Not separated: A brother and sister from Netivot, who were evacuated separately after being injured by a rocket, were reunited in the orthopedic department at Hadassah Ein Kerem. "We saw a ball of fire in the sky, but the main thing is that now we are together. Here at Hadassah, they heal our hearts," they say.
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef strengthens the hand of IDF soldiers during the war // Chief Rabbinate
In the orthopedic department at Hadassah Ein Kerem, they are recovering from their severe injuries, Uriah and Itamar. The two brothers, residents of Netivot, were reunited at the Jerusalem hospital after being hit by a rocket near the synagogue they were walking to on Shabbat.
Many wounded are evacuated from the war in the south to southern hospitals, and from there, in order to ease the burden, are later transferred to hospitals in the center, while Hadassah Medical Center treats most of the wounded in the south who are evacuated to the Jerusalem area.
Uriah (26) and Itamar (23) Cohen, a brother and sister from Netivot, who were hit by a rocket near their home, were evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem for further treatment, after receiving initial and dedicated treatment at Soroka Hospital.
"On Saturday morning, I woke up to the sound of airplanes, even before the sirens. Of course, immediately after them, sirens came and we stayed in the safe room, and by about eleven o'clock serious rumors were spreading, and my sister began to worry that something might have happened to her husband. Itamar, my younger brother, came back from prayers in his synagogue, and together we went to my brother-in-law's synagogue to see what was happening with him," says Uriah.
Golani fighters in the south, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"A sense of mission." Police fighting near Sderot, Photo: Reuters
The way back to the synagogue was quiet. Uriah and Itamar arrived and found their brother-in-law safe and sound, but on their return, just before they reached their home, an alarm caught them. "I saw that there was no safe space in our area, just a low concrete wall on the sidewalk in front of us, so we moved to sit behind it," she recalls. "We saw a ball of fire in the sky," adds her brother Itamar, "We started screaming, and we both fell backwards."
The rocket landed on the parallel pavement, where Uriah and Itamar had been standing only seconds earlier. Uriah managed to raise her hand to signal that she had been injured, and slowly civilians began to come to her and try to give the two brothers first aid. In the first moments, Uriah noticed an injury to her right leg, even before she saw that her left leg was broken, and saw the bleeding from Itamar's ear, which she tried to stop with her skirt. Itamar was evacuated by civilians to Soroka Hospital in a private vehicle and Uriah was evacuated by ambulance, but before they were evacuated they requested, with the remainder of their forces, to tell their parents that they had been injured, but not to worry - they were alive.
"When I got to the hospital, I was in severe pain, but I immediately looked for Itamar," Uriah recalls. "They told me they understood I was looking for him and really wanted to help, but without an ID card, they had no way to help me. In retrospect, it turned out that he was looking for me too, but he went into surgery shortly after he arrived at the hospital."
Recreating the moments of horror
On Sunday evening, Uriah was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center for further treatment, and Itamar was evacuated on Tuesday. After Uriah underwent surgery on her leg, they were finally reunited. Uriah arrived from the surgical ward in a wheelchair to Itamar's hospitalization room in the orthopedic department, where the brothers were very excited to meet, and began to recreate together the moments of terror, completing to each other the minutes erased from memory with the excited parents by their side. "The most important thing for us is that we are together again," they say.
"We arrived at Hadassah in serious condition, Itamar was after surgery and I still had shrapnel in my back, stomach and head," Uriah adds. "The attitude towards us was amazing and enveloping, the medical staff, nurses, volunteers and medical students are available to us and take care of us around the clock. It heals the body and the heart," they conclude.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us