Thousands of Israelis living near the border of Gaza have been evacuated by the Israeli government to areas across the country following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas.

They include two former New Yorkers who became Israeli citizens. They both survived the brutal attacks and have very similar stories to tell.

"The hardest thing I can think about are those children who watched their parents be brutally murdered,"  said Mechi Fendel. "Or the parents that were tied up and burned while their children were taken hostage."

Fendel and thousands of neighbors from her southern Israeli city, Sderot — located less than a mile from the Gaza Strip — are now living at a school in central Israel after being attacked by Hamas militants nearly two weeks ago.

"This school is allowing us to stay in their dorms and use their dining room and they're actually giving us food," Fendel said.

Originally from Staten Island, Fendel, who has seven children and 24 grandchildren, has been living in Israel for nearly 40 years.

Similar to Fendel, Adel Raemer, originally from the Bronx, moved to Israel at a young age.

"I came to live in Israel in the midst of the Yom Kippur War in 1973," Raemer said.

The two women became friends years ago as medical clowns.

"Go into the hospital to cheer up people who are sick," Raemer said. "So we met each other through our medical clowning."

Like Fendel, Raemer, her children and her grandchildren narrowly escaped Hamas terrorists in her city of Nirim — also close to Gaza — before being evacuated to the city of Eilat about three hours away.

Both women say they first came under rocket fire, which they believe was a distraction.

"The [missiles] and the sirens that were being heard all over Israel, just about the same time, were a cover-up," Fendel said.

Still, neither former New Yorker regrets moving to Israel.

"As a nation, we must be strong and we must remember what we're fighting for," Fendel said.

"We have no place else to go," Raemer added. "There are 23 Islamic countries in the world. Twenty-three. There's one little Jewish country."

Neither woman believes Hamas' attack is just about antisemitism.

"This isn't about Jews. This isn't about Judaism," Raemer said. "Hamas are at war with the western world."

"[The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] just took a new name called Hamas," Fendel said.

In addition to those who were killed, both women say people from each of their communities and surrounding areas went missing after the attacks.

It is not clear if any or how many had been taken hostage by Hamas militants.