YOUNGSTOWN — When he heard gunshots early Oct. 7, Eitan Frankl initially figured it was likely an incident at the Israeli border, and that the series of fences and high level of security would stave off any further trouble.

Nevertheless, while watching the local news and running to a safe room as sirens blared, he realized something far worse was afoot: Terrorists had breached a secure area and made their way to the Kibbutz.

“I can’t express the helplessness. I never, ever felt like I can’t do anything to save my own life,” an emotional Frankl, 26, said.

Frankl was among the four Israeli survivors of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel who shared their harrowing stories and recollections of that day during a special program Monday evening at the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown, 505 Gypsy Lane, which is on the Youngstown-Liberty border.

The other three were Gitit Botera, Inor Roni Kagno and Klil Valiano. Earlier Monday, the four also spoke to Crestview High School students in Columbiana and at Youngstown State University.

During Monday’s program, “Surviving Terror: Agonizing Stories of Oct. 7,” Frankl described extreme stress, fatigue and anxiety after a sleepless night, followed by six hours of rest. Eventually, Frankl and his wife were rescued from the safe room in which they hid and taken to the Kibbutz community hall for an additional 20 hours with several hundred others.

The next day, the group boarded a bus and was evacuated to Eilat, but en route, the evacuees witnessed horrific images from the Nova Music Festival held the night before the attack. An estimated 3,500 mostly young Israelis had attended the outdoor event that was three or four miles from the Gaza Strip.

While gathering with others during the attack, Frankl heard pleas from a parent with a 10-day-old child as well as others whose homes were on fire. At one point, he also wrote what he thought may be his final message to friends.

“I was in danger the whole time, and this feeling doesn’t leave you for a very long time,” Frankl said.

Botera, 42, remembered having heard a siren early Oct. 7, and initially downplayed it, but a short time later, “We hear a lot of shooting” nearby, she told an audience of more than 100 attendees, along with about 50 others who watched the program virtually.

Soon, however, Botera, who lives in Sderot, Israel, took herself and her 4-year-old daughter to a nearby safe room, where the two spent about nine hours while armed terrorists fired numerous shots outside.

“My daughter asks, ‘Mommy, what’s happening?’ and I say to her, ‘Don’t speak,'” Botera, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, said.

A home in which Botera, her daughter and husband were staying in Shumer Hamot, Israel, took a direct hit, yet the family was miraculously saved, she added. She also has lived for five months in a hotel as an evacuee.

“It’s been a hard day (while speaking Monday) remembering friends who got murdered and kidnapped just for being Jewish,” a tearful Valiano, 23, said.

Valiano, who manages a boutique, told his audience Monday that he was at the Nova Fest with his girlfriend and her sister when the unmistakable sound of rockets began, at which point they waited for further instructions near an emergency exit. He came to the event early to hear a local disc jockey perform and dance, Valiano said.

“We were in a camping area and heard the first boom not from the sound system, but from the sky. My first thought was that it was a plane,” he added.

After concluding they had no other safety options, Valiano drove home, but encountered a traffic jam near the complex. Nevertheless, he and the others were able to head in a different direction, but encountered gridlock a second time off the main road, the result of a police roadblock and possible terrorist ambush.

Soon after, Valiano became stuck on the road before abandoning his car and hiding next to it, where gunfire rang out on the other side of a hill to where about 200 people – many of them barefoot – fled before returning away from the gunshots. When it was safe enough, he and the others reached a large van next to a field, where they and 16 others were transported to a nearby police station.

“It took 40 minutes to get to the police station, where we were for 11 hours,” Valiano said, adding that on two occasions, he saw terrorists being brought in to be interrogated.

Afterward, Valiano and others reached a bus headed for Tel Aviv before he was reunited with family.

Kagno, a photographer who focuses on what he sees as spiritual and celebratory aspects of his work, remembered lying on top of his fellow photographer to protect her as bombs flew overhead. He hid in a shelter with 50 or 60 others, but suffered what he called “a mental war,” because the terrorists also were live-streaming their atrocities and posting the videos on social media platforms.

At one point, Kagno was privy to a call a friend received from a terrorist who threatened to rape the friend’s daughter, he recalled.

The horrific images depicted people being beaten and kidnapped, said Kagno, who tried to help other victims.

Monday’s appearance was the first stop on Valiano, Frankl, Kagno and Botera’s tour of several Jewish communities in Ohio, Bonnie Deutsch Burdman, the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation’s executive director of community relations and government affairs, said.

“It’s been a very emotional day. They were not able to get through their whole story without tears,” she added.

The four Israelis’ local appearance also was to ensure people don’t forget the “horrific and barbaric” atrocities that began Oct. 7 and continue today, as well as the critical importance of wiping out hatred and anti-Semitism, Deutsch Burdman said.

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