NATALIE LISBONA: I cowered with my children in the shelter as the blasts above said we were under attack
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I can hear the explosions overhead as I write from the bomb shelter in our back yard. Deafening. With each explosion, one of my children jumps with fear.
Iran is hitting back with a non-stop barrage of ballistic missiles.
We only hope our defence systems keep us safe, as they did last time Iran launched a blitz last autumn. It’s been a very long day.
The first indication I had that Israel’s long-awaited operation to take out Iran’s nuclear weapons programme was under way came in the early hours of yesterday morning in the form of a high-pitched shriek from my mobile phone.
Such alerts are nothing new in Israel these days.
Ever since October 7, 2023, the day Hamas terrorists perpetrated their barbaric slaughter of 1,200 of my fellow citizens, warnings of incoming missiles from Gaza or Yemen had become a regular feature of life.
But this one was different – a painfully ear-piercing noise that proclaimed a far higher level of urgency. I sprang out of bed and rushed to wake my three children, no easy task as any parent of teenagers will know.
But within minutes, the four of us – together with our two dogs – had reached the safety of the bomb shelter in our back yard.
Keen to find out the nature of the threat, I decided to text my most plugged-in friends and contacts.
As the wi-fi doesn’t work in the shelter, I had to open the heavy iron door and lean out with my phone to get a signal.
One responded almost immediately with the words: ‘We are attacking Iran. Now.’ I knew that the IDF and Mossad had well-developed plans to destroy the Iranian nuclear weapons programme but still I was shocked to hear that Operation Rising Lion had been launched.
Crammed once again inside the shelter that’s been a makeshift home for us all too many times over the past few years, it wasn’t long before my children began to lobby for us to go back into the house.
While we had ample stocks of bottled water, our solitary fan was all but useless in the stifling summer heat. It didn’t help that one of our two chihuahuas, white-coated Lula, was wide awake and running around like a lunatic.
‘Can we leave the shelter yet?’ asked my 11-year-old. It was impossible to know for sure if it was safe to venture outside but, eventually, I decided we would go back into the house and sleep in the living room together.
As we huddled together on the sofa, I could feel that they were all a bit on edge and needed reassurance. But soon everyone, apart from me, had fallen asleep. On nights like this, I keep one eye and ear open at all times.
The guidance from the authorities via the TV news channel was that it wasn’t necessary to stay in a bomb shelter but we should remain close to it.
At 5am, our local hospital called to say that a family appointment we had arranged for later in the day had been cancelled.
Meanwhile, the roads were completely empty of cars. It’s safe to say we were now in an official state of emergency.
As the day progressed, I learned that Iran had launched hundreds of UAVs – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones – in their attempt at a reprisal attack, but they were all intercepted and destroyed before they reached their targets in Israel thanks to our missile shield.
But everyone remained in a state of high anxiety – we all knew that there were more attacks to come.
And yesterday evening, we were all moved once again into our bomb shelters as the sirens rang out across the country. I’m hearing Israel is being attacked by waves and waves of Iranian missiles – possibly hundreds.
We all know the state of emergency may go on for days or weeks and that means yet more broken sleep and stress.
But if and when Operation Rising Lion achieves its objectives, it will all have been worth it.
