'He fought with EMTs; I fought to keep victims alive'

Claudio fought for the lives of people wounded in the attack while his family was locked in a safe room, and his son, a member of Kibbutz Mefalsim’s emergency response team, fought face-to-face with Hamas terrorists. He tells us about that dramatic day:

“By 6:30 AM, I was called upon to operate the kibbutz operations room. At first, I didn’t understand the enormity of the situation, but the many sirens and the sounds of gunshots made it clear that what we were now seeing was something bigger and more awful than ever.”

As a result of the Hamas attack, the kibbutz’s electricity supply was damaged, and the residents were cut off completely – precisely at a time when they were most in need of electricity and information via the internet.

“It took some time to get the system back on its feet, and during that time, casualties started being brought to the control room. The first people to arrive were two soldiers who had sustained gunshot wounds, one of them already treated with a tourniquet. We began giving them lifesaving treatment, and I realized that it could take quite some time to evacuate them to the hospital, given the heavy gunfire on the kibbutz and the battle that was underway there. I immediately contacted MDA paramedic Oren Banita, who was in his home on the kibbutz and had a mobile intensive care unit vehicle as well as plenty of medical supplies, and I asked him to receive the casualties at his house. That’s what we did. We evacuated them to his home, where he opened a makeshift treatment site and provided advanced medical treatment using the supplies and equipment he had.”

Many a challenge stood in the way

The uncertainty and the disconnect from the outside world made everything more difficult for Claudio. He understood that if he wanted to get an accurate picture of what was happening on the kibbutz, he would have to venture outside himself, despite the danger. He donned an MDA vest and started in the direction of where he could hear the gunshots.

“I went outside, and I reached the area just in front of the fence. I could hear gunshots the entire time, and I did my best to protect myself. I wanted to get an idea of what exactly was happening, and I needed to know if anyone was injured to the extent that they couldn’t get themselves to us for treatment. I didn’t really care about the danger. What I cared about was the situation of the wounded, getting a better idea of what was going on, and knowing how my son, who was in the emergency response team, was doing. I later found out that my son had managed to narrowly escape a Hamas RPG strike.”

Claudio’s entire family lives on Kibbutz Mefalsim, and he worried about them constantly. “My 25-year-old daughter was with me the entire time in the operations room and was very helpful. My wife was in our house together with my eldest daughter, who was in the advanced stages of pregnancy, her husband, and their two-year-old son. They were locked in the safe room for nine hours. I fought to get them out of the kibbutz. Ultimately, after nine hours, I managed to get them out, and only then was I able to feel calmer.”

By afternoon, the kibbutz gate was brought back under Israeli control, and Claudio went out again to see if he could retrieve anyone who was wounded. To his great despair, he discovered how bad it was: no fewer than nine people were killed. “Near the bodies, there was a soldier who was severely injured. Together with a MDA paramedic, we administered lifesaving emergency medical treatment, and we managed to transfer him to an ambulance that was able to evacuate him to the hospital. At every stage, I could hear the battle around me – especially when I was outside, exposed and carrying the wounded to the operations room. The bullets whistled past above my head. I was in real danger, but I couldn’t leave the wounded out there, knowing that they weren’t getting the treatment they needed. While my son was fighting on the front line with the emergency response team, I was fighting for the lives of the wounded. I’m happy that both of us succeeded in our missions.”