Stav is 21 years old. The marks of the wounds are there, on his thin body, covered in gauze and bandages. She miraculously escaped the rave party massacre when Hamas militants opened fire on the crowd of very young people in Reim. Today she lies in the hospital bed and wears ballet shoes on her feet. “My dream – he says – is to go dancing again. Music and dance are my life.”
Stav Ben David’s story is the story of those who made it, those who narrowly escaped death. His Instagram profile is full of videos and photos taken at musical gatherings, always with a smile on his face and tongue sticking out in front of his smartphone with his friends. The same ones with whom she danced in Reim on October 7th for an uninterrupted day of music and fun. Then the sirens, the shots, the nightmare. “At half past six in the morning, when we heard the sirens,” he tells the Israeli network N12, “we got in the car and quickly drove away from the festival. We were driving on a deserted road when suddenly about ten motorcycles appeared in front of us. We ducked and my friend hit the accelerator. We managed to get rid of the terrorists who surrounded us, but they still managed to shoot at our car.” The shots hit both Stav and her friends, then the car stopped, leaving the girls on foot. “We ran in different directions,” he says, “while we heard explosions in the background.”
Stav spends the following hours in a ditch with a bullet in his foot, hiding while he waits for help. “At some point I heard the footsteps of someone who spoke Arabic – the 21-year-old still remembers it – he approached and also entered the ditch. He was wearing the Israeli army uniform, perhaps he had stolen it from our soldiers, to avoid being shot by our security forces. At first he didn’t see me, I prayed he wouldn’t kill me. Then he noticed me, looked me in the eyes, shot me, threw the gun away and ran away. It was a miracle that I met a stupid and cowardly terrorist.
Ten days have passed since then and Stav will never be able to forget these terrifying moments. The bullets hit a bone in the arm, a buttock, the left thigh and the right knee. Fortunately, no one touched any vital organs or arteries. After an operation to reconstruct a hand, Stav began rehabilitation today. She is followed by physiotherapist Esti Kovarsky, who also teaches dance in her free time. The photos show the doctor and the patient with ballet shoes on their feet. “We use dance movements to regain mobility and strengthen muscles,” says Kovarsky as his “special” patient indulges in an unusual sitting exercise. “I will recover – he smiles – and I will go dancing again.”
Read the full article on ANSA.it