The left corner of Yoav’s forehead is held together by metal staples where shrapnel hit him from an RPG or grenade. He doesn’t know which, or remember exactly when it happened, but it doesn’t really matter. He has a long gash in his neck from a bullet that went in but miraculously didn’t sever his carotid artery.
Warning – this story contains pictures of battlefield injuries below
“I remember just constantly touching it, waiting for the blood to explode out the side. And that never happened,” he says.
Speaking with clarity, but at times with long pauses to collect himself, the young British Jew who came to Israel in 2018 to serve his country, describes the morning of 7 October.
The morning that changed Israel.
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He says: “We are getting calls over the radio that they are identifying hundreds upon hundreds of terrorists running and reaching the border, breaking down the fence and coming towards Israel.
“So in response, we split off into different groups and go to different towns and villages and kibbutzim.
“We drive towards where we were given the report, and as we turn the corner, they open fire on us.”
Yoav adds: “There must have been around six or seven and we had no way to react.
“I tell my driver to hit the gas and we try to bypass them, and as we bypass them we met even more terrorists.
“Hard to remember exactly, couldn’t quite count at the time, but there must have been between 50 and 60 of them.
“We continued to be hit by fire and shooting.
“And as we were driving forward, we lost control of our vehicle as an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] hits the front of our vehicle, which caused us to crash.
“And then we got stuck and we continued to get fire.
“We can see from behind us that they’re running into the kibbutz, and we can see in front of us that they’re running towards the other villages and towns and kibbutzim that are further – further into Israel.”
‘A grenade blew up next to me’
By now, this scene was being repeated in Kibbutzim, villages and towns along the Gaza envelope.
It was barely 7am.
Yoav continues his story, saying: “We get hit by another RPG, which caused my driver to get injured.
“It ripped off half of his arm and a half of his leg and as we’re continuing to sit there, we keep getting hit with more fire and more fire.
“One of the RPGs hit the back of the vehicle and caused the vehicle to fill up with lots of smoke, so I had to open my door so that we wouldn’t suffocate.
“When I did, either another RPG or a grenade blew up next to me and threw shrapnel into the side of my face.”
Yoav’s commander arrived and helped him lift the driver into a working vehicle.
It was only then he discovered what had happened to the third soldier in his jeep.
“As we came to leave, we came to take my radio man, who we also thought was injured, but we realised that he was already,” Yoav pauses and looks for the words. “He was already killed in action.”
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‘We don’t have control anymore’
The battle of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom lasted for hours, as residents waited for military backup.
The number killed there is yet to be officially established.
With a dead radio operator and a severely wounded driver, Yoav had to retreat to his base.
By now it is around 7.30 in the morning, but Yoav’s fight is far from over.
“As we’re driving to the base, we’re continuing to be hit by live fire and more RPGs. Around us is complete and total chaos,” he explains.
“It’s very hard to describe.
“I mean, as we’re getting closer to the base, we were getting to this understanding that we don’t have control over the base anymore.”
He continues: “We break through the gates of the base and we drive inside.
“And we see a sight of total anarchy – of vehicles in flames that have exploded from other sorts of explosive devices – and soldiers scattered around.
“We do our best to centralise all the injured people and bring the paramedics and the medics and the whole medical team to start treating them.”
Yoav is full of praise for the medics, saying: “I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
“They put everything aside and they just got on with it.
“They literally kept these boys alive for about five, six hours until the evacuation could get to us.
“And all the meantime, while the medics are treating the boys, treating my soldiers, we’re doing our best to take back the base as much as we could.
“But we’re a very small force, so we were quite limited with our options.”
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‘Everyone in Israel knows someone who’s died’
By early afternoon, backup support starts to break through.
Slowly, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) started to regain control of the base.
At around 6pm that evening, almost twelve hours after he was shot and injured by shrapnel, Yoav was airlifted to hospital.
Yoav says: “It’s just a miracle [that I survived].
“My unit commander and my deputy unit commander, both of them were killed in action.
“And other soldiers as well from our unit, and other colleagues who I’ve met along my time in the army, [friends] who I have done courses with, and others who I drafted with.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in the country right now who doesn’t know someone who hasn’t been killed in action.”
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Losing those close to him has made Yoav determined to get back to the fight.
He says: “I want to rejoin. All my soldiers are still there.
“I need a bit longer to recover but hopefully in the next week or two, I’ll be strong enough and able enough to go back and join them.
“We have no other option except for defending our country and we’ll continue defending the country.
“We’ve dealt with horrific tragedies in the past, and as a people we know how to get through it.
“It will take time. It’s a long process, but we’ll come out stronger the other side.”
