It has been 18 days since Sharon’s hometown, the Nir Oz kibbutz near the Gaza border, was attacked by Hamas.
“It’s a country that’s been used to fighting for its life, but this type of attack, we’ve never seen,” said Sharon.
Sharon moved to Denver from Israel with his family six years ago, in response to previous conflict in the region. CBS News Colorado is not releasing Sharon’s last name per his request to protect his family here in Denver.
“Just the amount of brutality, the amount of pain it caused, it’s very new for Israel,” said Sharon about this latest attack.
Other family members, however, including his aunt were inside safe rooms in the kibbutz when the terror attacks began.
“Since safe rooms are meant to protect you from missiles, they don’t lock from the inside, so she had to hold the door,” said Sharon. “And she was holding the door when they came into the house. More than 12 of them breaking and burning and then they got to her door, they tried to open it, she was still holding it.”
A video created by his family in Israel shows the door his aunt held down for eight hours before help came. A total of 13 family members managed to get out of the attack alive.
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“We call it our tribe’s miracle that they’re out, but now they’re out with nothing,” said Sharon.
Still, nearly 75 people were taken hostage from his kibbutz.
“They took kids. They took babies. They took everybody,” said Sharon.
Two of his uncles, 75-year-old Alex Danzig and 69-year-old Itzik Elgerat, are among the hostages. Alex has a heart condition that requires daily medicine, making it even more pressing to get them home safely.
“We always have to keep the hope up, but it’s very hard to know what’s going to go on,” said Sharon.
Some of that hope comes from the latest release of two elderly hostages from Nir Oz, Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper, both of which Sharon knew growing up.
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“One of them was my gym teacher in elementary, she’s 85 now. The other one is the mother of one of my classmates. She’s 80,” said Sharon. “I’m really most worried about the kids. Just from Nir Oz they took seven kids under the age of three alongside everybody else.”
While Sharon prays for the release of his uncles and the rest of the hostages in his close knit community, he is also hoping to raise money through crowding funding for the loved ones there who remain displaced.
“That’s who I’m worried about, making sure that good people don’t suffer,” said Sharon. “That day should not define their lives.”
