New Delhi [India], June 11 (ANI): Israel Defence Forces commander Major Omri and Sergeant Major Tal recalled the day of October 7, when the Hamas terror group attacked Southern Israel, killing hundreds of civilians and taking many hostages.
Major Omri, who has been serving as a major in the IDF as a combat commander and has been working for the past 11 years in the Israel army, said that he was with his family for a holiday vacation when the terror group attacked by launching missiles in the region.
"On October 7, I was in my house with my family on a holiday vacation. It was a holiday in Israel at the time. And we woke up at 06:00 in the morning from the huge sound of a missile that bombed right near our house. The house was shaking. I took my head out of the window and saw a big explosion near my house," he told ANI.
Omri further said that as soon as he heard the noise, he took his uniform and gun and left to help the IDF unit to defend his country.
"I took my uniform, pistol, gun, and drove to the south to help my friends and my unit to defend our country," he said.
Recalling that while driving to the South, he heard on the radio that the terrorists were slaughtering civilians living near the border of the Gaza Strip.
"Meanwhile, I heard on the radio when I was driving to the south, that the terrorists getting to Israel and slaughtering a lot of civilians that lived near the border of the Gaza Strip. When I got there, I saw a lot of wounded people, civilians and soldiers too, and I decided that I would rescue as many people," he said.
Omri said that he also helped the people who were escaping the Nova party and took them out of the fields and gave them first aid.
"I gave first aid to a lot of people that were wounded on the field, civilians that were escaping from a big party that was in the fields over there, the Nova party, and took them out of the fields where they were wounded and took them to an ambulance so that they could go to the nearest hospital and save their lives," Omri told ANI.
He highlighted that he managed to rescue 15 people in three hours while he was in the field.
"Then I heard that there was a big massacre around the Kibbutz Kfar Aza and I decided to go over there. On my way to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, there was a big ambush by 200 terrorists... ," he added.
Before he could even reach there, the terrorists killed a lot of civilians on the road to Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
"We saw a lot of civilians that were killed on the road, and we started to fight those terrorists to not allow them to get into Israel, to the cities Ashkelon, Ashdod, Tel Aviv," he added. "We stopped them and fought them while the combat continued."
The combat commander further shared that he got his leg shot, but however, managed to rescue himself and reached to the nearest hospital.
"Past seven months I've been a lot in hospitals in Israel, rehabilitation and taking care of myself and my next goal is to return to the army, to my unit. We don't have any option but to continue this war," he emphasised.
Responding to a question on whether he witnessed any war crimes during his operation, the commander said that there are civilian social detectors in Gaza, that are not taking care of the hostages properly and didn't provide medicines and proper treatment to them.
"Because I grew up in the South and district of Israel, a lot of the hostages are my friends. I grew up with them. I know these people that live in this now, hostages in Gaza. So it's the subject that's very close to my heart, and this is an absurd thing, that there are civilian social detectors in Gaza, that not taking care properly, that they didn't give him the medicine they need and the proper treatment," he said.
Major Omri stressed that the Hamas terrorists first went to the weakest place in Israel, the Kibbutz, near the border of Gaza.
"The Hamas terrorists do not just fight with army forces. First of all, they went to the weakest place in Israel, the Kibbutz, the settlements near the border of Gaza. The Nova festival, where people were not armed, killed a lot of civilians," he said.
Another sergeant, Major Tal, who was in Gaza for over 100 days during the war, said that he served the IDF team for around 160 days during the war.
The 24-year-old commander who served in the Nahal Brigade as a commander for three years, said that they were called to come to the army with their team and then they went to the north without their phones.
"We didn't know anything about what was happening and then a few days after October 7, actually, October 11, they told me one of my best friends, Daniel Castiel, who served in a special unit, died with two more friends," Major Tal said.
"It was tough for me," he stressed, adding that he cried for two hours, and then he told himself that he needed to practice "right now".
"You need to be ready. You need to focus for the team. And I think this is the hardest thing for me to feel like that. I didn't cry enough. I didn't feel sad enough and then kept moving," he told ANI.
He further said that later, he served at the north border. "It was scary, and long, but we did it. We saved our board serving our country," he added. (ANI)
