Paramedic Ronen Shunem Halevi also arrived at the MDA station that Saturday. Instead of wearing pressed holiday clothes and heading to the synagogue for the festive Simchat Torah prayers, Ronen, an observant man, put on his MDA uniform and rushed to the Kiryat Gat MDA station.
“Karl and I opened an intensive care unit in addition to the unit already on shift,” he says. “We started hearing what was happening over the radio, and the reports were horrific. We looked at each other, realizing that nothing like this had ever happened. After a while, we were dispatched to the Kochav Junction
Michael, to receive the wounded being evacuated to us from the Gaza envelope in bulletproof MDA ambulances. We evacuated several gunshot victims in varying conditions over multiple rounds: civilians who had gone through hell, soldiers, police officers, and security personnel. We treated them, stopped the bleeding, managed their pain, and listened. We heard what they went through, we saw
severe injuries, scenes of a battlefield, a war.”
Ronen is the brother-in-law of Yamam fighter and paramedic Noam Raz, of blessed memory, who fell in battle with terrorists during Operation “Break the Wave” near Jenin in May 2022.
“I had the privilege of working on an intensive care unit donated in memory of the hero of Israel, paramedic Noam Raz, of blessed memory.” There is a dedication in his memory on the door of the unit.
“During one of the rounds, a Yamam fighter with a gunshot wound arrived at my ambulance. When he was brought in, he looked at me and said, ‘I know you.’ I immediately understood how he recognized my face and told him, ‘I am Noam’s brother-in-law, look at what is written on the door.’ It was a chilling moment. It was as if we were continuing Noam’s legacy, his life’s work of saving lives, which is essentially the work of us all, the mission of us all, and the commitment of us all.”
