On 7 October, the Almog-Goldsteins had barricaded themselves in Yam’s bedroom, which served as the safe room of their home in the Kfar Aza kibbutz. Five hours later, five Hamas gunmen burst in and shot Nadav, 48, in the chest at point-blank range.
The family had to step over the talented triathlete’s body as the militants led them outside, where Yam fainted. Almog-Goldstein tried to wet her daughter’s face in the bathroom before going to check on her other children. When she returned a few seconds later, she saw that Yam, a soldier just two months from the end of her service, had been shot in the face.
“I remember there was a hole in her cheek and she was gasping her last breaths. There was an exit hole on the other side and her head was bleeding profusely,” Almog-Goldstein said through tears.
“With time this image becomes more and more blurred but every night, throughout this whole time, just before night-time, I try to force myself to remember that image, that scene. It was such a difficult thing that I was witnessing, that it’s a process of self-torture in a way for me not to ever forget that.”
For context