"My friends call me 'cat,' but I don't have many souls left," smiles Sergeant Major (res.) Zohar (26), a soldier in the 551st Commando Brigade. The nickname was rightly given to him: there is no other way to describe a man who survived death at the Nova festival, whose bullets passed by his head during the fighting in Gaza, and whose grenade dropped on him by a Hamas drone missed him by only centimeters.
Sahar, wounded from the party in Re'im, says he was saved thanks to a weapon restraint by the terrorist // Moshe Ben Simhon
Although he was eventually moderately wounded by a bullet that hit him while evacuating one of his comrades, Zohar dreams of returning to the fighting in Gaza. "I think about my friends there all the time," he smiles. He arrived at the Nova Festival in the early hours of Saturday morning with his partner, Shiraz, and the two were planning to purchase drinks when everything suddenly exploded around them. "Suddenly, a crazy barrage of rockets started, and after a few minutes the music stopped and they asked us all to leave. We drove toward Kibbutz Yad Mordechai and came across a checkpoint. I asked the policeman what was going on, and he said, 'There are terrorists who have infiltrated, run away.'"
Zohar and Shiraz stopped their car near Migonit, which was full of frightened partygoers, but in the end Zohar decided to continue driving. This decision saved his life and Shiraz's life, after it turned out, unfortunately, that the shields in the entire area had become death traps.
"I was waiting for a call from the reserves"
As they were driving, terrorists suddenly opened fire at the vehicle, and Zohar and Shiraz turned back toward the party area, where they encountered another police checkpoint, this time blocking the south. "There were 2,000 vehicles standing in the middle of the road with about 30 police officers, and the sounds of gunfire were getting closer," he recalls.
Burnt cars in bad car park, photo: AFP
"People started getting hit by bullets and screaming, 'Vans are coming with guns.' We abandoned our car and started running east. It was crazy. People were hit by bullets around us and fell, very harsh scenes. We got into a car that was driving by us and kept running away. You see a van, fear God, and Shiraz bent down and started crying. We saw burned, smashed vehicles and lots of bodies."
By luck, the couple managed to escape the inferno and return safely to their home in Tel Aviv. Zohar, who realized that in a short time he would have to go to the army, used the time to rest to recover from the nightmarish morning after a white night. "Finally the phone rang and I was told, 'Come on, come on.' I said I needed a ride, and when they asked why, I replied: 'Because my car burned down at a party.' In response, they told me that after what I went through, I wasn't obligated to come, but I replied that as far as I was concerned, it wasn't a question at all. I said goodbye to Shiraz and off I went."
IDF forces in the Gaza Strip, photo: IDF Spokesperson
"I got life as a gift"
After three weeks of training in the assembly areas, Zohar entered Gaza with his unit and participated in the fierce battles in the Gaza Strip. Luck brightened his face time and time again. "They shot at my head a few times, but luckily the bullets hit a concrete wall and missed me. Splatters hit my hand, but I quickly reset and moved on."
Last week, Hamas terrorists used a drone to drop a grenade at a group of fighters who also had a glow. The footage was published in many media outlets and social networks, and many Israelis have watched it since. But then came the gunfire that hit the glow nonetheless. "At first I didn't know I'd been injured at all. I helped treat a friend who was injured and operate the event. After they took him, I joined my team to continue fighting, and suddenly I started in severe pain. It was hard for me to move and talk, and my hand started to fall asleep."
Zohar asked his teammate to examine him, who quickly located a bullet entry hole that had hit him in the back. The team treated Zohar under fire, and then rescued him to a hospital in Israel, where his condition is defined as moderate. "The bullet took a trip to my stomach and stopped near my spine, on the main artery. The doctor said that if he had continued a few more millimeters, my situation would have been completely different." He underwent surgery, and after five days of hospitalization was discharged home for further rehabilitation.
IDF forces' activity in the Gaza Strip, photo: Report
Zohar admits that although his body rests at home, his head is deep in Gaza, thinking about his friends. "I keep thinking about what they're doing, and if they know what's going on with me. My conclusion from what happened to me is clear: I received my life as a gift. I promised myself that I would use every moment to enjoy life and experience it as much as possible."
Shiraz says that if the decision had been up to her partner, he would have returned to Gaza immediately. "Zohar doesn't understand the gravity of his situation, and as far as he's concerned, he would take off his stitches and go to Gaza now. He never stops thinking about how to help his friends there. For me, it's great that he's recovering at home.
"I'm in therapy after what we went through at the festival, and I haven't closed an eye this whole month. Now that Zohar is here with me, you can breathe a sigh of relief. I thank God for giving it back to me, it could have ended completely differently."
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