During the rescue, the company commander was shot in the stomach and the rescue was completed by the battalion’s medics.
By Hezy Laing
Eitan Meir Sabag, a student at the Or Yishua Hesder Yeshiva in Haifa, was seriously injured in an incident that occurred last month in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Two tanks in in the ‘Barak’ formation of 53rd Armored Battalion were targeted with improvised explosive devices.
While Sabag survived the attack, Sergeant Assaf Zamir, fell in the same incident.
“The terrorist planted an explosive device behind our tank.
When it detonated, two shells inside the tank started to burn, but fortunately did not explode.
From the smoke and flames inside the tank, I inhaled the smoke and fainted.
After a few minutes, my company commander rescued me from inside the tank.
During the rescue, he was shot in the stomach by a terrorist and the rescue was completed by the battalion’s medics.
At this point, I was no longer breathing.
The incident happened around 8:00 in the morning, within 40 minutes I was in Soroka hospital, and there I was ventilated and anesthetized for another four days.”
Today Sabag follows an intensive rehabilitation process, “I undergo inhalations three or four times a day to rehabilitate my lungs, as well as physiotherapy. I’m still not at my peak, but it’s definitely an improvement.”
In addition to the lung injury, Sabag also injured his hand and underwent a skin graft to restore skin.
Sabag says that he was never supposed to be in a tank in the first place.
“I was on duty outside Gaza for a month, in a battalion reinforcement team. It was only after I insisted on joining the fighting that I entered Gaza.”
He attributes the strength to deal with the injury to the spiritual foundations he received at the yeshiva.
“The spiritual tools I received before the draft gave me the strength to grow stronger and look at the injury I suffered with complete faith as apart of a great mission. After an event like this, life and perspective change. Faith takes a tangible place and the connection is made with greater meaning.”
The head of the Hesder Yeshiva Or Yishua, Rabbi Yedidiya Zeini, praised Sabag.
“Despite the great dangers involved, Eitan and his friends chose to enlist to fight in Gaza. They believed that this was the moment to bring into practical expression those important principles they learned in the yeshiva: dedication for the sake of the people of Israel, and for the sake of the Land of Israel.”
“We pray that Eitan will soon have a full recovery, along with all the wounded soldiers. And may we also merit, with God’s help, that our military and political leaders act from the same sublime motives of our heroic soldiers. Only in this way can we soon defeat all our enemies.”
