'I lost six colleagues in Hamas massacre - including pal shot dead in ambulance'
An Israeli medic has described how six of his colleagues were "brutally slaughtered" by Hamas fighters - including one shot dead in his ambulance during an ambush.
Barak Wittenberg, a regional medical director for MDA - Israel's Medical Emergency Service, which works alongside the Red Cross - said it was one of the toughest periods of his career in the hours after the Palestinian militant group invaded on Saturday. Two of his close friends - ambulance driver Aharon Chaimov and paramedic Amit Mann - were among those killed in action.
Barak, 38, began mobilising teams after the initial attacks and was soon dispatched to the ground in Ofakim - where Aharon was shot inside his ambulance - finding himself in the heart of gunfire and rockets as he scrambled to treat the wounded.
Speaking to the Mirror from a medical station in Beersheba on Wednesday, the dad-of-three said: “I have never seen anything like that, it was very busy, it was a massive brutal attack, many many casualties, women and children among them. It’s horrible, it’s very tough, I try not to think too much about the situation. We put aside the emotional stuff and focus on the wounded and after we’ve brought them to hospital we can pause to think about it, we can chat, we can support our teams.”
To follow the Mirror's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war click here
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
As soon as the news of the Hamas fighters crossing the border arrived, Barak left his wife - an emergency nurse - and three sons, and headed to the medical station. “I sent out announcements to my dispatch to increase the level of alert to my teams, especially those outside the Gaza Strip,” he explained. "I also spoke with the regional hospital to raise the level of alert because they were about to get hundreds of patients there.”
On Saturday morning, Barak and his team were mostly treating shooting victims but also those who had been injured by missiles. It wasn’t until later they gained extra support from reservists and volunteers. “It was tough,” he admitted.
“My crews were under fire and they were brutally slaughtered. Six people were dead in the massacre. It was a very hard situation. Two of them were very close colleagues. One named Aharon. He was an EMP ambulance driver and as soon as they told him there were casualties that had been shot, he took his ambulance and left his house and as soon as he got to the city of Ofakim he got shot by the [militants] and he stayed dead inside the ambulance.
Israeli soldiers take position at the southern Israeli town of Ofakim (AP)“We sent him out around 7am and he didn’t answer our call on the radio or his phone and there was a massive battle inside the city, [militants] carrying weapons and using jeeps and motorcycles.
“We were only allowed to safely get close to him around 11am. And it was a very tough situation for my crews to treat our friend and the fact that we wouldn’t be able to get closer to him all the time, it crushed my teams. It hurt us. We tried and for the first time in the history of the MDA we couldn’t send help because there were [militants] all around.
“No matter what, we have had operations before with the military, with shooting and rockets, but it’s the first time that we couldn’t send help for a few hours. All of the villages and kibbutz around the Gaza Strip we couldn’t send help until yesterday (Tuesday).”
All six fatalities in the team - which includes four volunteers - were killed at different locations. Barack, who has worked for the MDA for 15 years, is now overseeing around 150 employees, volunteers and reservists across four stations, including one right on the border of Gaza. “Now we are ready and fully deployed at all of our stations, ready to treat or accept patients, whether it’s civilian, no matter what.”
Israeli soldiers drive along the border with Gaza (ABIR SULTAN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)Since the weekend, the number of Hamas ground units has depleted, Barack explained, and now the biggest threat are the missile strikes which can come at short notice. He said: “They still have [militants] on the ground, only a few, we get an alert, we go back to the station, they close the station. We had such an alert an hour ago. They collect all the crews and immediately go inside into the safe room. It’s because they’ve seen someone and the police and the army take a look at the scene and the area. They found [militants] near here this morning. We stay in the safe room and wait a minute or two, then we go out to the casualties.”
On Saturday evening, Barack even treated a wounded Hamas fighter before he was taken to hospital. “Luckily, I haven’t met them face to face in battle,” he said. “I wasn’t the happiest man when I treated the [militant] but I gave him the best treatment I could, like any other civilian in Israel, who it is or what it is we treat them all the same. It’s complex. I’m working. It’s work and after that we share things, we speak.
“We try to save lives and give the best to each patient. We have diversity of people among our crews - Muslims, Jews and Christians, we all rope in shoulder to shoulder.” He said the Hamas soldier was unconscious as he treated him. Asked what would happen to him once he’d been treated in hospital, he said: "I don't care." Expanding on it, he said it's not personal. “I never do a follow up because it can affect my work. I have never done that in my work. 15 years and I never check up on them after."
Tiger attacks two people in five days as soldiers called in to hunt down big cat
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
