Surviving 48 Hours in a Shelter While Terrorists Invaded Her Home: 'I Thanked Hashem for Watching Over Me'

We have heard much about the horrific massacres that occurred in Kibbutz Be'eri, events we will never forget. Amidst these tragedies were stories of miracles, one of which is the tale of Perach Filo's rescue, as she managed to survive in her home's shelter for 48 hours against a group of terrorists constantly trying to break in.

In an interview with Channel 14, Perach recounted how at 6:30 on Shabbat morning, an alarm sounded in Be'eri. She entered the shelter with a blanket from her bed. Shortly after, she received a message through the community app that terrorists were approaching the kibbutz and all residents should lock themselves in their safe rooms. "That's when the chaos began," she said.

Perach added, "Minutes later, messages began to surface in the community groups. Friends were writing, 'They're shooting here,' 'There are terrorists in this house,' 'There are injured here.' Someone wrote: 'Go quickly to my mom, they're killing her.' And I was alone in the shelter, panicking and stressed, thinking they were going to kill me."

At that point, Perach turned to Hashem in gratitude: "I sat on the bed, took a deep breath, and began to say a mantra to myself, which I repeated for about 48 hours: 'Thank you, Hashem, thank you, Hashem, thank you, Creator of the World, and your angels, thanks to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his followers all over the world who are praying for me, thank you very much.'"

Perach's daughter and son-in-law returned to religious observance and are Chabad followers. Perach recalled that the shelter contained a set with a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and a small book of Chumash, Tehillim, and Tanya: "I felt around in the dark shelter and found it. I pressed the set against my body and said to the Rebbe – you are protecting me, don't leave me."

"I searched and found another bottle of water and another package of biscuits in the shelter, and rationed the food for myself. Two sips of water and two biscuits. Hell surrounded me. They tried drilling the door, tried blowing it up, for nearly 40 hours without respite. I heard Arabic-speaking voices and terrifying noises from outside. They even tried to blow out the window and failed. Every minute was a miracle."

Perach mentioned that years ago, she was very unsettled and asked her daughter to install a lock on the shelter door. The lock prevented the terrorists from entering and saved her life.

Perach's son, living near Kibbutz Be'eri, called and told her he was coming to rescue her. "After a few minutes, he said, 'Mom, send your location.' I sent it. A while later, he said, 'Mom, I joined the Duvdevan unit with three tanks; we’re coming to rescue you.' Meanwhile, the terrorists continued bombing my shelter, and from the window, I heard someone with an Arabic accent shouting, 'Narciss come out, Narciss come out.' I huddled in the shelter, continued thanking Hashem, saying 'Thank you, I’m protected, Hashem, thank you.' Meanwhile, the whole shelter shook from the explosions."

After 48 long hours, Perach opened the window and jumped out because she felt she couldn’t breathe anymore. "I have no idea how I got there. I think a higher force took me and placed me at the window. I don’t know how I got there and jumped out. From there, slowly, barefoot and barely clothed, struggling to stand, I began to move and walk towards the gate. Seeing it was quiet and no one was around, I walked."

"On the way, I saw a large bottle of mineral water, said thanks to Hashem, and drank half the bottle. Then I saw a golf cart with the key in the ignition, and there, too, waited more water. I thanked Hashem for looking out for me every step of the way. Finally, I reached the soldiers at the community gate, continuously worrying about my son."

It turns out Perach's son never left the area and fought alongside the soldiers. "He wanted to reach my shelter but was told it was impossible because 12 terrorists were locked in my house, and for two days, there was warfare between IDF forces and terrorists—right above my head. Apparently, there was some mistake, and the soldiers didn’t realize I was still in the shelter, so they didn’t come to rescue me when it got quiet."