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"Crazy guy, it's not caught": the real story behind the heroism video from Gaza | Israel Hayom

12/17/2023, 11:41:57 AM

Highlights: "Crazy guy, it's not caught": the real story behind the heroism video from Gaza | Israel Hayom. Yair Ben-Yishai, an evacuation officer in the Haruv cruiser, saw and heard firsthand the story of the engineer soldier who was hit by a grenade and neutralized two terrorists. "I don't know how he did it, we were shocked by the whole team" • Full story. Every week, the IDF Spokesperson reveals powerful documentation of our forces inside the Gaza Strip.


Yair Ben-Yishai, an evacuation officer in the Haruv cruiser, saw and heard firsthand the story of the engineer soldier who was hit by a grenade and neutralized two terrorists: "I don't know how he did it, we were shocked by the whole team" • Full story

Every week, the IDF Spokesperson reveals powerful documentation of our forces inside the Gaza Strip, but one documentation has left many speechless. During the battles in Sajaiya, reserve soldier S., from the Yahalam unit of the Corps of Combat Engineers, encountered two terrorists at point-blank range. After eliminating the first terrorist and being wounded by grenades thrown at him, the fighter acted calmly, engaged in a shootout while striving for contact and eliminated another terrorist who was in the building.


The footage, which was released on the 11th, and looks like it was taken from an action movie, caused wonder how the fighter managed to come to his senses and eliminate the terrorists despite being severely wounded by the grenade throwing. Among the first to witness the heroic story was Yair Ben Yishai, an evacuation battalion officer in the reserve unit of the Haruv Patrol, who spoke up close about the dramatic moments of rescue. "We put him on a stretcher, noticing significant shrapnel wounds to his legs. He was described as seriously injured but stable."

Ben-Yishai stresses that the evacuation in the southern Gaza Strip is more crowded and took place during heavy fire at the force. "You hear the shooting all the time, even during the evacuation. The further you go in depth and south, the more difficult and complex the area there is to fight." The fighter, who received initial treatment in a Humvee, was quickly evacuated by helicopter to the hospital. "Within two minutes, we put him on the helicopter. It is among the fastest evacuations of the war. From the moment we jumped in to the moment we joined the helicopter, it took us about 36 minutes." Ben-Yishai noted that from another evacuation he conducted with another fighter, it turned out that "they received five grenades and miraculously only one exploded."

Yair Ben-Yishai, the brigade commander who evacuated the Yahalam fighter who was severely wounded in his legs, photo: uncredited

A day after the incident, Ben-Yishai was exposed to the dramatic footage that made waves. "Not caught. He's a crazy guy, I don't know how he did it. At first I said maybe it was the fighter I had evacuated. We were shocked, the whole team was the same one."

Ben-Yishai has not yet been updated on the condition of the Yahalam fighter, but made sure to convey a message to him. "Inhale the fighting while you are injured. This striving to neutralize the terrorists when you are wounded is crazy. I'm interested in what was going through his mind at that moment."

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