'My house turned into an emergency room'

Omer Caspi, an MDA employee in the Lachish region, lives in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which came under heavy attack that Saturday. “At 6:28 AM, I awoke to a heavy barrage of rockets. After some time, it became clear that this was a much more serious situation than we’d thought. At one point, I went outside and saw combat soldiers fighting to save my home, the kibbutz. I shouted to them: “I’m an EMT. If there are any casualties, bring them to me.” Terrorists managed to enter the home of family friends of ours. The family hid in the safe room; the father held firmly onto the door handle. The terrorists placed explosives on the other side of the door, and the father was severely injured in his hands and chest. The family made an improvised tourniquet using a phone charger cord; later, soldiers arrived and gave them proper medical equipment. When it became possible, they brought him to me. I treated him, and from that moment, my house turned into an emergency room.”

The MDA motorcycle which Omer had used as an emergency response medic was damaged by terrorists. “They took it apart and stole all of the medical equipment,” he says. Omer recalls how a squad from a military special forces unit brought their commander, who had been shot and was critically injured, to his house. One soldier applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding, while Omer gave him a tourniquet and other life-saving treatment, and together, they loaded the patients into a car that was sent out to meet a rescue helicopter. On the way, terrorists shot at them from a truck. Both the injured commander and the soldier who had applied pressure to his wound were killed.

'I’m an EMT. If there are any casualties, bring them to me'

From 2 AM to 6 AM, Omer remained at the gas station next to the kibbutz to continue saving lives. At a certain point, he heard a call that no MDA team member could possibly ignore: “I heard someone calling, ‘Medic! Medic!’ as special forces units arrived with soldiers who had been injured. Of course, I treated them.”

The family friend whom he had treated in his living room survived and is currently rehabilitating. “He didn’t think he’d make it,” says Omer. “I told him at the time: ‘You mustn’t die; you still need to help me clean up all the bloodstains you’ve left in my home…’