Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s National Emergency Medical and Blood Services Organization, was first on the scene during events of October 7.
“When an emergency occurs,” says Uri Shacham, Director General’s Office Chief of Staff at Magen David Adom, “everyone runs to their tasks ready to save lives. It’s in our DNA.”
While the events of October 7 caught everyone in Israel by surprise, Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s National Emergency Medical and Blood Services Organization had emergency teams arriving first at the scene.
During the weekend of Simchat Torah, MDA was on higher alert than normal days. This fact made it possible to quickly mobilize tens of thousands of its volunteers around the country as the terror attack began, both to join the first responders that were already in the south of Israel and provide immediate, life-saving treatment under fire and to also quickly man the entire fleet of 1,400 ambulances in preparedness for any developments from the Lebanese border.
“When an emergency occurs,” says Uri Shacham, Director General’s Office Chief of Staff at Magen David Adom, “everyone runs to their tasks ready to save lives. It’s in our DNA.”
While the events of October 7 caught everyone in Israel by surprise, Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s National Emergency Medical and Blood Services Organization had emergency teams arriving first at the scene.
During the weekend of Simchat Torah, MDA was on higher alert than normal days. This fact made it possible to quickly mobilize tens of thousands of its volunteers around the country as the terror attack began, both to join the first responders that were already in the south of Israel and provide immediate, life-saving treatment under fire and to also quickly man the entire fleet of 1,400 ambulances in preparedness for any developments from the Lebanese border.
MDA has the largest and most diverse range of volunteers and a wide array of rescue vehicles in Israel, which are always ready to provide immediate response in any emergency or war. They were the first at the scenes on October 7. The ability of MDA to respond from 0 to 100 in a few seconds is quite extraordinary. There is no organization like it in the world. MDA does not receive a budget from the Israeli government and is heavily supported by donations from Israel and abroad.
“In events such as this,” adds Orly Ariel, general director of Israeli Friends of Magen David Adom, “the organization that responds the fastest is Magen David Adom. We witnessed this during Covid 19 and now as well.” On the morning of October 7, thousands of emergency calls began flooding into MDA’s emergency dispatch centers. Magen David Adom has 32,000 volunteers spread throughout Israel. That morning, MDA personnel were ready and on high alert in kibbutzim and towns throughout Israel’s south, including Be’eri, Sderot, and Ofakim.
Here are some of the stories of MDA’s heroes:
Haim Rubin
Haim Rubin, an MDA paramedic, saved dozens of lives by evacuating the wounded under gunfire. “We drove through the fields to avoid encounters with terrorists because we understood that the other roads were threatened and unsafe, and on the way, we heard over the radio that two ambulances had been hit. We met a Duvdevan soldier (the elite Counter-Terrorism Commando Unit) who said that a few minutes earlier, he had encountered terrorists on motorcycles wearing IDF uniforms. They fired at him, and he fled through the fields. All this happened on the way to Moshav Naveh. We went there because we realized that the route there was relatively secure. When we arrived at the Beit Midrash (study hall) in Naveh, we saw that everything had been arranged for the Simchat Torah holiday. We moved all the benches to set up a triage and treatment site with signs and areas for mild, moderate, and severe injuries. In the center, we placed tables with medical equipment and signs directing the vehicles bearing the wounded.
“I was sure I was going to die. I felt that way when we were in Naveh, and every time I closed my eyes, I thought that any minute, they would get me. I’m a paramedic in the South Hebron Hills. I’ve been to almost all the attacks in the area, but the feeling here was different.”
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