A year on Ayala Benjamin’s family remember the deadly October 7 Hamas attack

A year after Hamas militants launched a deadly attack on Israel, families in Adelaide remain worried for relatives in Israel.

For Ayala Benjamin’s family in Israel, Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year – started with a rocket attack on the country.

“You’re supposed to bring in the year with honey and joy and happiness,” she said.

“The first thing they did was run to the bomb shelter. That’s how it started for them.”

It was the latest attack in the escalating conflict in the Middle East, coming just a day after Iran launched around 180 missiles into Israel. The strike also came just days before the grim anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7, when around 1200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.

Ayala Benjamin and Oz Wittles at their home in Aberfoyle Park. Picture: Ben Clark

Ms Benjamin, who made the difficult decision to leave Israel with her husband and two children 11 years ago, says she is constantly worried for her family. Since moving to Australia, the Aberfoyle Park residents have made a life for themselves in their new country.

But being away from Israel and family has only become tougher since last October 7.

“A part of you wants to go back and be there now. To support and be with the people you love. And the other half is like, thank god I’m here because it’s safe,” Ms Benjamin said.

“It’s always kind of a struggle you have within yourself.”

Ms Benjamin remembers the moment she learned about the deadly Hamas attack.

“It was devastating. I can’t even describe it in words. And we weren’t even there. We were here, far away and safe.”

At the time, Ms Benjamin’s mother was visiting and the family were urging her to remain in Adelaide. But her mother was determined to return to Israel and “be with everybody”.

At first, Ms Benjamin and her husband considered travelling back, too. But something would always stop them.

“Something big happens, everybody cancels flights,” she said, adding that the children also feared them flying to Israel.

The days and weeks that came after continued to be a struggle.

“Personally, I feel a lot of guilt,” Ms Benjamin said.

“It took me a very long time to not feel guilty about going on with my day and having a life. “I had many days of breaking down, crying, not believing I’m going on with my life while this is going on.”

Ms Benjamin, who made the difficult decision to leave Israel with her husband and two children 11 years ago, says she is constantly worried for her family Picture: Ben Clark

Healthcare worker Rita, 32, who did not want to use her last name for safety reasons, shares the same fears for her family.

Rita grew up in Israel before moving to Australia five years ago.

She is in regular contact with her family and friends who remain in the country - and said recent weeks have been particularly hard.

“My family has spent most of their time in bomb shelters,” she said.

“Last night was really hard. I’m just constantly waking up in the morning, seeing a lot of the updates from my family and friends, everyone checking on each other.

“There’s no schools, there’s a lot of displaced people, there’s whole cities that do not exist anymore and it’s just very heartbreaking to see and hear all that.”

Rita, who has not returned to Israel for the past two years, said she had several connections to people impacted by the October 7 2023 terrorist atrocity.

“It’s a small country, everybody knows everybody,” she said.

“On October 7 my social media was just filled with stories and posts of friends.

“I was watching my friends going from funeral to funeral, advertising missing persons from the Nova festival or from one of the kibbutz where people were murdered or kidnapped. It’s just bad news after bad news.”

For Ms Benjamin and her family in Israel, a year on, the pain is still there.

“Every day they live what happened that day,” she said.