When I made the decision to come to Israel during a war, I knew I would be hearing sirens. It's part and parcel for living here, but incredibly, in the years that I lived here from 2003 to 2009, I never heard one. My first question for the guy who runs my Air BNB was if I would have a shelter, and he assured me that I would. If you live in the south near Gaza or in the north near Lebanon (Hezbollah), then they are literally routine, but Tel Aviv is central and about three hours from both locations, so they are less common. Until October 7th. The attack on the 7th began with thousands of rockets being fired into all parts of Israel at 6:30am. We now know this was a "tactic"; a distraction meant to get Israelis into their safe rooms, which in the south, left them sitting ducks, due to the infiltration of thousands of Hamas terrorists who got to them in these "safe rooms" and murdered them in the most heinous ways imaginable. Since those kibbutzim are only miles from Gaza, citizens have ten seconds from the time they hear the siren to make it to the safe room, but in Tel Aviv, we have a 90 second warning, as it takes the rockets longer to travel here. Sirens were going off regularly in Tel Aviv after October 7th. On two occasions I was video chatting with my friend when one went off. By the time I got to Israel, however, I was told they were sounding less and less, as the IDF was now in Gaza and had taken out a lot of the launching pads. There hadn't been a siren in Tel Aviv for more than 48 hours when I arrived in Israel a little over two weeks ago, so I wondered if I'd actually missed them. Not quite. The following night, a Friday, at exactly 6pm, right as most Israeli families were sitting down to their Shabbat dinners, my first-ever siren went off. I was in my little studio, and pretty relaxed. I went to the safe room and was amazed by how loud the BOOMS were outside. What I'd heard was the sound of the Iron Dome taking out the rockets. Israel thankfully has had this missile defense system since 2011, and it shoots down nearly all of the rockets, but you still have to run for cover, due to falling debris, which can still seriously injure you, or worse. There was a second siren three nights later, and it was similar, but three days after that the ceasefire began, and for the past week we were getting nightly groups of hostages back, as you have read in my previous post. The ceasefire ended yesterday morning, after Hamas attacked Jerusalem on Thursday. They were also claiming to not know where most of the other hostages (a whopping 136) - even are. I therefore fully expected another siren last night, but it didn't come. I did hear some loud booms though, and learned that I would be able to hear the Iron Dome taking out rockets even if they hadn't been aimed at Tel Aviv. The friend who told me this on Messenger told me to download an app called "Home Front Command," and to enable notifications even when my phone is off or on "Do Not Disturb."
I obeyed her immediately. Tonight, thank goodness, my friend of 20 years was here, when both my phone AND outside started going crazy. The siren was SO LOUD! I calmly got my shoes on, found my key, found the outside lock in the dark, just marveling at the noise. It sounded like multiple were going off at the same time. All the tenants scurried down the staircase of the hotel next door, and I, for the first time, entered the actual safe room in that hallway basement, even though they say you're okay once you're underground.
I again could hear the loud booms of the Iron Dome taking out the rockets, and I asked my friend "Why were those so much louder tonight?" He sort of shrugged, but two women near me answered: "Because they were closer." This is how I learned about the different "zones" in Tel Aviv. The sirens I heard my first week were from rockets close enough to still require us taking cover in my neighborhood, but tonight the rockets were heading toward central Tel Aviv, so the sirens for my zone were going off, on top of those for further away communities, and this all happened at 10pm on a Saturday night, when most Israelis start their five-day work week Sunday (tomorrow) morning. Needless to say, I've been making sure to be inside after dark, which is early here right now, about 4:38pm, and I will continue to do so. Worst case scenario, if I were out during the day and this happened, I would be able to find a building or a store to run into. None of this scares me about staying in Israel as ninety seconds is a long time, but my heartbeat didn't quite go back to normal for a good 15 minutes afterward just from the shock of the sound - did I mention how loud they were? What an experience.
Be careful Melanie !