My October 7th experience:
On the morning of the 7th of October 2023 I was awaken at about 7AM from sirens. It was odd, I thought, we hadn't gotten sirens in a few years now.
It wasn't like today that when we get sirens I need to open telegram to see where the missles are coming from, back then there was only one possibility: Gaza.
I immediately woke up my younger brother and ran to the bomb shelter, my parents weren't home due to them visiting my grandparents up north, and I couldn't contact them because they are religious and keep the shabbes. In the bomb shelter I opened the news on my phone, "again with these stupid missles? That means that for the next 2 months we will have a back and forth that will end no where", oh how wrong I was...
On the news I have witnessed things I've thought unimaginable:
Terrorists inside Israel storming Jewish towns and Kibutzim, on Telegram I have seen videos I can't erase from my memory.
I was a little worried about my safety due to where I live in Israel, but I was comforted by the thought that my parents and the rest of my siblings are up north and are in no danger.
The whole day I was glued to the TV in shock in horror, following live feeds from Kibutzim and reports from the Nova music festival site, the death toll just kept growing.
Every so often I would look out my window just to make sure that my town is quiet and no one is running in panic from a group of terrorists on a death-maximized truck.
I will never be able to erase that day from my memory.
As shabbes ended I immediately called my parents and told them "Israel will never be the same again".