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Oct. 7: "The Country Was Burning, and I Could See It Happening"

(Jerusalem Post) The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency services National Dispatch Center is its central nervous system. The center sees the big picture of what's happening across the country for all the events that MDA and the State of Israel must deal with. On Oct. 7, MDA call centers around the country received 21,000 emergency calls, compared to 4,000 on a regular Shabbat. Before 7:00 a.m., while heavy barrages of rockets were being launched at Israel, MDA staff were already sent out to treat people who had been injured at sites where rockets had fallen. Soon, reports started flowing in on the infiltration of terrorists into towns, villages, and military bases. Michael Dor was shift manager at the National Dispatch Center that morning. He said, "We received a call regarding two combat soldiers who had been shot at Yad Mordechai Junction, and at exactly the same time, the Home Front Command operations room called us from the Urim base, which is right next to the Gaza border. We have an open emergency line between us. Every day, we check that the emergency phone line to them works....When we received that phone call from them, I assumed it was the regular checkup call. I answered and asked if we could do this later." "The soldier on the other end of the line said, 'I have a soldier who's been shot in the stomach; our base has been breached.'" Michael spoke with the soldier and guided her on what to do. Throughout the morning, Michael received several more calls from the same soldier and spoke with two others. He later found out that two of the three soldiers with whom he spoke were killed during the terrorist attack on the base. "I received information from the dispatch operators: a call we received about six soldiers who had been shot at Zikim military base, a call about soldiers in Yad Mordechai, soldiers who had been injured at Re'im military base, more than 15 wounded people who were being treated at the Sderot MDA station." "We quickly realized we were dealing with dozens of infiltrations into military bases, towns, and villages. The country was burning, and I could see it happening in front of my eyes. The MDA command and control center started receiving photos and videos that were sent to us by wounded people and others who had called in. I saw them all."
2024-11-26 00:00:00
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