As soon as artillery fire began on the morning of October 7, the security team — including Elkana Federman as head of security for the festival — started shutting the event down and directing the participants out along the road. But very quickly they were alerted to a terrorist incursion, with many people wounded by gunfire. Federman and his team began bringing the wounded into ambulances until terrorists in pickup trucks came near.
The festival’s security team included 75 unarmed guards, and Federman too was unarmed. Thinking fast, he grabbed a Kalashnikov from a dead IDF tank crewman and managed to return fire at the terrorists. A policeman near him also returned fire, from a handgun, but he died from the terrorists’ gunfire. When the Kalashnikov was out of ammunition, he ran from the terrorists. Having sustained a bullet injury to his leg, he managed to hide in a thicket. Only at 2:30 p.m. was he rescued and evacuated for medical care. Now he has recovered and is serving as a reservist.
