2 survivors of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel share their stories in Cherry Hill
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (CBS) -- It's been almost six months since Hamas attacked Israel.
Nikita Soumrov and Daniel Dvir showed remarkable strength and bravery as they relived their painful memories of the Oct. 7 attack on Thursday in South Jersey.
They spoke about the moments they hid from the missiles and gunshots and talked about the fear they felt that day.
"I realized we are facing some big and something bigger than I thought it was, so I had to take every safety measure I could to protect my family," Soumrov said.
Soumrov and Dvir shared their stories at the Katz Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill.
The event was co-hosted by the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Southern New Jersey. The project is called the "Faces of October 7th."
"I can't even imagine what they are going through, right? And to be so brave to come to this country to tell their stories of survivorship is a tremendous gift to all of us," Jennifer Dubrow Weiss, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey, said. "We have to hear them and tell the stories so history doesn't continue to repeat itself."
Soumrov took the crowd back to when they were fighting to stay alive. He says he hid in a safe room with his wife and son for hours while their kibbutz was being attacked and residents were being kidnapped and killed.
"I knew that we are probably not going to survive this and it was very hard for us to realize this but we still needed to stay calm for our son," he said
That's when they came up with a plan to hide their son in a bed.
"If someone is going to come in, we will close the bed and he will be inside and he can not make any noise and he has to stay quiet," he said.
Hamas was also inside his parent's house, but his immediate family all survived that day.
For Dvir, she attended the Nova Music Festival that was attacked that day. She says they first tried to escape by car when she heard gunshots and missiles but then got out and started to run.
"I couldn't breathe. I couldn't understand what was going on. I didn't know where they were coming from a so felt so scared and alone," Dvir said.
She hid in multiple places, including a tree.
"I stopped hearing people screaming and I thought they just killed everyone and I am there alone and I thought to myself, 'If they are coming and they see me inside a tree, they will shoot me inside it,'" she said.
Dvir found her way to safety and was rescued, too.
For both, it's a day they will never forget.
