OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — As missiles and bombs continue to ravage Israel after a surprise attack by the terror group Hamas over the weekend, those safely stateside are keeping electronic devices close.
Born in Tel Aviv and now living in Kansas, Neta Meltzer said she woke up early Saturday, knowing something was not right.
“I was immediately texting my cousins, texting their spouses,” Meltzer said. “I just wanted to know what was going on.”
She quickly learned of the attacks and breathed a sigh of relief when all of her family members were accounted for.
Meltzer waits day and night for updates from family members while knowing there isn’t much she can do from her living room.
“It is so hard to be here right now. It’s so hard to be here because, I think that is why I am compulsively on my phone. I’m compulsively tracking because I can’t not,” Meltzer said. “I have to be with them in this in some way. If talking to you about it is that way, if keeping up with the horrific updates is that way, I’ll do it. I have to do something.”
A phone is the only means of communication Hannah Soltz Aharony has with her husband, son and daughter.
All three are now living together in her home between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem because of easy access to a shelter when missiles pass overhead.
“You feel guilty for not being able to do anything, so you look at the news all the time and keep in touch with friends to be updated as much as possible,” Soltz Aharony said. “It’s very depressing, it’s very hard.”
Soltz Aharony is in America because of a business trip.
She hopes to find a way back to her family.
“It’s kind of a paradox. Israel is, I think, as opposed to other nations, once we have a war we are running back to Israel. That’s what I feel. I need to be there. That’s my home. That’s my country. That’s my people. My family is there and that’s where I belong,” Soltz Aharony said. “Everyone says don’t come back, it’s hell here. Stay where you are. I can’t. I need to go home. I need to be there and I need to do whatever I can do to help.”
Soltz Aharony is hoping to find a flight home by the end of the week.
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