BRIGHTON, N.Y. — Monday marks one year since the Hamas terror attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel. Hundreds more were taken hostage, prompting a war in Gaza.

Flags at 12 Corners in Brighton are lowered Monday in honor of October 7. Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean has been collecting stories about that day.

We have a story about a local family who was in Israel on that day. They have video of missiles being shot down. And we have a story about a local doctor who went to Gaza in the spring to care for hundreds of children.

Marc Cohen was on a two-week vacation to Israel with his pregnant wife and family. His video shows the missiles intercepted by the Israeli defense system called Iron Dome.

Dr. Ismail Mehr is an anesthesiologist and football coach in Hornell. In May, he took a team of doctors and supplies to Gaza. His video is from a town called Yan Kunis.

WATCH: EXTENDED INTERVIEW: Local doctor went to Gaza in the spring to care for hundreds

Berkeley asked both of them what they think about on October 7 and what’s happened since.

“I think about praying that my family will be safe and the State of Israel will be safe,” Cohen said.

“When you think about October 7 and everything that’s happened after that, what do you think about?” Berkeley asked Dr. Mehr.

“I think the rest of the world and especially us as Americans look at it as a singular moment, that one day,” Dr. Mehr responded. “What we forget is the 76, 77 years prior to that.”

News10NBC first spoke with Cohen the day after the attack. He was talking from his hotel room in Tel Aviv when a noise caused him to stop talking.

WATCH: EXTENDED INTERVIEW: Rochester man remembers being in Israel during October 7 attack

One year ago, Marc Cohen was scrambling to get his family out of Israel. For the next three days, News10NBC documented their escape and safe return home to Rochester. The first time we spoke with Cohen the day after the attack, he was talking from his hotel room in Tel Aviv when a noise caused him to stop talking. Berkeley spoke with Cohen this week to see what’s changed in 365 days.

Berkeley: “When you think about where you were one year ago, what do you think about?”

Cohen: “I think about praying that my family will be safe and the State of Israel will be safe.”

It was supposed to be a two week family vacation in Israel. Cohen posted videos of dancing and photos of his pregnant wife Emily walking through peaceful neighborhoods. On October 7, they went to the sea shore near Tel Aviv and things started to change minute by minute.

At 10:33, the warning sirens went off. It was smoke from a rocket crashing in the Mediterranean.

“We could feel the explosion…. And it was at that point that I realized this was different,” Cohen said.

As Cohen and his family raced back to their car to get to their hotel, he took video of other rockets getting intercepted by the Israeli defense system called Iron Dome. For the next few days, they holed up in their hotel room and stairwell which doubled as a bomb shelter.

Berkeley: “At one point while we were talking, a helicopter hovered over your hotel.”

“I’m sorry there’s helicopters flying over head right now, right next to our hotel,” Cohen said from the hotel on October 8, 2023.

Berkeley: “To me, what I see when I look at you from that interview is that every sound and vibration was intense.”

Cohen: “Every single one.”

The Cohens made it through security check points and long lines at the airport and onto Dubai and then home through Chicago and Buffalo. He is now the father of a healthy, 9-month-old baby boy. But little has changed in the Middle East.

With Cohen was Meredith Dragon, head of the Rochester Jewish Community Federation. She showed Berkeley a screen shot of the red alert system in Israel after the missile attack from Iran last week.

“As you can see on here, every area of populated places in Israel were in shelters,” Dragon said.

Depending on where people live, the warning gives as little as five seconds to as many as 90 seconds to find a shelter. When you talk to Cohen now, you get the sense that he’s conflicted.

“I’m a father now. I have a nine month old who, thank God, is healthy and happy and active,” Cohen said. “And I can put him to sleep every night knowing you’re safe. You’re okay. And how many people in my exact position, but in Israel, can’t put their baby boy or baby girl down with that same guarantee.”

Meredith Dragon said something interesting. She said she feels safer in Israel than anywhere else in the world right now because of the security system over there and the anti-semitism here.

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