“We're fighting for our lives here. We're dealing with a vicious enemy.”
That’s what Michael Zenou told CP24 in an interview on Friday from the frontlines of the Israel-Hamas war near the Gaza border.
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The Toronto-born Israeli reservist was in Israel on Saturday when Hamas launched a surprise attack that left more than 1,300 people, mostly civilians, dead and saw 150 people brought to Gaza as hostages.
“[It was a] standard morning. Getting ready for the gym. And then out of nowhere, we got an [air raid] siren at 6:30 a.m. The wife [and my daughter] went to the shelter and then we got news of the, you know, the infiltration,” Zenou said.
Within an hour, Zenou said, he got a call from the Israeli military, which informed him of a call up of roughly 200,000 soldiers. He said he was told he needed to collect his things and head to an army base.
Now, Zenou is on the frontlines of the north side of the Gaza border, where he said the sound of air raid sirens is heard 20 to 30 times a day and notices of Hamas infiltration by way of tunnels are keeping soldiers on high alert.
“It's chaos…I was myself in a gunfight on Wednesday between a unit of eight Hamas terrorists who were all killed,” Zenou said.
Born and raised in Toronto, Zenou is the son of an Israeli ex-pat and previously served in the Israeli military for two years when he was 24.
Since 2015, he has travelled between Toronto, the United Kingdom and Israel working in real estate.
Zenou had just returned from a holiday in Toronto with his wife, who is from Israel, and their daughter who was also born there.
Now 32, Zenou said he had trained for “these days,” referring to the current situation between Israel and Hamas, but was shocked by how quickly the war began.
“Nothing's happened like this, on this scale, since 2006. And it happened in seconds. You're out here. You know, I haven't seen my baby, my wife in over a week,” he said.
“We don't know when we're going to go to our parents, when I’m going to see my child, my wife.”
On Friday, Israel's military told some 1 million people to leave northern Gaza and head south ahead of an expected ground invasion.
As evacuations took place, Israeli warplanes struck cars fleeing south, killing more than 70 people, according to Hamas' media office. For its part, Israel's military said its troops had conducted temporary raids in Gaza to battle militants as soldiers searched for hostages.
The United Nations called Israel’s evacuation order “impossible” Friday and said the scale of the directive would have “devastating humanitarian consequences.”
Zenou admitted he’s not sure how long he’ll be on the frontlines but said he is anticipating an “extended period” of combat.
“We have no choice. We're under attack. If somebody was attacking Canada, slaughtering your people, you know, as a country, we would stand up,” he said.
“We need to do what we have to do now to restore a long standing calm in the region. And safety for Israel. In addition for the Palestinian people who are suffering at the hands of this terror organization Hamas.”
As of Friday, roughly 1,800 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry for the territory.
