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Adele Raemer
Life on the Border with the Gaza Strip

Rolling Despite Rockets

Sunrise in the Western Negev
Photos by Adele Raemer
In the wee hours of Friday morning, I woke up at 2:45. As I was getting dressed, I could hear the explosions of the IDF retaliation in the Gaza Strip: responces to the Hamas rocket attacks a few hours earlier.
We left Nirim at 03:20 in order to meet up at the starting spot for our sunrise phototrip, to document another sunrise in the Western Negev. I asked M to drive, so that I would be able to keep tabs on the situation through my Whatsapp groups and photograph Iron Dome in action, should we see it enroute.
Rather than take the usual route along Road 232, which hugs the Gaza Strip, we decided to detour from it when we could – not that we would be out of rocket range, but it did take us a bit further away, out of the closer mortar range. As we drove we got word of Red Alerts on our neighbors on Kibbutz Nir Oz, Magen and Moshav Ein Habsor. We arrived at the gates of Kibbutz Ruchama just in time to see Iron Dome racing through the skies, chasing down rockets that had been shot towards Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Nir Am and Mefalsim.
What followed that tension, was the perfect antidote to stress: a phototrip with my amazing teachers at Hasifa School of Photography. I’m sharing the beauty of the Western Negev sunrise, here.

Why didn’t I stay home? Why didn’t we cancel? Because that’s how we roll here on the border with the Gaza Strip; like the rolling hills in the Badlands of Ruchama.

Because if I had stayed home, I would have been letting terror win.

About the Author
The writer (aka "Zioness on the Border" on social media) is a mother and a grandmother who since 1975 has been living and raising her family on Kibbutz Nirim along the usually paradisiacal, sometimes hellishly volatile border with the Gaza Strip. She founded and moderates a 13K-strong Facebook group named "Life on the Border with Gaza". The writer blogs about the dreams and dramas that are part of border kibbutznik life. Until recently, she could often be found photographing her beloved region, which is exactly what she had planned to do at sunrise, October 7th. Fortunately, she did not go out that morning. As a result, she survived the murderous terror infiltrations of that tragic day, hunkering down in her safe room with her 33-year-old son for 11 terrifying hours. So many of her friends and neighbors, though, were not so lucky. More than she can even count. Adele was an educator for 38 years in her regional school, and has been one of the go-to voices of the Western Negev when escalations on the southern border have journalists looking for people on the ground. On October 7, her 95% Heaven transformed into 100% Hell. Since then she has given a multitude of interviews. She has gone on five missions abroad in support of Israel and as an advocate for her people. In addition to fighting the current wave of lies and blood libels about the Jewish state, she is raising money to help restore their Paradise so that members of her kibbutz can return to their homes on the border, where they can begin to heal. If you wish to learn more about how you can help her and her community return home, please feel free to drop her a line.
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