Oleksandra Hrytsulia
Ukraine, Litsinova (a village near the city of Mykolaiv)
Israel, Ashkelon
“When the war in Ukraine broke out, my mother and I fled to Switzerland. My mother chose to stay there, and I came to Israel following my husband Oleksandr, who was already working here in the Ashkelon area as a construction worker. We lived a normal life, distant from the war in Ukraine, and not long after arriving in Israel, I gave birth to Mikhailo.
We fled the war in Ukraine, only to find ourselves caught in a war once again in Israel. On Saturday, October 7th, at 6:31 a.m., a massive barrage of rockets struck Ashkelon. We were aware of the rockets fired from Gaza and understood that the ‘Iron Dome’ missile defense system successfully intercepts a substantial number of these missiles However, during the missile barrage on October 7th, Oleksandr and I were shaking with fear. It was the first time we had to protect not only ourselves but also Mikhailo, who had been born just a month earlier.
The apartment we rented in Ashkelon lacked a safe room or a boom shelter. The stairwells in the building were not protected, making them an inadequate option for protection. To truly secure ourselves from the missiles, we needed to go to a shelter located further down the street. However, since I was recovering from a caesarean section at the time, reaching the shelter was extremely challenging for me. We needed to find a solution for our protection so from then on, whenever a missile attack began, we would take refuge in the windowless bathroom of our apartment. This way, we at least had some protection from shrapnel.
During the last war, Ashkelon faced the highest number of rocket attacks in Israel, making it extremely dangerous to be there without a safe room or a bomb shelter.
Luckily for us, friends from Bat Yam offered us to move in with them, but after a few weeks they also had a baby, and the two-room apartment became too crowded for all of us, so we returned to our rented apartment in Ashkelon.
What does the future hold for us?
Right now, it’s very hard to say.
Only time can tell.”