Haim Treitel, who spent more than a year recovering after being shot in the leg by a Hamas sniper in Gaza, has graduated from the IDF officers’ course.
By David Brummer
There have been so many astonishing tales of heroism since the start of the Swords of Iron war on October 7, and at an emotional Western Wall ceremony on Tuesday, another was added.
Haredi soldier Haim Treitel, who was wounded by sniper fire during combat in the Gaza Strip, has completed the IDF officers’ course, some six months on from signing up for career service in the military, according to Israel National News.
Treitel’s parents attended the graduation ceremony.
He originally enlisted in the Givati Brigade before the war, but was removed from a combat position because of a medical condition. After the October 7 massacre and the outbreak of war, he repeated basic training and returned to a combat role with the brigade.
During the IDF’s ground offensive in Gaza, Treitel was shot in the leg by a Hamas sniper. He was evacuated for medical treatment and subsequently spent more than a year undergoing intensive rehabilitation.
As he recovered, Treitel returned to military service in a support role, working as an assistant to Lt. Col. Avigdor Dickstein, who heads the Haredi branch of the IDF’s Manpower Division. He later committed to career service and completed the officers’ course on Tuesday.
In a post following the ceremony, Treitel described the milestone as the completion of a major chapter in his life.
“From a Bnei Brak boy, today I become an Israeli officer,” he wrote, adding that he had gone through the process alongside people from across Israeli society and the IDF.
Treitel also described his fellow graduates as a generation of officers shaped by the events of October 7 and the war that followed.
“The responsibility is ours,” he wrote. “It is a privilege to be part of this, and no less than that, a tremendous responsibility.”
He concluded by remembering the soldiers who were killed during the war, writing that their memory remains with him.
