A British-Israeli father is hoping for life to “go back to normal” in 2024 after his family had to flee their home when Hamas militants stormed their kibbutz.
Landscape gardener Simon King, 59, originally from Worcestershire, his wife Zehavit and two sons aged 13 and 14 were trapped in their safe room for 36 hours after the October 7 attack without adequate food and water.
Freed by the Israeli military, they were evacuated to a hotel on the Dead Sea, where they have remained since.
Mr King, who moved to Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel in 1984, said: “We’ve all gone through a massacre.
“It’s not just terrorists going into the kibbutz and shooting you – they had knives and they raped and they cut bodies up. We’ve gone through a very traumatic time.”
He revealed he had been travelling three hours a day from the hotel to help clear up the “bad scenery” at the kibbutz, including vehicles where people were shot and killed, burnt-out cars and trees razed by tanks.
Mr King, who was reunited with his brother Ben, and Ben’s wife and two children at the hotel, said he was looking forward to a return to normal before too long after a “frustrating” few months stuck in the hotel.
He added: “My end hope is that I’ll be able to move back to my house and continue a normal life.
“I hope my children can go back to school and go back to their normal routines of playing football and basketball.”
More than 20,000 Palestinians have died and 53,000 been wounded in the conflict.
Israel lost 1,200 in the atrocity, with about 240 hostages taken.
