Three years after Hamas militants launched their assault on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, taking 251 others hostage and triggering Israel's
that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, CBS News met two teenagers on both sides of the Gaza border to find out how they are coping.
asserted
they → launch → border
Ron Shargian, 15, said growing up in southern Israel has meant learning to live with fear.
asserted
growing → say → fear
He was 12 when he watched Hamas militants on paragliders soar over a wall meant to protect his community.
asserted
militants → watch → community
"It feels like some kind of nightmare," he told CBS News three years later, calling the experience on that fateful day surreal, "and something I wouldn't believe if anyone told me it's going to happen."
asserted
it → feel → me
The attackers killed 17 of his neighbors in Netiv HaAsara, the Israeli community that was closest to the Gaza border.
asserted
that → kill → border
As the assault unfolded, he and his family locked themselves inside their home's bomb shelter.
"Every time the gunshots get close to you, you think that that's the end, that they're coming to your house now," he recalled.
asserted
he → unfold → house
His family escaped after 11 hours, when security forces came to the rescue, but like thousands of other Israelis displaced by the war, they couldn't go back home, at least not right away.
asserted
they → escape → war
After Oct. 7, Shargian's family lived in a hotel for evacuees, and then in Tel Aviv, and then in another hotel, and then a year and a half in the coastal town of Gan Yavne.
asserted
family → live → Yavne
Finally, a little over a year ago, his family returned to their home.
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family → return → home
"It was really hard to come back," he said.
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he → come → ?
"But I also anticipated it very much.
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I → anticipate → it
I really missed my home, my friends, the community — it's something that you don't have anywhere else."
"War has been not finished"
asserted
War → miss → that
Across the border in Gaza, safe places have been hard for Palestinian children to find since Israel launched its full-scale military assault in retaliation for the Hamas attack.
asserted
Israel → find → attack
"Lots of things has been destroyed for me," Kazem Doghmash told CBS News.
asserted
Doghmash → destroy → News
He was 11 when the war started.
asserted
war → start → ?
Israel pummeled Gaza for years with daily airstrikes in a grueling war that, despite a cease-fire in place since last October ending major combat,
.
asserted
Israel → pummel → combat
Palestinian officials in Gaza say more than 1,400 people have been killed in Gaza since the cease-fire officially came into effect.
asserted
fire → say → effect
"They say a lot of times that the war will finish, but the war has been not finished, the war has been more difficult," said Doghmash, who is now 14.
asserted
who → say → times
"Before the war, I am just being a kid," he said, remembering it as "a good life."
"Used to this reality"
In Israel, Shargian said he struggles with how to think about people on the other side of the Gaza border after everything that happened.
asserted
that → say → everything
"I don't know if there are good people there," he said.
asserted
he → know → ?
"Up until October 7th, I thought that we could make peace.
uncertain
we → think → peace
But from that day, something inside me broke."
asserted
something → break → me
He is trying to move forward and lead a normal teenage life — learning the guitar, hanging out with friends at the beach, and he told CBS News the wider conflict now engulfing the Middle East can, at times, even feel distant.
asserted
conflict → try → times
"I don't think we feel the war so much, like, it's in other countries," he said.
asserted
he → think → countries
When the sound of a rocket or an air raid siren jolts him back to reality, he said like most Israelis, he takes it in his stride.
asserted
he → jolt → stride
"Because we're so used to this reality," he said.
asserted
he → say → reality
"So, we just don't make a big deal out of it."
But even though it has happened throughout his life, he said he still feels it inside, every time he and his family or friends hear an alarm and have to rush for shelter.
asserted
he → make → shelter
"Your muscles get tight and you have an adrenaline rush," he said.
asserted
he → get → rush
"It's something we just got used to."
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we → get → ?
"My life has been destroyed"
asserted
life → destroy → ?
Moving forward has been hard for Doghmash, too.
asserted
Moving → move → Doghmash
He still can't think about returning to normal teenage pursuits.
asserted
He → think → pursuits
"My life has been destroyed," he said.
asserted
he → destroy → ?
"My school has been destroyed, a lot of things have been destroyed for me."
asserted
lot → destroy → me
"We are focusing [on] how we're going to live," he said.
asserted
he → focus → ?
But he hasn't given up on his dreams.
asserted
he → give → dreams
He told CBS News he hopes to become a doctor, and he has resumed studying at the British International School in Gaza — in its new location, as the original building was
— where his favorite subject is English.
asserted
subject → tell → location
As he led CBS News through the rubble of what used to be his family's home, he longed for anything resembling a return to his life before the war.
asserted
he → lead → war
"We need to live in a good life, not to just, thinking how we're gonna get food and the water," he said.
asserted
he → need → food
"We're gonna need to go to school, to go, to be happy and smile."
asserted
We → go → school
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
