Ayal Young, an Israeli Spurs fan, speaks to the Telegraph about having to defend his home from a harrowing attack by Hamas last weekend
Ayal Young first made sure his wife and four children were in the safe room of their house in Alumim, Israel, about three-and-a-half kilometres from the border with the Gaza Strip, before he reached for his gun, ammunition and bulletproof vest.
Red alert alarms are not uncommon in the kibbutz in which Young was born and has lived all his life. But something felt different about Saturday morning. Even before messages started to drop on the WhatsApp local safety group to say gunshots had been heard.
Young, a Tottenham Hotspur supporter, whose parents were born in London before moving to Israel in the 1970s, spoke to Telegraph Sport from his hospital bed in Beersheba on Thursday morning. He was in the first stages of recovery from surgery on gunshot wounds that caused damage to his shoulder and lung. A gash on his cheek shows where one bullet almost made a deadly impact.
‘I took my vest and ammunition and went out to protect the kibbutz’
Amid the loud beeps of the hospital machinery monitoring his condition, 36-year-old Young, who works for a defence company, was matter-of-fact about his response to hearing that his kibbutz was under attack by Hamas terrorists.
“We woke up at about 6.20am from the red alert,” he says, “and we ran to the safe room with our two girls. The boys sleep in the safe room, so they were already there. Then I told my wife I had to go to get my phone. We are religious, so we don’t use our phones on a Saturday, but I got them because I felt it was something different. I don’t know why.
“Then at about 6.50am, we started to get messages from other people in the safety group that they could hear weapons and shooting very near the kibbutz. I told my wife to stay inside, lock the doors, don’t open them. I have a weapon for defence and I took it with my vest and ammunition and went out. I went out to protect the kibbutz.”
Young is part of the designated ‘guard’ for his kibbutz. He had been in the Israeli army for seven years and is a company commander in the army’s reserve. The rest of his company have since been called to the north of the country. Will he join them? “If my wife will let me go, but now I’m focusing on getting better,” he says.
The aftermath of the attack on the Alumim Kibbutz Credit: Flash90/Yossi Zamir
Young believes he saw the aftermath of the slaughter of 17 Thai nationals who work at the kibbutz. He took care of a group of Nepalis. Then he was forced to use his own weapon.
“At the beginning, we ran to where the foreign workers live, near the cow shed,” he says. “The Hamas terrorists were already there. They killed two Nepalis and injured five more, who we took care of. Then we told everyone to stay in the safe room and not to go out.
“From there, we went to the main gate because we heard there were terrorists over there. We saw some guys from the army and they shot the terrorists. There were about 15 or 20. Then we ran from one place to another. They told us it was safe to collect our radios from storage so we could talk easily and not by the phones on WhatsApp.
‘I was shot in the cheek, then shot a Hamas commander’
“We ran to collect the radios, turned them on and at about 9am to 9.30am, my neighbour, who was part of the guarding group, called us. He told us he could see many terrorists running towards the kibbutz.
“We went towards him. He was injured because he got shot in his hands. We saw two terrorists hiding behind the fence of the kibbutz, waving and shouting to the others to come. I saw at least 12, 14, maybe even more, just running to the kibbutz.
“So another friend and I went to another place, so we could see if they came. I think that’s when they got in and shot the other foreign workers. It was a massacre. I think that’s when they shot the 17 Thai workers. My friend got shot in his leg and I shot the guy who hit him. I got a bullet in my cheek. It just scratched my cheek, thankfully. I shot him back and I killed him, and later they told me he was one of the Hamas commanders because they found maps on him and other stuff. Then I got shot in the shoulder.”
Young was taken to a nurse who lived behind his family home for treatment before being driven through a shower of bullets to an ambulance and being transferred to hospital.
“Eventually, they could evacuate me to a nurse in the kibbutz who lives just behind my house and she stabilised me,” he says. “Her husband said they must evacuate me, otherwise I’d be in a very bad condition.
“So he put me in his private car. First he took out the seats so I could lie on the floor while they were shooting at us. He was driving like mad. He took me to an ambulance and the ambulance took me to hospital where I had surgery. I had surgery and I feel a bit better now.”
‘My wife and kids stayed in the safe room for 26 hours’
Young learnt that his family were safe before going in for his surgery. His parents, who live in Alumim, were also able to leave the kibbutz in relative safety.
Ayal Young and his father Credit: Ayal Young
“I spoke to my family once while I was not with them to check they were ok. I told them again not to go out, no matter what they hear. [I told them] not to go out because we knew there were terrorists inside the kibbutz who came not to defend themselves. They came to massacre and kill whoever they could see.
“My wife and kids stayed in the safe room for about 24 to 26 hours. At the beginning, they had no food or water but my wife told the kids to stay inside and she went into the house to get water and something to eat and then she ran back. She brought big cups too so they could pee there and not go out.
“They left the safe room on Sunday morning in my car, which had been damaged by gunshots. When they got out of the main gate, my wife told my kids to close their eyes and not look out of the windows, so they didn’t see the horrors.”
The path of destruction left after the attack Credit: Yossi Zamir
Young spent his 11th wedding anniversary with his wife Reut in hospital on Wednesday. He has not been able to bring himself to study the list of names and the pictures of those who have died.
“I almost didn’t look at the list of names and pictures because I don’t want it to take me down,” Young says. “But I saw at least one friend who is dead, a friend from the army. One of my friends from a kibbutz nearby is still missing from Saturday.”
‘When it’s against the Jews and the Israelis, football does not say anything’
Shortly after his surgery, Young received a video message from Tottenham’s Israeli winger Manor Solomon. It was a small boost in desperate times. The Football Association and the Premier League have announced there will be a minute’s silence ahead of games and players will wear black armbands as a mark of respect to ‘all those affected in Israel and Gaza’, but there has been no recognition of the terrorism Young experienced.
“I think it’s very important for football to say something because they always say there is no place for racism,” says Young, who is a member of the Spurs Israel supporters’ group. “But not saying anything is racism. When it’s [atrocities] against the Jews and the Israelis, they don’t say anything. In other cases, there were a lot of statements, but now you cannot hear anything.
“I’m not looking for recognition. But I just feel every community should be treated equally by football. It’s a bit disappointing, but I am trying not to be negative because I need to look at positive stuff and things to make me stronger and not negative things that could make me weak. But if something was said, it would make me feel more positive, yes.”
On the impact of Solomon’s message, Young, who made his first visit to Tottenham’s new stadium at the start of August on a tour, says: “ I don’t know who got to him but it was very nice to see after the surgery. My wife sent it to me on WhatsApp on Sunday or Monday. It was really nice.”
Ayal comes from a family of Tottenham fans Credit: Ayal Young
“I’ve been to White Hart Lane, I’ve been to Wembley to watch Spurs and it was my first visit to the new stadium, for a tour at the start of August. It’s amazing. Everyone in my family is a Tottenham fan. My parents raised us as Spurs fans. My dad is a supporter and my mum used to come from Westcliff [on-Sea, Essex] for the Sunday games, or midweek games, on the train and leave the game five minutes before the end so she and her cousin could get the last train back to Westcliff. I watch Tottenham games in Israel on TV.”
Young describes living so close to Gaza as “90 per cent paradise and 10 per cent hell”, but has no doubt that he and his family will return to the home he left with his gun and bulletproof vest on Saturday morning.
“Right now, we are in even more than 10 per cent [hell], but we know we will have better days,” Young says. “We will continue to live here and fight for normal life. We will return to our home because we have no other option.”
