On October 7, 2023, Lt. Col. Guy Madar left a family celebration, drove toward the Hamas invasion armed with only his personal handgun, and joined police officer Ran Gvili in a desperate fight to protect fleeing Israelis. Both men were wounded in an ambush, and Madar spent nearly four hours hiding among terrorists before Israeli police found him.

By Hezy Laing

At approximately 6:45 a.m. on October 7, Lt. Col. Guy Madar called the military operations room at Kerem Shalom to find out what was happening. He was spending the Simchat Torah holiday with his wife’s family in Kiryat Gat when repeated sirens and reports of terrorist infiltrations made it clear that something extraordinary was unfolding.

The operations room informed him that Hamas terrorists were infiltrating the Sufa area.

Madar, then commander of the IDF’s Desert Reconnaissance Battalion, immediately decided to head south. He left without a uniform, carrying only his personal handgun, while simultaneously calling up his soldiers and ordering them to prepare for action.

He had no idea how many terrorists he would encounter or how desperate the situation would become.

Into the fighting

By approximately 7:20 a.m., Madar was already passing Netivot. He encountered a vehicle that had been hit by gunfire near the Nova music festival, and its occupants warned him that terrorists were operating along Route 232.

He headed toward the Sa’ad Junction and Kibbutz Alumim, where the fighting was already underway.

At the Alumim Junction, he encountered wounded Israelis being evacuated and bodies lying nearby. He stopped to help move the injured, but a Hamas terrorist near the entrance to the kibbutz suddenly opened fire.

It was an exceptionally close encounter, but Madar relied on the training he had received throughout his military career.

“I simply acted according to what I had practiced for so many years, almost like a robot,” he later recalled in an interview with Radio Darom.

As the fighting continued, a police Yasam vehicle arrived. Madar warned its officers about terrorists ahead, and they joined the effort to stop the attackers.

A stranger joins the fight

Madar subsequently spotted a vehicle carrying Hamas terrorists. At first, he did not recognize them as terrorists, but when the driver passed close by wearing a bucket-style hat and a green headband, he realized who they were.

He opened fire, but the vehicle continued toward the surrounding communities.

Fearing the terrorists were heading toward another Israeli town, Madar decided to pursue them. As he got into his car, another man suddenly jumped inside.

Madar did not know who the stranger was. He would later discover that he was Ran Gvili, a police officer serving in the elite Yasam unit.

The two men pursued the suspected terrorists and eventually reached a gas station near the Sa’ad Junction. The station was packed with young Israelis who had fled the Nova music festival, including people who were wounded and desperately searching for safety.

Madar and Gvili began helping the injured and evacuating people from the station. Madar repeatedly urged that they return toward Alumim, where he knew the fighting was still intense.

Gvili understood that civilians remained in danger and encouraged Madar to continue toward the fighting rather than retreat.

Madar later described the extraordinary attitude of the police officer he had just met.

“To a normal person, there is an instinct to flee from danger. Here, he pushed me toward danger because he understood that people could be killed,” he recalled.

Later reporting credited the two men’s actions at the gas station with helping save more than 150 people.

The RPG ambush

The two men continued toward Alumim, where they drove into a Hamas ambush.

The vehicle immediately ahead of them was struck by an RPG, a rocket-propelled grenade. Madar was convinced that their own vehicle would be hit next.

They came under fire from multiple directions. Madar accelerated through the junction, navigating around bodies and burned-out vehicles scattered along the road.

Suddenly, he spotted more than 20 terrorists ahead of them.

He drove through the group, striking one of the terrorists with the vehicle. The remaining attackers opened fire, sending bullets into the car until it was badly damaged.

Madar and Gvili were both hit. When Madar tried to accelerate again, the vehicle would no longer respond.

Fortunately, the road sloped downward, allowing the damaged car to continue moving until they could get out and find cover.

A wounded man’s last water

The two men moved toward a large bush and began treating their injuries.

Gvili had been shot in the thigh and was more seriously wounded than Madar, who had been hit in his ankle and right hand. Nevertheless, Gvili remained remarkably composed and applied a tourniquet to his own leg.

Madar had no tourniquet available, so he improvised one using a bandage and an ammunition box.

After fighting for hours without drinking, Madar was becoming desperately thirsty. Despite his own injuries, Gvili offered him some of the remaining water in his hydration pack.

“He gave me to drink from the little that remained in his hydration pack, even though he was wounded like me and thirsty like me,” Madar recalled.

It was a brief moment of generosity between two men who had met only hours earlier and were now fighting for their lives.

Eventually, Gvili wanted to move deeper into the trees, while Madar decided to remain where he was. The two separated.

Madar would never see him again.

Four hours surrounded by terrorists

Madar continued farther south until he found cover behind a water valve. Nearby were two pickup trucks carrying Hamas terrorists.

Wounded and alone, he remained hidden for close to four hours, hoping the terrorists would not discover him.

Eventually, a police Yasam team arrived in the area. The officers initially suspected that the figure lying in the field might be a terrorist.

Madar was wearing civilian clothes, including a black shirt, and the officers shouted warnings that he might be booby-trapped.

He tried to identify himself, shouting, “IDF, IDF, IDF,” but he was extremely weak.

Then a Yasam officer named Nissim noticed something protruding from Madar’s clothing: his tzitzit, the ritual fringes worn by observant Jewish men.

Madar normally kept them tucked inside his clothing, but they had apparently come loose during the fighting.

Nissim shouted that Madar was wearing tzitzit, and the officers approached him. They finally understood that the wounded man was an Israeli soldier and began arranging his evacuation.

Madar was in serious condition and was transferred between several medical facilities before being flown by helicopter to Beilinson Hospital. He underwent surgery and faced a lengthy rehabilitation.

Remembering Ran Gvili

Madar’s brief time fighting alongside Gvili left a lasting impression.

The police officer had gone into battle despite having already been injured before October 7, and his determination to protect others was evident throughout their time together.

Gvili continued fighting after the two men separated, eventually running out of ammunition before Hamas terrorists captured him. He was murdered on October 7, and his body was taken into Gaza.

On January 26, 2026, the IDF recovered his remains and returned him to Israel, ending more than two years of uncertainty for his family.

Madar was the last known person to have seen Gvili alive before they became separated.

Reflecting on the man who had shared his water and fought beside him, Madar said: “I was privileged to be beside such a person and to fight alongside such a person.”

From rehabilitation to brigade commander

Madar eventually returned to military service after his long recovery.

He had spent much of his military career in the Givati Brigade, including its reconnaissance unit and Rotem Battalion, before taking command of the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion, which serves primarily with Bedouin soldiers.

He subsequently served as an operations officer in Southern Command.

In September 2026, Madar was promoted to colonel by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and appointed commander of the Yoav Brigade, which is responsible for protecting communities in the Eilat, Arava and southern Negev region.

At his change-of-command ceremony, he made a point of thanking his wife and children for standing beside him throughout his military career, particularly after his injury.

Addressing his wife, he said: “Thank you for following me into the wilderness time and again, even when you nearly lost me.”

He then turned to the responsibility awaiting him and the soldiers under his command.

“Our mission is clear! To be prepared for every scenario! To win every encounter with the enemy!” he declared.

For Madar, the appointment represented a remarkable return to command after the events of October 7.

The officer who had once driven south in civilian clothes with only a handgun was now responsible for leading an entire brigade tasked with protecting Israeli communities.