The residents of Kibbutz Alumim in the Gaza Envelope also awoke at 6:30 AM that Shabbat to the sound of ‘Code Red’ sirens alerting them of incoming missiles. Gilad Honwald, an MDA ambulance driver and EMT, left his home together with his son to comb the area in search of people in need of treatment.

Gilad Honwald, MDA ambulance driver and EMT (Credit: MDA)
Gilad Honwald, MDA ambulance driver and EMT (Credit: MDA)
They then heard the sound of gunshots from the direction of Nahal Oz. Very soon, the picture became clear: this wasn’t just a missile attack; terrorists had infiltrated the kibbutz. Gilad didn’t hesitate: he and other members of the emergency response team went to battle the terrorists for over four hours to defend their kibbutz. The wounded were all brought to one location where the kibbutz nurse could look after them, but at a certain point, she updated Gilad that their condition was deteriorating. They would need to be evacuated to a hospital if they were to have any chance of surviving. He immediately began evacuating the wounded under fire, one after the other, with his fellow emergency response team members covering for him. Gilad evacuated ten casualties in total.

From his point of view, his actions weren’t in any way unusual: “It was clear to us all that we were fighting for our homes; anyone else would have done exactly the same.”