'We're left behind': Sderot mother shields children during Hamas rocket fire

Gilat, a resident of Sderot, shielded her baby and two daughters under her as sirens blared in the southern city.

 Israeli soldiers standing near a graffiti at the site of the Old Sderot Police Station that was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, March 11, 2024. (photo credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Israeli soldiers standing near a graffiti at the site of the Old Sderot Police Station that was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, March 11, 2024.
(photo credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Gilat, a mother in Sderot, shielded her children with her own body as Hamas launched rockets at the city on Sunday afternoon.

In the footage, the mother can be heard singing the words of Isaiah 8:10 to her children: "Hatch a plot—it shall be foiled; Agree on action—it shall not succeed. For with us is God."

Gilat told KAN news that she had just picked up her children from kindergarten and school when the siren sounded. "We were talking with the kids in the car. Everyone was sharing the experiences they had at kindergarten and at school, and suddenly we heard a siren," said Gilat.

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot, southern Israel. October 8, 2023. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot, southern Israel. October 8, 2023. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

"I stopped the car. Just, I have amazing kids. I told them 'there's a red alert, we need to get out of the car.' They got out of the car and laid down on the floor, they didn't wait for me, and placed their hands on their head. I put the baby between the two girls and laid on top of them, and I sang with them the song that has accompanied us, to my sorrow, a very long time," said Gilat.

'They told us we could go home, that everything is ok'

"They made promises to us. They told us we could go home, that everything is ok. And in the end, we discover that already for 20 years the area of the border communities has remained exactly the same. Despite the number of promises they made us, the residents of the border communities...remain left behind," lamented Gilat.