Mendi Haviv is an Israeli volunteer paramedic. He was mobilized from the first day of the attacks and testified on CNEWS.
A paramedic is still in shock. On October 7, the first day of the Hamas attacks, Mendi Haviv, a member of the Israeli NGO ZAKA, was mobilized to the site. It bears witness to the horror experienced that day.
On October 7, the volunteer paramedic was notified by numerous alerts on his phone. When he was sent to the crime scene in Sderot, his goal at the NGO ZAKA was to find and identify the victims so that they could be buried with dignity, a very important principle of the Jewish religion.
Even while driving, the images were difficult: “I see a car tipping over on its side. Ten meters later I see three other cars, I look and there are people in them, people who are dead. But what’s going on?” explained Mendi Haviv.
“I see massacres, children in cars being shot,” he added.
In the kibbutzim of Be’eri and Kfar Aza, the Israeli volunteer medic described a waking nightmare: “When I returned to the kibbutzim, it was a shock. These are families, babies with their throats cut. It was a massacre that they carried out house by house. But why ? What have they done to you?” he asked himself with tears in his eyes.
For Mendi Haviv, returning the victims’ bodies to their relatives is a crucial issue. And despite the horror on site, he and the members of the NGO ZAKA affirmed that they resisted thanks to their faith.