room. We're used to sirens, but that day was different. The alarms went on for hours, and we were stuck in the shelter all day with our four dogs.
As we heard about the attacks on kibbutzim and IDF bases, fear started to creep in. A rocket landed near my school, and my teacher's house got damaged.
At first, we had to study over Zoom, which I really didn't like, especially since it was my final year of high school. I was worried about missing out on important events like school trips and special activities- prom.
Life changed drastically. We had shorter school hours because there wasn't enough shelter space at school.
I volunteered to assist families of reserve soldiers and worked in fields and orchards where there weren't enough workers.
I also helped clean houses for Passover for women whose husbands were in the army- it gave me a sense of purpose.
At the beginning of the war, my parents told my brothers and I to delete Instagram and TikTok. I've recently gone back to Instagram, but surprisingly, I don't miss TikTok as much as I thought I would.
It's heartbreaking to acknowledge that there are still hostages in Gaza, and the situation seems unbearable.
I'm going to join the Intelligence in the IDF in a few months, and I can't wait to make a significant contribution to my country.
This experience has shown me the strength of our community and the importance of resilience.
