Coloradan speaks about living through violence in Israel from just a few hundred yards away

Roxana Goldman Dann was visiting family just a few hundred yards away from the Gaza border wall that was blown up when the fighting in Israel began.

The sudden attack was a chilling surprise to the Israeli government, military and the people who live there, as well as Dann, who said, "we are used to hearing the loud booms of either rockets going over or the Air Force bombing the other side, but this time, the attack was totally different."

Born in Denver and living in Israel, she was visiting with family. She's not the only Coloradan who was in Israel when the fighting broke out.

"We were hearing gunfire right next door, and then, at some point, my son and daughter-in-law's WhatsApp groups were saying there was an incursion into a neighbor's house," she told CBS News Colorado.

RELATED: What we know about the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel's response in Gaza

As the fighting intensified, her family huddled for 20 hours in a safe room. The danger was close by, she said. 

"I have seen news updates in Hebrew that several families from the area have been killed, and hostages were taken by Hamas and brought into Gaza," said Dann.

Hostages were taken by Hamas and brought into Gaza. 

"There was a woman from another community who was taken with her two children, and the children were left at the fence," Dann said. "That was her. She was a student of mine."

RELATED: Colorado officials react to violence in Israel and Gaza

Prayers are being said for those hostages and all the people of Israel at a community vigil in Denver. 

"All of us know people who are living in Israel," Cantor Elizabeth Sacks of Temple Emanuel said at a vigil. "Many of us know people who have been wounded, taken captive, or killed."

The prayers have been for peace in a land where it has been elusive.

Dann is one of many raised in Colorado now living in Israel. The prayer service tonight will be for them and so many others.

"There is no sense of security left, you know," she said.