Moshav

So this was our childhood.

Um, in, uh, 1990, uh, we had a family decision that we leave the kibbutz, and they went-- My, my parents bought, uh, um, a land in Moshav, which is a little bit different, um, in the north of the Gaza Strip, like still to stay close to my grandma and the family and the fields, um, but even closer to, to Gaza Strip, uh, like on the border.

And during those years, it was like the First Intifada and the Second Intifada, and the, the rounds of, uh, of war became more present, um, and became difficult to stay in touch with people with Gaza, and also to feel safe in the area.

So I remember like one time we, uh, it was, um, Shabbat, and we all came to be with, be with my parents, and I had already two daughters, and the f- the oldest was like eight, and we went there.

So yeah, I came to Fischer's.

I was there on Moshav, Moshav Matadiel.

What a special spot, by the way.

So special.

That would have been dangerous.

But Baruch Hashem, it was a beautiful, beautiful process.

And then I went back to the Moshav after three months.

It was shortly after Hanukkah.

Moshav Netiva Aserai is the closest of all Israeli communities to the Gaza Strip.

Its concrete security fence marks the border with the war-torn enclave.

48-year-old Hila Fenlon was born on Netiva Asara, but back in the day the community wasn't situated opposite the Gaza Strip.

Bomb shelters became an integral part of life for residents of Netiva Asara.

Every home and public building had a bomb shelter, which were also placed every few metres along the roads.

Because the Moshav is so close to Gaza, residents only have a maximum of five seconds to reach a bomb shelter.

In 2005, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pushed through the Gaza disengagement, withdrawing the IDF and dismantling all the Israeli settlements.

Residents of Netiva Aserah urged him to keep in place the three communities in the northern Gaza Strip, just over the border – Nisanit, Dugit and Alei Sinai – to act as a buffer between the Moshav and Bet Lachiyah, Bet Hanun and Jebaliyah in Gaza.

And then I was trying to text with my friends because I'm living over there.

I have friends all over the border with the Moshavs and the Kibbutzes.

And everybody report me the same thing.

Everybody report me like...

So there was room for everybody, and everybody was accepted, and it was actually a wonderful community.

But our friends there, the thing they were most concerned with was that we should give a reference to Yemeni two of the girls from the Moshav who were murdered.

The first was one who died on the 7th of October 2023, and one who was killed in February 2024.

The one who died in 2023, Yaelah, she was burned alive.

She was 19 years of age.

And the other woman who was a similar age called Omer Benjo, who died on February 24th, was killed by a missile being fired into the Moshav.

And there are memorials there to both of them and I can provide the links to it if required.

It's always such a moving experience being down with them and we love them very much.

After two hours, he died because no secure we had in Yitiva Asara.

We couldn't take him out of the Moshav or bring an ambulance to save him.

He died after two hours.

He lost so many blood.

Yes.

So I lived a very simple, happy, quiet life in the Moshav.

It was not until 2005 when they withdrew from Gaza.

That's only when rockets were started.

And the shuk, they're wealthier people.

It's like the city, New York City, Tel Aviv, versus, you know, some place, Moshav.

So no, according to Rashi, they don't use it as food.

Either it's too much for them, they have too much of it, or too little of it.