American Students in Israel During Hamas Attacks Now Volunteering in Support of War Efforts

Inside Edition also spoke with one Israeli woman who survived the unthinkable.

A number of Americans are making the decision to remain in Israel amid the ongoing conflict and attacks in the region.

Lili Dagan and Guy Starr are spending a gap year between high school and college in Tel Aviv and were in the city when Hamas launched its attacks.

They say they never even contemplated coming home, though they do admit that they would be lying if they said they weren't scared

The two are now volunteering by stuffing boxes of food for Israeli soldiers.

They also showed Inside Edition the staircase where they and the 45 other people living in their building took shelter as rockets were fired on Tel Aviv last weekend.

"I don't know a life without Israel," Lili tells Inside Edition. "And I don't feel comfortable with myself just sitting there and letting things happen."

Inside Edition also spoke with one Israeli woman who survived the unthinkable. Neta Portal was shot seven times as Hamas stormed through the kibbutz where she lived, committing unspeakable tragedies, including the slaughter of babies and little kids. 

"They burn every house and they kill everyone," she told Inside Edition from her hospital room in Tel Aviv. She says she could hear her neighbors screaming, "Please don’t take me! Please! Please!' And they shoot them." 

"We saw," she says, "all the kibbutz dead. We saw kids dead on the street without the heads. We saw a lot of bodies on the street."

Her boyfriend Santiago was with her and was also shot. He carried Neta to a hiding place, where they hid out for three hours. Neta calls him a hero, saying he saved her life. 

While hiding Neta called her dad, a police officer. She says they hadn’t spoken in six years after he and her mom got divorced. He rushed to her aid and rescued her and her boyfriend.

Neta says she’s always dreamed of and strived for peace, but is struggling to find hope now.

"I can’t believe anymore. I can’t believe anymore. They kill us like we are not human," she said of the gunmen. "I didn’t [do] something wrong. I just live in my home. That’s what I did! And they come to my bed and they shoot me in my bed!  And they kill children on the streets, because they want to play!"

"We need America," she pleads, "we need Europe, we need everyone."

 

Related Stories