“Anyone would have done what I did”

Sirens were also heard that Saturday at around 6:30 a.m. in Kibbutz Alumim in the Gaza Envelope. Gilad Honwald, an MDA emergency medicine technician and ambulance driver, left his home with his son to search for the wounded. Suddenly, they heard gunfire from nearby Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The reality quickly became clear – this was not an incident of rocket fire; terrorists had infiltrated the kibbutz. Without hesitating, Gilad, along with other members of Alumim’s emergency squad, went in the direction of the terrorists to defend their kibbutz. They fought bravely for more than four hours.

The wounded were all brought to one location, under the supervision of the kibbutz nurse. At a certain point, she informed Gilad that the condition of the wounded was worsening and that they had to be evacuated to the hospital to save their lives. Gilad then began evacuating the wounded under fire, with the help of the emergency squad, in several rounds of evacuation. In total, Gilad evacuated ten wounded people from the kibbutz. He doesn’t see his act as unusual: “It was clear to everyone that we were fighting for our home. Anyone would have done what I did.”