EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. — The Israeli government formally declared war against Hamas after a surprise attack.
The race is on for Americans trapped in the conflict to get out. An El Dorado County native is among those in Israel with his family trying to escape the violence.
“I woke up to some sirens, but I thought it was an ambulance,” said Brad Waldow, a Shingle Springs native. “But then I kept listening and it did not sound like an ambulance at all. And then I started hearing the iron domes start shooting rockets down. That is when I grabbed my family, and we ran.”
Waldow, his wife and young child woke up to a barrage of rocket strikes heading towards Ashkelon, Israel, less than 10 miles away from the Israel/Gaza Strip border.
“We were kind of expecting something like this to happen, but we were told by some of our teammates that usually happens around the springtime and it's usually just a few missiles,” said Waldow, who was shocked by the hundreds of rockets launched.
But now the family is in the middle of an ongoing military and political conflict and spends most occasions inside a bomb shelter.
“One time, it was only half a second, but usually, we have a good four or five seconds to try to get somewhere safe,” said Waldow, referencing the amount of time between warning sirens and a rocket possibly making an impact.
“You hear these explosions, and you are thankful at first that is not me,” said Waldow. “Then you sit there and think... somebody just lost their life tonight over senseless acts of violence. You feel almost guilty that you brought them (his family) here and put them in a situation."
The family moved to southern Israel so Waldow could play for the Eito Ashkelon, an Israeli professional basketball team.
Waldow graduated from Ponderosa High School in Shingle Springs, near Placerville. The star basketball player started at St. Mary's College in the Bay Area before turning pro.
“It is difficult as husband and a father; you want to keep your family safe,” said Waldow. "But as of now, we are just hiding.”
Waldow said the family tried to leave the area, but the highway away from the conflict is filled with shootouts between the Israeli military and Hamas fighters.
This is not the first bombing the El Dorado County native has found himself in. In 2016, he was a few hundred feet away during the Brussels Bombing attack in Belgium.
“I had a lot of PTSD, from that incident. It took several years to slowly get over it,” said Waldow. "But now you hear an explosion from a couple of miles away, you instantly think, I need to run.”
The family is physically safe but emotionally traumatized. They hope to get out of the region before things escalate. The family prays for peace as more rockets light up the sky.
“Any loss of life is just absolutely heartbreaking. It is absolutely terrible,” said Waldow. “It is just senseless and pointless. Nobody wins; everybody is a loser at the end of the day here.”
Waldow’s wife is from Poland. He said the family is speaking with the American and Polish consulates, but they are in the dark. They are hoping for more information and direction on how to escape the war.
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