Life Back in Olive Green

While Rena and I were enjoying our stay in Spain, the rockets coming from Gaza into Israel intensified. Two OTZMAniks were spending their vacation staying in Kiryat Gat. After a rocket fell in the city, they had to be evacuated to Tel Aviv. Later, that happened to other OTZMAniks staying in Beer Sheva. When we heard that Israeli air forces began to attack in Gaza, all Rena and I could think about was coming back to Israel. While we knew it wasn't safe to be here, we knew we wanted to come back.
When everyone left the base at the beginning of winter break, we were all so excited to start Track 2. That is the part where small groups of us were supposed to be living in development towns and putting all of our energy into volunteering there. I was supposed to be in Kiryat Malachi. On December 30th, rockets fell in Kiryat Malachi. That was the furthest city into Israel that they had managed to hit (at the time). There are no words to describe the feeling you get when you hear for the first time that you're home has been attacked, and Kiryat Malachi definitely felt like home to me.
Rena and I tried to enjoy the rest of our trip and we definitely had fun, but we were both definitely stressed during it. Early on, we knew we were not going to be able to go to our homes when we got back to Israel. Between Spain and our stay at the army base, we had already been traveling for a month. All of our belongings were being stored in Beer Sheva so we didn't know when we would be able to see them again.
There are around 20 OTZMAniks who have been displaced by what's going on. We were all supposed to live in cities like Ashkelon, Netivot, and Ofakim- cities that are now being mentionned on a regular basis because they are being hit on a regular basis. The people who live there spend all of their time in bomb shelters. School is cancelled, so there is nothing for the kids to do. While a lot of people are afraid and were happy we were taken out, there are some of us who really want to go to our cities, all things considered. We are in Israel to volunteer and now is when our cities need us most- but now we're not allowed to go. For those of you who worry about me, the Jewish Agency for sure will not let me return to Kiryat Malachi until the rocket attacks have stopped, as much as I wish I could go there now.
Us displaced persons are biding our time living on a base in the north- we're back in olive green. On my birthday, we arrived at our base which is close to Tiberius. The base is closed except in times of emergency, so it's just been reopened. We've been spending our time working there preparing kitbags for reserve soldiers that are about to be called in. We also are helping to make sure the tanks and APCs are working and stocked with what they need in case they are needed to go into Lebanon. If you have been hearing in the news that Israel is preparing to fight against Lebanon just in case, I can verify that it is true.
OTZMA has only planned for us to stay on this base until January 15th. If at that point, if there is still a war, we will move to Arad instead of Kiryat Malachi. As soon as the war ends, we'll be moved back to Kiryat Malachi. Our volunteer part is only 2.5 months long, after we finish at the base. A lot of us are stressed by the fact that we may move because we don't know how long we're going to be in Arad. We don't know whether to unpack or not. If we don't unpack it may mean that we'll be living out of a suitcase for three months. If we do, we may have to repack in a matter of days. And volunteer work is another issue. It's hard to start working with kids and then to get up and leave them. We don't know how involved to get because we don't know how long we'll be staying. Even now, when we are supposed to be living at the base another week, we're unsure. Rockets fell in Israel today that came from Lebanon. Many of us who are at the base brought all of their stuff with them for the weekend because we don't know if it will be safe for us to return.
It has been a hard couple of weeks for all of us and for everyone living in Israel. We are all hoping the war will end soon and we can return to our homes without having to worry about rockets from Gaza falling on them.