“Putting your six-month-old in a bunker is not pleasant.”

After 11 days of bombings in the Gaza Strip and rocket fire on Israeli soil, Israel and the Palestinian militias agreed to a “reciprocal, simultaneous and unconditional” ceasefire. This is the environment that Enric Saborit Y Luis Hernandez, Spanish soccer players from Maccabi Tel Aviv, will meet on their return to Israel more than a week after fleeing to Spain in search of safety. “We were at home and all of a sudden they surprised us by saying that they were going to start firing rockets on Tel Aviv. And they did, The alarms went off and we had to get into the bunker“, recalls Saborit about one of the moments in which more fear has happened.

After more than three years in Tel Aviv, Enric Saborit got to know the iron dome, a mobile air defense system developed by Israel for the protection of the civilian population. “It intercepts 90% of the rockets, but if they launch 3,000 some of them fall … I had never heard the noise they make when they explode in the sky. My son is six months old and he doesn't know anything, but having to wake him up at three in the morning to put him in a bunker is not pleasant“, details the ex of Athletic, who, like all his foreign colleagues, rejected a transfer to the north with the aim of returning to Spain:” We had to get out of there as soon as possible because it was scary. We do not come to fear for our integrity, but neither can you be calm at any time. You hear a motorcycle and you're already scared. You are all the time with the antenna on. “

After spending three days without sleep and witnessing a conflict that has killed more than 200 people, both Enric Saborit and Luis Hernández were able to return to Spain on a regular flight. “The idea was to disconnect, but you can't”, reveals Enric, “you're looking at the phone all the time and following all the news that comes from there.” “I have been in Israel for three years and I have Israeli friends who do not want any conflict and are suffering. I believe that, when there are innocent victims, none can be right. If people suffer who do not have to suffer, they are both making a mistake, “adds the Maccabi Tel Aviv side, surprised by the confidence of the Israeli population in their defense system:” When the alarm sounds they go into the bunker, but then they go out and continue leading a normal life. These days there were people on the beach“.

Although without the company of their families, Enric Saborit and Luis Hernández will return to Israel this week to face the final stretch of a season in which their Maccabi Tel Aviv still fighting for two titles. With only one foreigner in the squad – Panamanian Eduardo Guerrero – the yellow team defeated Maccabi Haifa last Thursday and qualified for the Cup final, where they will face Hapoel Tel Aviv on June 2. Before, Saborit and Hernández will seek to revalidate the league title, which would be a real feat since José Rodríguez's Maccabi Haifa leads them by four points when there are only nine left in dispute.