A month after that black Saturday, after much thought, I have decided to tell my story.
My name is Shoval A., a combat soldier in Regiment 51, Assisting Company 7.10.23
I left at 5:30 am with the Front Command Group Company Commander, I was sitting at the wheel next to the CC Yuval B. Sitting behind him was Dov, the company medic, and sitting behind me was the communications CC, Bar Rosenstein RIP.
We go out for a regular front command operation and settle at the Kissufim intersection of the entrance to our outpost. We stood there and at 6:30 am a “Purple Rain” [IDF code name for artillery attack] began. Insane rocket fire all around us and we were just a few hundred meters from the fence (Gaza border). Yuval shouted at everyone to put on helmets and we went into the shelter at the Kissufim intersection. After a few minutes of explosions, Yuval shouted to get back into the vehicle. Everyone got in and we drove in the direction of the outpost. We arrive at the outpost and deploy back towards the Kissufim intersection.
"I looked left and saw another 20 motorcycles, at a distance of 70 meters, with terrorists shooting at our vehicle, bursts of gunfire."
As soon as we got to the Kissufim junction I looked right and saw between 5-10 motorcycles standing on the right side at a distance of 15 meters. I looked left and saw another 20 motorcycles, at a distance of 70 meters, with terrorists shooting at our vehicle, bursts of gunfire.
Yuval shouted at me to bypass them on the left and set the David [armored military combat SUV] at 90 degrees so we’ll start shooting at them. That’s what I did.
After bypassing the terrorists from the left we saw another group of 20 terrorists and Yuval shouted at me, “The whores are coming to the settlements, make a U-turn into the settlements."
I drove in the direction of Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha and the instant I turn around we were hit with an RPG [rocket propelled grenade] on the right side of our vehicle. I looked at Yuval and saw that his whole face had opened up. I lost my hearing and could only hear beeping.
I looked at my hands and saw they were full of glass, dust, and turned black. After a few seconds of shock I realized that Yuval was shouting at me and I couldn't hear anything.
I started hitting the gas pedal in the direction of Ein HaShlosha and realized that I had lost the gas and brakes of the vehicle. While we were surrounded by dozens of terrorists, I decided to break the steering wheel to the left and decelerate to the agricultural field. Around 60-70 meters later, the shielded David vehicle stopped completely. There were dozens of terrorists behind us. The four of us get off the vehicle just by Kissufim, and I started to army crawl in the direction of the terrorists. After 200 meters of crawling I got a burst of gunfire from the direction of Kissufim so I got up and ran right to one of the bushes and I lay there for about 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes I started crawling back in the direction of Yuval, Dov and Bar.
When I got there I saw our vehicle had been disabled and I couldn't find Yuval, Dor and Bar. This whole time my phone wasn’t on me and I realized I was alone. I started to crawl 500 meters in the field towards the Kissufim outpost. I got to the mountain 20 meters above the Kissufim outpost, and saw dead terrorists below me and the bodies of soldiers inside Kissufim.
I then realized that the terrorists were starting to take control over the post. I saw that every 20-25 seconds another motorcycle with two armed terrorists arrived and moved forward to the Kissufim post.
I hid behind a rock and then saw a motorcycle going in the direction of the outpost and hit the terrorist driver with two bullets in the head. Both terrorists fell and after 5 seconds, the terrorist that sat behind got up and I hit him with three bullets to the neck.
After 10 seconds I looked right and saw a terrorist aiming an RPG at Kissufim. I hit him with two bullets in the head and he fell. After 15 seconds I identified another motorcycle with two terrorists on it going towards Kissufim. I hit the driver with two bullets in the head and then another two bullets in the head of the second terrorist.
A minute later a third motorcycle arrived with one terrorist and I hit him with two bullets to the chest and he fell. After that a fourth motorcycle arrived and behind it a fifth, with two terrorists on each. I aimed two bullets at the driver and I missed.
“The driver stopped and looked back, identifying me behind the rock. He raised his weapon and aimed a burst of gunfire in my direction.“
The driver stopped and looked back, identifying me behind the rock. He raised his weapon and aimed a burst of gunfire in my direction. Shrapnel flew around me, from the stone in front of me and I realized that they saw me and started running back in the direction of Ein HaShlosha.
After 30 seconds of running I started hearing the whistle of bullets above my head. I turned my head back and saw four terrorists standing on the rock I was lying behind just moments ago, shooting at me. I lay on the floor, turned back in their direction and started shooting at them. After a few minutes of exchanging gunfire, I realized that all four terrorists were dead. I got up and began to run between the bushes until I reached the road that goes to Ein HaShlosha.
Six meters before I got to the road leading to Ein HaShlosha, I heard sirens and “Allah hu Akbar” shouts. I looked right and identified a convoy of dozens of motorcycles and white vans. I threw myself on the ground and dislocated my shoulder. They passed by on the road just meters from me and I prayed that they wouldn't see me. After a few minutes of waiting for everyone to pass, I saw a terrorist running by foot and dragging a motorcycle. I got up and hit him with five bullets to his chest. He fell.
After that I realized that I was surrounded by dozens of terrorists. I ran back and started picking up sticks, grass and trees.I found a big enough bush and crawled into it, covering myself with sticks, sand, trees and leaves. All this time there were rockets firing from every direction.
The time was then 8:00 am and to my estimation that whole time I heard an exchange of gunfire and rockets landing meters from me.
After about two hours in the bush, I identified a convoy of eight motorcycles entering two bushes away from me and starting to fill cartridges of bullets. I stayed hiding in the bush, wrote a note to my family, and left it in my vest.
“I identified a jeep speeding towards me. I raised my weapon and threw it a few meters to my right, raised my hands and got down on my knees”
After nine hours of lying in the bush I realized that the amount of gunfire has lessened and there was only gunfire from the area of Kissufim. I got out of the bush and started running left, towards Ein HaShlosha. I got there and recognized the terrorist that I took down in the morning and after a few seconds identified a wrangler [jeep] speeding towards me. I raised my weapon and threw it a few meters to my right, raised my hands and got down on my knees. The wrangler stopped next to me and four Maglan [commando unit] officers got out, pointing their weapons at me and I shouted, “IDF, IDF, IDF”. They realized I was a soldier and took me with them.
From there we traveled two minutes to Kibbutz Kissufim and I started to realize how big that event was. I went in shock towards the gate of the Kibbutz and on both sides there were hundreds of soldiers from all units. I started to understand that there were dozens of terrorists inside Kissufim. The Maglan Company Commander who collected me in the wrangler looked at me, slapped me to wake me out of the shock state i was in and said to me “Shoval, from this day on you are with the Maglan team, number 24 [quick method of counting soldiers in any given military situation]. We are entering Kissufim and start killing the terrorists”. I told him I was out of ammunition. He brought me grenades and bullets and I started to reload my cartridge. From that point I went into Kissufim with the Maglan team and we started to go from corner to corner, killing the terrorists.
The soldier behind me was hit in the neck and fell. We moved forward, fighting, and I managed to bring down a terrorist on the roof and to throw a grenade through a window and take down another five terrorists there. After an extensive battle that continued till 11pm we cleaned out the Kibbutz of all the terrorists and started to evacuate the wounded from their homes.
I entered the first home and the sights were horrific. I saw a baby beheaded, children burned, parents bleeding with bullets in their heads, a baby hidden and friends who were murdered. After evacuating all the wounded I left Kissufim. That’s when I started throwing up blood and got evacuated to Soroka for internal bleeding and a dislocated shoulder.
Shoval A.