'We worked under terrorist fire and incoming rockets'

Adir Bitan is used to dealing with complex situations in the South. At MDA, everyone knows that if there’s an incident in the Gaza Envelope district, Adir’s the person to call. Usually, he knows the details before almost anyone else. As someone who grew up there, knows the area like the back of his hand, and harbors a deep love for it, he feels committed to the protection of residents of the Gaza Envelope as if they were his own family. Many of the security coordinators of the various towns and villages in the area have become close friends of his, including Assaf Hamami, the IDF’s Gaza Division Commander at the time.  Adir and Assaf often worked together when there were threats to the area, ensuring that the local population was protected as best as possible. 

Just hours after the Hamas attacks began, Adir was informed that Hamas terrorists had murdered his friend Hamami and that his body had been kidnapped and was being held in Gaza; he would also soon find himself facing a terrorist who would shoot an anti-tank missile at him in the heart of the city of Sderot.

“As soon as the sirens started wailing on the Saturday morning of Simchat Torah, I was already prepared to go out and deal with what was happening. But no one understood yet how big this would turn out to be. I left my wife and kids in the safe room; they cried and begged me not to go, but I felt that I must, that I had to be there for my people, that I could be helpful. There was yelling over the internal radio system, all of the emergency response personnel, the commanders, the police liaison, and the military liaison – suddenly,  my car was filled with panicked voices. I tried calling Hamami, but he didn’t answer. I had an awful feeling in my gut; I was worried about him. We started getting calls from the security centers in the kibbutzim. They reported widespread shooting inside the kibbutzim. Our EMTs and paramedics, who were kibbutz residents, began reporting that they were treating casualties in their homes, turning their living rooms into emergency treatment centers. I tried getting to them as quickly as I could.

"Suddenly, I looked up and saw, right in front of me, a Hamas vehicle. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Here inside Sderot, in broad daylight, a truck full of terrorists with green bands on their heads and weapons in their hands. Before I could understand what was going on, one of them stood next to the road and shot an anti-missile rocket straight at my car. I have no idea how I managed to drive past it without being hurt, but I’ll never forget what I saw in my rearview mirror: the rocket hit the car of a family driving on the road, and the car immediately went up in flames. The whole family was killed and there was nothing I could do to help. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I felt my pulse roaring in my ears and my hands trembled. I drove to a place where I could catch my breath and tried to recuperate. A few minutes later, I returned to my car and continued to the Ofakim MDA station, where a treatment site had been opened, and dozens of casualties were being treated.

"After helping out there, I drove to Kibbutz Re’im and the site of the Nova music festival. I was amazed to see the bodies flung by the wayside, dozens of corpses, covered in blood, burnt. My brain refused to believe what my eyes saw. At the Nova site, I joined an MDA team, and we took control of the area. We worked under terrorist gunfire and incoming rockets, some of which fell right next to us, but we worked tirelessly for more than 24 hours.

"I don’t remember when I stopped to rest, but it wasn’t that same day. I also didn’t pause to process the fact that Hamami and other friends of mine in the police were now gone, or that friends in the kibbutzim were murdered and kidnapped. I was focused on the wounded, on the situation at hand, and on helping as best I could in a place where there was so much helplessness. I sent information over the radio, I helped manage this multi-scene disaster, and I promised myself – ‘when this is all over, I’ll deal with it. But for now, there’s no time. Right now, I need to keep treating my patients.’"