7 October: "We worked towards one goal"
A year on from the 7 October attacks in Israel, we have heard many accounts of bravery from our Magen David Adom (MDA) colleagues. From staff and volunteers, and from the communities affected.
MDA paramedic, Ofir Peretz, lost his colleague and partner Amit, while responding himself on 7 October. PHOTO: Magen David Adom
At dawn, on 7 October 2023, thousands of lives changed forever. Communities in Israel endured a brutal and horrific attack which killed almost 1,200 people. Over 200 hostages were taken.
From the first moments of the tragedy, 10,000 Magen David Adom (MDA)’s first responders mobilised, saving countless lives by providing lifesaving first aid and transporting casualties to hospital.
Conditions were unimaginable, and showing remarkable bravery, Magen David Adom responders faced great risk to themselves. Here are a few of their stories.
Amit Mann, was killed responding to the atrocities on 7 October. PHOTO: Magen David Adom
"I love you, be strong if something happens"
MDA paramedic Ofir Peretz tragically lost his partner and fellow MDA paramedic Amit Mann, 22, on 7 October.
He says: “On the Friday, I stayed at Amit’s place in Be’eri. In the morning, I drove past the nearby Nova festival. I thought to myself how nice that people are out having fun.
Minutes later, sirens blared. The call centre told me to get on an ambulance and drive to the Netivot entrance, to treat people with gunshot wounds.
I found many people in critical condition, so we opened a treatment site.
Amit called me at 7.30am and told me there was an injured person at the kibbutz and that she went to treat him at the clinic. She called later again, she already had several wounded at the clinic, they also had one dead.
The last time I talked with her was at 2.05pm. “I tried to tell her to keep safe. She told me ‘I’m trying, they’re very close’.
She added, ‘I love you, take care of yourself, and be strong if something happens to me.’”
Moments later, she was shot dead in the clinic. She was a very talented actress, singer and life-saver. Her entire medical journey was amazing to witness and accompany."
Yarin (kneeling) and Gali (standing) are MDA paramedics in West Jerusalem. They saved the life of little Ofek on 7 October. PHOTO: Magen David Adom
"She was such a calm little girl"
Yarin Shetrit is an MDA paramedic based in West Jerusalem. He helped save 6-year-old Ofek, with his colleague, Gali.
“The back door opened and we saw Ofek with a gunshot wound in her leg and a tourniquet. We could see the situation was critical.
Yarin’s team contacted their MDA centre to request a helicopter evacuation, and she was transported to hospital immediately.
Ofek’s parents and grandmother were also injured in the attack which occurred in their home but it took two weeks after October 7 before Yarin heard any news about their condition.
“After two weeks of uncertainty, we contacted the family and realised they were shot in the house. But we were happy to hear that everyone was saved.”
A month later, Yarin and his colleague Gali were reunited with Ofek. They brought her a unicorn doll on which was written ‘To Ofek the heroine, with great love, Gali and Yarin from MDA’.
Gali says: “What stuck with me Ofek was her calmness as she was evacuated. Calmness in such a badly injured little girl, is not something trivial. Meeting her again, walking on two legs and smiling is very exciting.”
Haim and his team saved countless lives on 7 October, under extraordinary circumstances. PHOTO: Magen David Adom
"MDA did crazy things to reach us"
Haim Rubin is an MDA paramedic who saved numerous lives on 7 October.
“At the Revivim junction we saw there were several seriously injured people who needed the MDA helicopter. They looked really grey. We stopped their bleeding, and took them to the helicopter.
We found more injured at Tze'elim Junction. We saw people trying to help a farmer who had lost a leg. I told them to help us carry the wounded and I told the farmer to hop to our ambulance. It was surreal.
From there we drove through the fields as all the other routes were under threat. We reached neighbouring Moshav Neve, and set up a triage and treatment area for the lightly, moderately and severely injured. Cars carrying wounded people starting flowing to the area.
Then, we received another report about a severely injured person nearby. He was lying on the bed, mumbling and bleeding, limbs amputated. With no helicopter immediately available, we treated him with plasma, before he was air-lifted.
He was one of the most complex patients I have treated in all my years as a paramedic.
The situation was a never-ending nightmare. We heard about more and more wounded on their way to us, but we had no equipment left. Sometimes I reused stuff and I also received some equipment from a nurse and our helicopter.
There was a feeling that everyone was working together for one goal. The residents of Neve; the citizens, it was an unbelievable feeling.
The MDA helicopter crews changed the picture for me. We went and returned, we brought them the wounded again and again. They were our oxygen. They did crazy things in order to reach us."
Idit couldn't stop thinking about the little boy, hiding in the closet with his sister. PHOTO: MDA
"This boy was a superhero"
Idit Banin, is a call centre operator at MDA's 101 Dispatch Centre in West Jerusalem.
She rushed to work on October 7 after hearing about the ongoing attack. She'll never forget that first call.
“There was a lot of noise and stuttering in the background. It was a 9-year-old boy. I tried to encourage him, so I could understand why he was calling. He replies ‘My mother and father are dead in the living room.”
He was hiding in the closet with his 6-year-old sister. I told him to stay put and tried to calm him down.
I was in two minds about what to do. On the one hand, I wanted to stay with him on the line. We're talking about a very young boy who, in unimaginable circumstances, became a superhero, trying to save his little sister's life along with his own.
However, the calls keep on coming in and I have to hang up and move on to the next call. At around 10am, I call the boy, and again at 12pm. No answer.
Thousands of calls flooded in, but I couldn’t stop thinking about them, hiding in the closet. No matter how much I tried, there was no information. Then on Saturday night, I was told they are alive. I breathed again.
For one moment, I felt a tiny little victory in this day of darkness.
Naram was determined to support injured people, despite the terrifying scenes. PHOTO: Magen David Adom
"It was scary, but we wanted to reach the injured"
Naram Zeid is an Arab-Israeli MDA paramedic from Arad, and responded to the aftermath of the attacks.
She said: “We responded to a call in a place called Mathul. We got there and saw a house had been hit.
“Inside the house we identified a 13-year-old girl and saw a woman of about 60 lying next to each other. Both had sadly died.
"We continued towards Urim Base. We had a report of 50 people who were seriously injured. On the way, we saw many burnt cars.
"It was scary, but we wanted to reach injured people who could be helped.
“I’m very proud of what I did that day. We went and tried to save lives.
Everyone stayed and came here to help save as many lives as possible and I’m very proud of the organisation that I’m in and my job.”
Magen David Adom response since 7 October includes
- Completing almost five million volunteer hours
- Responding to over one million emergency calls
- Delivering training sessions for half a million people
- Collecting and processing over 300,000 units of blood
- Collecting over 3,700 litres of human milk
- Training 450 community emergency response teams.