Zvi Reder, a Magen David Adom EMT from Kibbutz Sa’ad in the Negev, was treating the wounded when he found out that his son Dor z’l had been murdered at home in Kibbutz Be’eri.
“On Black Saturday, I woke up to the sounds of rockets and asked my wife to turn on the television. There were no news reports yet, but I realized that something unusual was happening. I stood on my roof with binoculars facing Gaza and saw the vans of the terrorists entering Israel. I dispatched the security response team, of which I’m also a member. However, as the community’s ambulance driver, I decided I was more needed there.
At 7 am, the wounded started coming to the community gate, most of them young people from the party in Re’im. I performed an initial triage to assess the severity of their injuries, and at the same time I informed the Negev dispatch center that I was beginning transport to the hospital. Only in retrospect did I realize that the entire route I was traveling on was full of terrorists, and only after I arrived at the hospital did I become aware that my son was missing.
At 11 in the morning, he had texted that he could not speak and that there was a lot of noise outside. About an hour later, his brother called him, and a terrorist answered the phone.
When I got up from sitting shiva for my son, I went to the funeral of MDA volunteer Yarin Peled z’l. It was important to me to attend her funeral. I knew Yarin as an MDA volunteer, but also from the military intensive care unit. We hosted her unit at our house for big meals quite a few times. At the funeral, I realized how supportive the MDA family is.
Now, I ask everyone to raise their heads and try to move forward. We provide the spirit to the fighters at the front. Am Yisrael Chai.”
