A 25-year-old Israeli woman helped save her entire kibbutz by arming a neighborhood watch group to fight off Hamas militants, her neighbors and dad say
The woman said on Instagram that she is still "digesting everything" that happened, but plans on "telling the real story" one day.
Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images
- A young Israeli woman helped save her kibbutz by arming citizens to fight Hamas militants, reports said.
- Inbal Liberman, 25, a security coordinator in Nir Am, armed a neighborhood watch group amid Hamas' attacks.
- Those efforts resulted in the killing of two Hamas fighters and the wounding of another, Haaretz reported.
A young Israeli woman has been credited with helping to save her entire kibbutz from the wrath of advancing Hamas militants by arming a neighborhood watch group to fight off some of the assailants, residents and her dad said.
According to local reports, Inbal Liberman, 25, a security coordinator in the southern Israel kibbutz of Nir Am near the Gaza border, quickly sprang into action when she heard sirens go off early Saturday as the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched deadly, surprise attacks on the Jewish state.
As the sirens echoed, Liberman also heard strange, unusual noises, prompting her to take the lead on arming a small team of residents with weapons.
"The electricity cut out because of the bombs [from Gaza], and she was instructed not to restore the power so that no one could open the gates [to the kibbutz]," Liberman's father, Ofer Liberman, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz of his daughter.
The father added, "The neighborhood watch group was already assembled and she made the decision to give them weapons and station them."
Liberman and 11 other residents of the neighborhood watch group then stood guard and waited before they were wrapped up in an hours-long battle that resulted in the killing of two Hamas fighters and the wounding of another, according to Haaretz.
Most residents of the kibbutz overheard the fighting unfolding from their shelters and safe rooms.
"It was a long battle," Ofer Liberman said, noting that at one point he made his daughter an omelet sandwich during the ordeal, Haaretz said.
The battle subsided when soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces ultimately ambushed the Hamas militants, according to the news outlet.
Saar Paz, a Nir Am resident part of the neighborhood watch group, called Inbal Liberman's quick-thinking to "distribute weapons and station us across the village, although the official directives were simply to stand by" a "game-changer," Israel Today reported.
Inbal Liberman spoke out in an Instagram post in the aftermath, saying that she is "not a hero," Haaretz reported.
"I'm still digesting everything that I'm going through, which is why I'm not telling the real story yet. I promise you will hear from me," Inbal Liberman wrote. "There are so many people on the ground, still fighting for their lives, and there are still many who fought beside me and around me."
The assault by Hamas has already left more than 1,000 dead in Israel, with many more injured, Israeli officials have said.
As a result of the attacks, Israel declared war on Hamas, launching retaliatory strikes in Gaza, killing more than 1,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.