A reserve soldier from the Yahalam unit of the Corps of Combat Engineers, Sgt. (res.) S., who was wounded in face-to-face encounters documented by his helmet camera, tells for the first time from his perspective about the incident.
Wounded by a grenade, striving for contact and killing two terrorists: documentation of a hand-to-hand encounter of a Yahalam fighter // IDF Spokesperson
S. was wounded by a grenade during an encounter with two terrorists at point-blank range deep in the Sajaiya neighborhood and continued fighting until the terrorists were neutralized. S. is currently undergoing rehabilitation in the hospital.
"We arrive at an apartment building that is part of a Hamas combat zone, we understand this because I saw my duo start giving a volley while evacuating the rest of the company after it," S. says of the encounter. "I come to advance towards them and understand that I can't because there is shooting in his direction, terrorists are throwing grenades at us."
"I'm waiting," S. continues. "There were a few explosions, I go back out and then the first terrorist arrives. I give a volley, the terrorist falls in my direction. I know they know I'm there and I'm starting to operate more loudly, to give more gunfire. Another grenade arrives, I retreat to the same corner and an explosion happens, and I understand that if I don't come out now, I'm either continuing to get grenades or getting shot."
Yair Ben-Yishai in an interview with Israel Hayom about the heroism of a Yahalam fighter// Photo: IDF Spokesperson
S. later says that he saw the second terrorist pull out another grenade: "I give him a volley, realize that there is no other terrorist in the immediate vicinity and collapse. The legs stopped working. The company catches me and starts the evacuation process, and here we are."
"Crazy guy, it's incomprehensible"
During the battles in Sajaiya, S. encountered two terrorists at point-blank range. After killing the first terrorist and being wounded by grenades thrown at him, S. acted calmly, engaged in a shootout while striving for contact and eliminated another terrorist who was in the building.
Among the first to witness the heroic story was Yair Ben-Yishai, an evacuation officer in the reserve unit of the Haruv Patrol, who told Israel Hayom: "This is among the fastest evacuations in the war. It's incomprehensible. This is a crazy guy, I don't know how he did it. I thought at first that maybe it wasn't the same fighter I had evacuated. We were shocked by the whole team."
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