A stash of groceries for two weeks, eyes constantly glued to a missile alert app, and frantic dashes to a bunker several times a day — life has turned into a daily survival drill for a researcher from West Bengal, currently living in Haifa, Israel.
What was supposed to be a long-awaited and promising academic journey abroad has now become a harrowing ordeal, as tensions between Iran and Israel escalate.
The scholar from Murshidabad, in his early thirties, arrived in Israel over a year ago to pursue research. “Life was completely normal until Thursday night,” he told The Indian Express over the phone from Haifa, requesting anonymity. “I was asleep when I suddenly heard a siren. There was no prior information, no warning. At first, I thought it was a malfunction. But by Friday, an emergency was declared, and I knew it was serious.”
Haifa, a coastal city in northern Israel, had been relatively quiet until recently. But now, it too is under threat. “On Saturday around 10 pm, a missile fell in my neighbourhood — about 5 to 10 km from my place. The blast made a massive thundering noise. I was inside the bunker at the time,” he said.
Bunkers, he explained, are a standard feature in Israeli buildings. “In my five-storey building, the bunker is built of iron rods and located underground. These are small rooms meant to shelter residents during attacks. Newer buildings that lack such shelters are the most vulnerable now,” he said.
The past few days, he said, have been dotted with at least two to three sirens a day, especially at night. “On the night between Saturday and Sunday, I was woken up at 3.30 am by a siren on my phone. There’s an app here, downloadable on Google Play, which alerts people when missiles are launched. You get roughly ten minutes to reach the nearest bunker.”
The app, synced with Israel’s missile defense systems, sends location-based alerts, he said. “If the app shows the missile is headed to your locality, one have just ten minutes before impact,” he said.
While supermarkets remain open, many residents, including the scholar, have stocked up on essentials. His family back in Murshidabad — elderly parents, a brother and sister-in-law — are anxious. “They are very tense. I don’t share all the details with them because I don’t want them to panic,” he said.
“I was so excited when I came to Israel. It was my first trip abroad. But now, I just want to return home,” the scholar said, his voice breaking, “The airspace is closed. There’s no way out of Israel. Inside, everyone is scared. It’s so unpredictable. If I manage to return to India, I don’t think I’ll ever come back.”
“I don’t know when a missile might fall on my building. I don’t know if I’ll survive. All I want now is to return safely.”
His 26-minute conversation with The Indian Express was cut short by another siren.
“I have to run. I don’t know how long I’ll have to stay in the bunker. There’s no network inside. Please pray that I can return to India safely,” he said, before hanging up.