PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — “I don't think I have ever really known the true meaning of what it is to feel terror,” said Dakota Stott, of Wayne, Pennsylvania, whose trip to visit family and friends in southern Israel this weekend quickly turned into a war zone.
Stott was studying in Jerusalem through a Christian program with Eastern University. She went to visit her mom’s best friend in a town called Gedera over the weekend, about a half-hour from Ashkelon, which was among the first cities burned by terrorists from Gaza. Instead of spending time at the beach, they huddled together in a bomb shelter.
She says residents there are used to rockets being launched at them from Gaza, but it soon became clear from their bomb shelter that this was not a routine rocket attack.
“For the kids to be talking in the beginning of all of this like, ‘It's OK, missiles happen. They'll stop eventually.’ I was like, OK, I believe you, I trust you,’ and then kind of the switch in the fear within the family of, like, this is war. This isn't normal,” Stott said.
Schools shut down and Stott became stranded.
“It's a family home, there is no transportation options, and the ones that are options, the U.S. Embassy is advising not to do because public transportation is a target,” Scott explained.
She says the Iron Dome, an Israeli air defense system, has been firing back.
“We've been dealing with a lot of sonic booms, and there's kind of constant noise happening.”
Through her program with Eastern University, she had the opportunity to meet with Palestinians and hear their concerns.
“But this week, the tables have really turned,” she said. “Hamas has really intentionally targeted civilians.”
While many Palestinians have felt oppressed by the decisions of Israeli leaders, she says her experience living under fire with an Israeli family has been eye-opening.
“A perspective I hadn't seen prior to being here is that [oppression is not] Israelis’ goal. And even the 12-year-old daughter here has told me that she's like, ‘I just don't understand why we can't all just get along.’”
Stott was rescued by an armored vehicle and escorted back to Jerusalem. She was warned any civilian vehicle would be considered a target by terrorists.
“I'm only 20 years old, I was born after 9/11," she said. "So I really have never experienced anything like this."