A Miraculous Escape: How Itai Saved His Family from the October 7th Attack

Itai Mizrahi, 53, from the small village of Azuz, will never forget that day. When his parents called from their safe room in Kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of October 7th, he could hear the fear in their voices. Terrorists had broken into the kibbutz, and no one knew when help would arrive.

The police weren’t answering. The army was overwhelmed. Itai realized he couldn’t wait. He grabbed a knife, got into his car and drove through back roads and open fields to avoid the blocked intersections. Somehow, he reached the back gate of the kibbutz.

“As I got closer, I saw armed men on ATVs,” Itai recalls. “I thought they were Israeli soldiers, so I drove right up to them and asked what was going on. They didn’t answer. And then I suddenly realized—they weren’t soldiers. They were terrorists.”

Before he could react, they started shouting in Arabic that he was a Jew. They ran toward his car, opened the door, and for a few terrifying seconds, Itai was sure he wouldn’t survive. But somehow, he slammed the car into gear, sped off, and bullets started flying.

“They blew out one tire and shattered the windows,” he says. “I ducked and drove over 160 kilometers an hour through the fields. I didn’t even think—just kept driving. I finally found a hidden spot, changed the tire, and made my way to safety.”

Meanwhile, his parents and sister were still trapped inside their safe room. With them were two foreign workers—Mira and Sveta—Christian women who, in those terrifying moments, began saying Tehillim (Psalms). They also held the door shut with all their strength.

“Every house around them was burned,” Itai says, “but somehow, theirs was untouched. A month and a half earlier, I had decided to put mezuzahs on the doors of their home. I can’t explain it fully, but it felt like Hashem was watching over them.”

In the middle of chaos, danger, and fear, a miracle unfolded. A family was saved, a home was protected, and even strangers joined in prayer. Itai’s bravery, and the power of emunah (faith), turned a nightmare into a story of hope and Hashem’s kindness.