Tali Hadad
Ofakim
“At 6:30 am we woke up to sirens and rushed to our safe room. A few minutes later we heard massive gunshots all around us. My son Itamar who serves in the IDF said that it seemed we were under attack. Itamar grabbed his weapon and ran to the door to see where the gunshots were coming from. Before he left, I told him: ‘Go out and save as many people as possible!’.
I had no clue where I was sending him.
I put my sneakers on and started running after him until I saw him get into a car with two other armed police officers. After the car drove off, I was standing in the street with my daughter who joined me when suddenly we saw in a nearby playground heavily armed terrorists who were shooting all over the place. We took cover and hid behind a wall to avoid the gunshots. I told my daughter, Meitav to run back home as fast as she could and I decided to stay put to see if I could find Itamar and help him.
I saw the terrorists heading into a different block and then heard massive gunshots. I realized that this is the main battleground in the city and probably Itamar is fighting the terrorists over there. I told myself that I wasn’t going back home without my son. People were screaming at me that I was crazy and that I should go back home but I stayed put.
I saw many people injured and killed on that block but no ambulances were coming. There was no medical aid.
With these gunshot injuries, time is a factor, so every second counts. It was clear to me that if the ambulances were not coming, I would have to do it myself and transport the wounded to receive medical aid. I ran back home under fire to retrieve my car and came back to evacuate the wounded.
To my astonishment, the first wounded brought to me was my son Itamar. He’d been shot four times by the terrorists and was losing a lot of blood. I got him and other injured pepole into the car and drove frantically to the first aid station which is located at the entrance of our town. While I was driving I looked in the rearview mirror to see how Itamar was doing and I saw that he was starting to lose consciousness so I started screaming at him: ‘You are a hero! Wake up! We are almost there!’ so he won’t faint.
When we arrived at the first aid station, I made sure Itamar would be evacuated in an ambulance to a hospital and then rushed back to pick up another group of wounded. I was driving at 75 miles per hour like crazy under fire with one mission: To save as many lives as I can. That day I made three trips back and forth, bringing a total of 12 people for medical care. Only When additional security and medical forces came to the rescue I felt it was okay to rush to the hospital to see my son who was critically injured. When I arrived at the hospital I saw Itamar coming out of surgery.
His liver was cut in two, his gallbladder was torn, and he had a bullet in his leg but, thank God, he survived and he is recuperating.
As a mother of six, I’ve consistently assured my children that I’ll always stand by them, ready to rescue them from any corner of the globe if necessary. Little did I anticipate that I’d find myself in a position to fulfill that promise, and rescue one of them from a battleground so close to our house.”