An Israeli paramedic who worked around the clock transporting dozens of victims of Hamas terror attacks likened the atrocity to a “horror movie” that left him needing treatment for PTSD.
Ari Yonatan, 32, a New York City resident, was called to duty along with his colleagues on the morning of October 7 to treat and transport those injured as a result of the coordinated attacks launched by Hamas that ultimately claimed the lives of more than 1,400 people in Israel.
The paramedic and father of four soon found himself surrounded by the dead and wounded along the Gaza border, saying his initial trip to the hospital to drop off the first round of wounded set the stage for what was to come the rest of the day.
“When I arrived at the hospital with my injuries, it really felt like a horror movie,” he told The Post. “Everyone was screaming, it was chaos, and everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. I just stood there, numb.”
“If you were there, your mind, your soul would be hurt by those images,” he added. “I know I’m suffering.”
Ari Yonatan, 32, said he felt like he was in a horror movie when he dropped off his first wounded round at an Israeli hospital following the October 7 Hamas terror attack. Courtesy of Ari Yonatan
The Staten Islander’s nightmare began at about 6 a.m., when instead of waking up to celebrate Sukkot, he awoke to rocket fire coming from the Gaza Strip.
Although the sound was not unusual for him, Yonatan realized something was wrong when the rockets began to fire more often, and from his balcony, he could see the nearby town of Gaza engulfed in smoke.
He immediately contacted his dispatcher at Magen David Adom to let them know he could volunteer during the holidays if they needed him, which he certainly did.
“My dispatcher said there were dead and injured people everywhere, that we had 300 calls coming in and they needed everyone to come to the station,” he said.
Like many Israelis, Yonatan woke up to the sound of rocket fire coming from the Gaza Strip. AFP via Getty Images Israeli soldiers evacuate a woman and child running from rocket fire in Ashkelon.AP
Yonatan quickly drives off to Kibbutz Ofakim, but before he can reach it, his dispatcher warns him that it has been attacked by Hamas invaders, possibly saving his life.
Instead, Yonatan headed north towards Netivot, where he parked at the city’s entrance to accommodate Israeli civilians, police and soldiers suffering from gunshot wounds.
As he painstakingly loaded the wounded, Yonatan could hear gunshots, rockets flying overhead, and sirens exploding everywhere.
As soon as he arrived at the hospital, he learned the scope of the violence that surrounded his country.
The ambulance driven by Yonatan’s friend was shot by Hamas terrorists. Courtesy of Ari Yonatan The bullet penetrated the driver’s leg and entered the interior of the car. Courtesy of Ari Yonatan
“Hamas has killed hundreds of people, burned people alive, cut off their heads, raped women and taken hostages,” he said. “The whole day was engaged in seeing this terrible carnage.”
“I would go to the scene of the shooting, go to the hospital, and then come back,” he added. “This is just cruelty.”
Like many others in Israel, Yonatan later learned that many of his friends were among those killed in the terrorist attack, including three of his colleagues.
The first is Aharon Haimov, 25, a father of two who drives an ambulance for Magen David Adom.
Yonatan described his friend as a man with a “heart of gold” who lit up a room with his smile. An ambulance driver was sent to a zone where the IDF was fighting Hamas when one of the terrorists shot his vehicle and killed him.
Aharon Haimov, 25, a father of two, was shot and killed while driving an ambulance. Courtesy of Ari Yonatan
The second is Amit Mann, 22, a paramedic who works with Yonatan and was at the clinic when the terrorists stormed in to kill everyone.
“He was in the hospital, treating patients until the last moment when they were killed in cold blood,” said Yonantan.
The third is Aviya Hazroni, 69, who is affectionately referred to as the station’s “grandfather”. Hazroni, who always likes to share stories with all the emergency workers, was also shot while trying to save others.
Amit Mann, 22, was killed while treating the injured in a clinic. Ihsan Ari Yonatan Aviya Hazroni, 69, was also “killed in cold blood,” by Hamas terrorists. Aviya Hazroni/Facebook
As he witnessed horror after horror while deployed, Yonatan said one of the stories that stuck with him was the massacre at the Nova music festival in the desert, where one of the victims he rescued told him of the murder of a pregnant Arab woman. .
“He spoke to them in Arabic to beg for his life, and they told him that he was a traitor who was with Israel. Then they shot him in the stomach and killed him,” he said.
“These are people who have lost all sense of humanity,” Yonatan said. “What happened on October 7 is a violence that our community has not experienced since the Holocaust.
“What we are fighting today is a combination of Nazi and ISIS terrorists,” he added. “That’s the horror of the opponent we face.”
A friend of Magen David Adom who was a first responder saw a car on fire following rocket fire from Hamas.AP Yonatan said it was Israel’s duty to destroy Hamas forever. CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Shutterstock
Although that day will live on in ugliness in Yonatan’s mind, the paramedic said he has found some hope in the way Israel is uniting to destroy Hamas.
With Israeli volunteers for the IDF and emergency services in droves, Yonatan said his greatest hope is to see the end of the terror group so that future generations can be spared the horrors he witnessed.
“We need to eliminate them,” he said of Hamas. “It is something that 100% needs to be done. There is no room in this world for Hamas to exist.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
