Once the news got out of the infiltration into Israel on the southern boarder on the morning of October 7, Ido Somech, a tank driver from the Malkot Hermon tank company, rushed to firing position, and together with the tank crew – the commander, gunner, and loader – took out some 15 terrorists with artillery fire. However, dozens of terrorists followed in their stead, armed among others with anti-tank missiles, which they used against Ido’s tank, and the tanks burst out in flames. Tank commander, Shay Levinson went missing, the gunner and loader were gravely wounded. Somech drove away from the swarming onslaught of terrorist. He positioned the tanks between the terrorists and the police forces, which were fighting in the field. The loader left the tank and Ido remained with the wounded gunner. After a while, when it seemed that the odds are in favor of the terrorists, they began approaching the tank, unaware that in it are a driver and a wounded soldier. Ido fired at the first terrorist approaching the tank, with his gun, and maneuvered his tank to evade the grenades launched at it. He drove the tank over parked cars, running over terrorists, and under the ensuing chaos hundreds of the people at the Nova music festival were able to escape.
At a certain point, the tank was hit and decommissioned, Somech left the tank, wearing his helmet and flak jacket and with his personal firearm, and tried to get away from the area with several of the partygoers. The terrorist fired at the car he was in, and he was attacked by terrorists, who snatched his firearm. After hiding for long hours, he was rescued. In the fighting all of his tank team was killed – commander Shay Levinson, loader Ofir Testah, and gunner Ariel Eliyahu.
