After Iran sent missiles into Israel, Magen David Adom teams wove through city streets on fire to search for wounded people in need of medical assistance.
When MDA medics arrived at an apartment building directly hit by an Iranian missile in the center of Israel, MDA worked with other emergency teams to gather injured people in need of help to an assembly point where they could triage and provide emergency care. From there, those needing further treatment were brought to hospitals by Mobile Intensive Care Units and ambulances.
“When police placed the baby in my arms, everything else fell away,” said MDA paramedic Dr. Gal Rosen.
“There was screaming and chaos all around, fire at the site, and people running, but I had to tune it all out and focus on the baby completely,” said Rosen.
He immediately performed medical checks to assess the tiny newborn’s condition.
“At first, I wasn’t sure if the baby could even cry, depending on his medical situation,” he recalled. “I didn’t know how long he’d been alone in the building.”
Miraculously, the six-day-old newborn was conscious, uninjured, and did not require further medical treatment. However, his mother remained trapped in the rubble. Rosen stayed by the baby’s side in the ambulance for nearly an hour, until the newborn’s mother was finally rescued from one of the damaged buildings.
While en route to the impact site, Rosen barely had time to think about what he’d see or how he’d treat the injured before another round of missile alert sirens sounded.
“Our team evacuated the ambulance when we heard the siren,” he explained. “As we were running to shelter I could feel the shock waves from nearby interceptions, and my only thought was that ‘my family will be so upset if something happens.”
Rosen is one of MDA’s 35,000 personnel who have been mobilized at maximum alert since the weekend strikes that have seen hundreds of ballistic missiles fired from Iran, injuring over 700 and killing 24 civilians.
In addition to rushing to the scenes of direct missile hits across Israel, MDA’s mission does not end with its vital ambulance work. The Marcus National Blood Services Center collects, tests, processes, and distributes to hospitals all the blood needed by the IDF and Israel’s citizens.
Watch MDA paramedic Dr. Gal Rosen speak about the incident:
