Strike in Western Galilee: paramedics rescue wounded under fire

This is not the first time paramedics on the northern border have worked in combat conditions, but the strike on a Bedouin village was a particularly serious test for them. “This is in the full sense of the word an emergency situation,” Shiran Elbaz, director of MADA stations in Nahariya and Ma’alot, told a Ynet correspondent. “Terrorists fired at the village with anti-tank missiles, explosions thundered all around. There was nowhere to hide, we fell to the floor, trying to protect ourselves from shrapnel.” .

“This is an out-of-the-ordinary attack,” said Dudu Alfasi, an employee of the MADA station in Shlomi. “We don’t need to explain what war is, we are accustomed to the sound of a siren. But today we saw how fighters fired at an enemy drone while their bloodied our comrades were lying nearby. We began to help the wounded and then a drone with explosives crashed, it happened before our eyes. It’s impossible to get used to this.”

In the building of the house of culture (matnas) in Arab al-Aramsha there were reservists of the IDF 6th Brigade and members of the Rapid Reaction Unit. First, anti-tank missiles were fired at the building, one of which hit a car. When the fighters ran into a protected room, a drone loaded with explosives crashed onto the matnas. There was an explosion.

The IDF is investigating why the kamikaze drone was not shot down. A possible reason is the launch of the aircraft from a minimum distance from the target.

The wounded were taken to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya. According to the center’s administration, one of the victims, a member of the rapid response squad, is in critical condition, four are in serious condition, and the rest received moderate and mild injuries.

After the strike on Arab al-Aramsha, the IDF shelled the area of ​​southern Lebanon from which the launch took place, as well as a military building that served as a shelter for terrorists.

Residents of the village fear new attacks by Hezbollah. They appealed to the authorities and the IDF to take measures to protect them. “The situation is explosive,” one of the residents of Arab al-Aramsheh told a Ynet correspondent. “This is not the first time we have demanded a solution to the problem, but our demands have not yet been taken seriously. Hezbollah can fire at us again at any moment. Leaving us without protection is irresponsible.” .

“My relative was wounded today,” said a resident of the village. “He says that it was only a miracle that dozens of people did not die in Matnas. He doesn’t want to return home. We are also thinking of moving away from the border.”

Many residents of Arab al-Aramsha are still evacuated. They are accommodated in hotels in Nazareth.

“Our goal is to cause the enemy (to Israel) as much pain as possible,” a Hezbollah source told a correspondent for the Qatari publication Al-Arabi Al-Jadid. “If the enemy continues to escalate, we will use more advanced weapons systems and hit more serious targets.”

The public organization Lobby 1701, which represents the interests of residents of the northern regions of Israel, appealed to the military cabinet after the attack, demanding that decisive action be taken against Hezbollah terrorists.

“18 reservist soldiers and village residents paid in blood for the passive policy of the cabinet,” the appeal says. “It’s time to tell the people the truth: the Iranian attack did not end on the night of April 14, it began on our northern borders six months ago and continues to this day. Let every member of the cabinet remember that Hezbollah uses Iranian weapons – Hezbollah is Iran!”