When Lieut. Ben Levi, a medical officer, reached Sderot on the morning of October 7, 2023, together with the other soldiers of his medical team, they immediately realized the magnitude of the challenge and split into two squads at the assembly area. Levi went to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where at the very entrance he treated a family that had fled its home after terrorists set it afire with them hiding inside. While the Israeli soldiers advanced from house to house on the kibbutz, and while so many wounded people required attention, Lieutenant Levi designated the yard of one of the houses as the company’s first-aid station. The company continued fighting terrorists, but at nightfall, it was targeted by grenades and bursts of gunfire. The medic of the battalion was injured. Lieutenant Levi bandaged him and applied pressure with his hand for a long time to stop the bleeding until the medic could be transferred to a stretcher and evacuated by helicopter. After a sleepless night, Levi and the others from the battalion entered a second day of fighting. It started with an attack by Hamas from one of the buildings. In that attack, the company commander was critically wounded in his legs, but Levi was able to bandage him and evacuate him quickly enough from the site. Lieutenant Levi devotedly treated more than thirty wounded people on the battlefield.
