An Israeli woman whose husband was called up to serve in the army following Hamas' attacks says this is her worst nightmare
- Israeli mother says her husband being called to war is her worst nightmare coming true.
- Soon after Hamas attacked Israel, Danielle Rozenboim's husband left to go fight.
An Israeli mother of two who gave birth just one month ago says her husband being called up to serve in the army following Hamas' attacks on Israel is her worst nightmare coming true.
Danielle Rozenboim told Insider that not long after Hamas militants from Gaza attacked Israel early Saturday morning, her husband tried to prepare her for the possibility that he'd be called up to serve in the rapidly unfolding war.
"He told me in the morning, 'You need to prepare yourself mentally,'" Rozenboim, 30, recalled. "And I said, 'No way. No way you're going. No way you're leaving me alone. I can't take care of both of them together. I can't do it.'"
Rozenboim and her husband, 37-year-old Tzafrir Ariel, live in Jerusalem with their one-month-old baby boy and 3-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Ariel is an urban planner, and Rozenboim works for an education organization that she says helps improve schools serving Arab-Israelis and people of Palestinian descent living in Israel.
When Hamas began its attack, Ariel and Rozenboim were staying at her parents' place in Mazkeret Batya, a small town south of Tel Aviv, about 35 miles from the Gaza Strip.
Then, about 16 hours after it all started, Ariel was called in the middle of the night, Rozenboim said. Just as Rozenboim had feared, he went to fight in Israel's war with Gaza. Ariel, a sergeant who had served in the Israeli Armored Corps for 8 years until he was 27 or 28, had been called up from the reserves a few times before, Rozenboim said, but never to fight in a war.
"Once you marry someone who used to be a warrior, it's in the back of your mind that maybe one day he can be called for war," Rozenboim said. "But it's like the worst nightmare. And then the nightmare is coming true."
Rozenboim said one of her biggest worries, aside from her husband's safety, is the women and children whom Hamas militants have taken hostage.
"God knows what's happening with them right now," she said. "And I'm breastfeeding my baby. I can't help but thinking there are kids there that are not with their mothers that need their breast milk."
"And mothers that have been kidnapped without their children, and now the kids need their mother," Rozenboim added. "For a mom, it's something you can't accept. You can't handle it."
It's not clear exactly how many hostages Hamas militants have captured from Israel, but the numbers include women, children, and the elderly, BBC News reported. Hamas says it's holding about 100 people captive, though the Israeli Defense Forces estimate about 30 people, according to NBC News.
At least 700 people have been killed in Israel since Hamas first attacked, the country's defense ministry said on Monday.
And since Israel launched its aggressive counterattack on Gaza — which has leveled neighborhoods, flattened mosques, and bombed out refugee camps — at least 830 people in Gaza have been killed as of Tuesday, the Gaza Ministry of Health said.
Hamas' attack follows many months of worsening tensions between the group and Israel. This year has been especially deadly for Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and more than 4,500 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, the BBC reported.
Rozenboim said that while she and her surrounding community are "heartbroken" at the events unfolding around them, she is grateful to be staying with her parents.
"They're saving me," she said. "I couldn't do it alone ever."
Alisa Shodiyev Kaff contributed to this report