(Jerusalem Post) Barbara Sofer - AZ is a staff sergeant and squad commander in the Nahal Brigade who was on duty on Oct. 7 in the Sufa outpost near Kibbutz Sufa opposite southern Gaza. The troops there are accustomed to rocket attacks. "But this one is different," he says. "The sky is raining rockets, a purple rain (the Israeli army term for incoming missiles)." Then came the first wave of 60 heavily armed, highly trained Hamas Nukhba commandos, followed by an additional wave of 60. The IDF troops took shelter in the reinforced mess hall where the outnumbered soldiers fought back for nine hours. The mess hall provides protection from rockets, but not from the grenades and RPGs from the entrance. One of the grenades blows up close to AZ. His arm bleeds profusely and he assumes he is going to die. He writes texts to his friends, saying goodbye and that he loves them. Then reinforcements arrive. Four members of his squad are dead - Segev Schwartz, Amir Lavi, Nahman Dekel, and Tal Levy. AZ is evacuated. By the time he gets to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, a bullet has been discovered in his skull. "Half a centimeter over, I would have been among the dead," he says.
2024-03-24 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive