Avraham Chana
Ofakim
(Avraham, is the brother of Israel Chana. A civilian who saved a whole neighborhood in Ofakim on October 7th)
“On the early morning of the 7th of October, my brother, Israel, celebrated his thirties birthday with his girlfriend Shahaf and our sister Aviva. I never thought that this would be his farewell party from us.
Around six O’clock in the morning, my brother came back home from the party to Ofakim, He and Shahaf took out his beloved dog Marley for a walk in the park and it didn’t take long until they started to see explosions and interceptions of rockets in the sky. They realized they had to run for shelter so they came back home but then Israel heard gunshots in our neighborhood and he realized that this was not just another round of rockets. This was something different.
Israel worked as a private security guard for a bank so he took his pistol and one magazine with only 15 bullets and ran to save as many lives as he could. Our mother, Yeshi, and Shahaf his girlfriend begged him to stay put but he was determined and didn’t think twice. Our Mother ran after him and tried to get him back but because of the gunshots and total mayhem pepole stopped her and she didn’t manage to bring him back home with her.
I’m trying to imagine what went through my brother’s mind during those critical seconds when he decided to run trying to save our neighborhood from a massacre. He wasn’t a soldier or a police officer. He was just a citizen who could have stayed home and protected his family but he decided to go out and save as many people as he could. That’s incredible.
On that morning there was a ‘Brit Milah’ (the ceremony of circumcision in Judaism) at the Synagogue in our neighborhood and there were around 60 people or more at the ceremony. My brother realized that the next stop for the terrorists might be the synagogue so he started shooting at them trying to get their focus on him so they wouldn’t infiltrate the synagogue or the surrounding houses.
At that moment he was fighting all alone with that cell of terrorists. He managed to get their attention and hold them back as much as he could until additional security forces arrived and by doing so he saved the lives of the pepole in the Synagogue and many others in our neighborhood. Israel managed to take down one terrorist and seriously wounded another until he was shot down and killed.
Israel was about to propose marriage to his girlfriend and start a family.
He was about to create and celebrate life but instead, he died while protecting others.
He didn’t have to but he chose to do so.
He was indeed, a true Hero.”