Tankers, soldiers, firefighters, doctors and countless others served heroically, often tragically
Throughout its history, Israel’s wartime and peacetime heroes have been feted – in biblical sagas, news stories, films and ceremonies. Many more warriors and first responders were just unsung heroes.
On October 7, 2023, thousands of Hamas terrorists and Gaza civilians invaded Israel to murder, rape, mutilate, torture, loot and kidnap. Parents and grandparents, children and babies, guest workers and pets alike were slaughtered. Terrorist cell phones and GoPros recorded and broadcast their savagery.
Once again, Israel’s heroes responded. An all-female tank unit raced south to engage terrorists, saving hundreds of lives. Fathers, mothers, soldiers and citizens – Israeli and Bedouin – used personal vehicles to rescue hundreds of relatives, friends and total strangers along roads, in kibbutzim and at the Nova music festival. Warriors at the Sderot police station battled scores of terrorists to the death.
A family turned its courtyard into a field hospital, a nearby ditch into a temporary morgue. From there and other locations, wounded soldiers and civilians went to Soroka Hospital, where doctors and nurses triaged and saved 676 casualties in 16 hours, including a wounded terrorist. Or to Sheba Hospital, where emergency teams treated another never-ending flow of wounded on stretchers. Every patient survived!
Military rabbis, forensic workers and ZAKA volunteers transformed Shura Base into “gates to heaven” for the dead, whom they identified and prepared for burial with immeasurable physical and spiritual reverence. In too many cases, they needed X-rays, MRIs and DNA tests to identify remains.
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Civilians were relocated to safer areas from the devastated southern region around Gaza.
A day later, Hezbollah joined Hamas’s genocidal war to eliminate Israelis and other non-Muslims.
Israel’s northern region was largely evacuated because, again, anyone who stayed behind was constantly at risk from sniper, rocket and missile attacks. First responders, however, said goodbye to their families and prepared to face forest fires and burning homes and buildings.
For 18 months, they worked 12-16 hours a day, battling blazes caused by Hezbollah rockets and missiles – and by falling red-hot pieces from them and Iron Dome defensive missiles. Summer drought conditions and high winds often fanned small fires into infernos.
My wife and I met some of them last year in Kiryat Shmona, a city once remembered because Palestinian terrorists slipped across the nearby border from Lebanon in April 1974 and murdered eight children, eight adults and two soldiers. (Its name means “city of the eight,” commemorating eight fighters who died defending settlements during the 1920 Arab attacks.)
For decades, Kiryat Shmona and nearby towns were assaulted by Hezbollah rifles, rockets and missiles. Terrorists operated with impunity close to UN “peacekeeper” outposts. Residents often had less than 20 seconds after sirens sounded to reach home, office, street, school or playground bomb shelters.
The terrorism multiplied tenfold after October 7. Every day, the region was hit by 60–70 to as many as 200 rockets and missiles. Fires raged almost daily from October 8, 2023, to the 2025 semi-ceasefire.
In nearby Metula, a Hezbollah rocket set a house on fire. When the family visited it the next day, Hezbollah snipers shot at them and fired an RPG, wounding a family member. Acting Station Commander Eli Mor said.
Strong winds quickly fanned one forest fire into 14 large blazes. Half of all the trucks and units in the north were needed to extinguish it. A firetruck caught fire and was a total loss. Other equipment was simply old, broken down, in constant need of repair, and poorly maintained because replacement parts were hard to find and the trucks were constantly in use, he said.
Insufficient personnel, due to many men and women reservists serving extensive duty, meant months of prolonged shifts on the frontlines. Firefighting helicopters and airplanes couldn’t be flown because they might be shot down.
Many replacement vehicles will likely be bulletproof, because terrorists frequently target them and first responders. Where else in the world must firetrucks and ambulances be armored up and take backroads instead of direct routes to fires, to evade terrorists?
First responders had to watch for RPGs and anti-tank missiles – and hit the ground to the left or right of where they’re standing, to avoid being blown up. During the war, twenty northern firefighters were injured by terrorist bullets and missiles, but none died.
Fire and rescue stations are bombproofed and fortified to safeguard against attacks by rockets, missiles and infiltrators. First responders carry handguns and M-16s, along with axes and hoses.
Kiryat Shmona’s newest pumper truck carries 12,000 liters of water: 11,000 for normal blazes and 1,000 to make foam for electric fires, Shift Commander Gadi Azulai explained.
During the war, trucks often had to race out with only partly filled water tanks – hoping they would arrive while a fire was still small. Waiting to fill the tank or for reinforcements could mean the fire became impossible to control. Most often, the gamble paid off. But not always.
The north has more water than most parts of Israel. However, especially during dry summer months, water is scarce and sources can be far away. Local reservoirs, many built by the Jewish National Fund, are essential. They’re refilled during rainy seasons – or by surprising sources.
Imprisoned terrorists often continue their “from the river to the sea” war by taking endless showers and continuously flushing toilets, to waste as much desalinated water as possible. Any prison guard who tries stopping them would likely be condemned or even prosecuted by the “international community” … for violating prisoners’ human rights to good hygiene.
Israel’s innovative response? They connected prison wastewater systems to treatment plants that feed reservoirs serving farmers and firefighters, Azulai chuckled.
Southern Israeli firefighters, police and ambulance teams in communities east of Gaza (the Otef) worked just as tirelessly and courageously.
For years before the October 7 war, Otef firefighters fought “arson terrorism” fires started by thousands of incendiary devices that Hamas flew into Israel to turn wheatfields and nature preserves into charcoal. On October 7, using intel collected by Gaza workers employed by Israelis – terrorists incinerated houses, to force families to choose between being burned alive and coming out of homes and safe rooms to be raped, murdered and kidnapped.
Just as in the north, firefighters, volunteer units and local residents weren’t just fighting flames. They were also dodging bullets and RPGs while trying to rescue neighbors and friends. Hamas RPGs also struck at least 18 Magen David Adom ambulances, destroying eight and killing many crews and wounded patients.
These first responders are truly unsung heroes who deserve the recognition and acclaim most will receive only from families and friends. My friend Lane Brody’s song, All the Unsung Heroes, beautifully captures their spirit, devotion, resolve and sacrifice.
We owe the same tributes to millions of Iranian resisters who are bravely facing prison, torture and death to end the vicious, tyrannical regime of theocratic mullahs – and hopefully bringing a new era of peace and prosperity to Persia, Israel and the Middle East.
Paul Driessen has visited Israel many times and seen its archeological treasures, modern innovations, multi-ethnic communities and recent tragedies firsthand. He writes frequently about Israel and the October 7 war and wrote and worked with Maya Lin and Lane Brody on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial documentary “All the Unsung Heroes.”
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