From Casualty to Commando

Stand for Israel  |  July 16, 2019

In 2002, S. was like any other Israeli baby, living in the southern city of Sderot with his family. But then, a terrorist rocket from Gaza seriously injured the tot. But today, Ynet News’ Matan Tzuri reports, S. is not only healthy and hale, but has joined the IDF’s version of the Navy SEALs:

In 2002, before the Iron Dome became a part of the Israeli reality, the city of Sderot was under near constant rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. That year, S., then a 16-month-old baby, suffered serious wounds from more than 147 shrapnel pieces. Years later, and after a long recovery, S. is on his way to joining the IDF’s Naval Commando unit.

“I just decided that I can do it,” S. says. I hope to set an example Sderot teens, so that they will know that we can grow up to make our dreams come true, no matter what we endure.”

S. is now 18 and bares some 60 scares from the day of his injury. He hardly remembers that day, in which one of two rockets launched from Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip hit his home’s back yard, where he was playing. However, he says that his soul remembers everything.

“Every now and again, when I’m asleep or when I close my eyes, I hear noises and ambulance sirens, sounds things breaking. It’s like in a film, like a distant memory. That’s all I remember, the rest is from stories,” S. says.

“I heard a blast and I went outside looking for S.,” his mother recalls. “I saw him standing in the back yard covered in blood, then picked him up and ren outside, and paramedics took us to the hospital…”